My Writing Corner : A Treat for the Holidays

One of the fun elements of the holiday season is there are always so many books or stories tied in to this time of the year. One of the special features of my publisher, The Wild Rose Press is its Christmas Cookies series. I enjoy featuring the authors who bring us their holidays stories. Today's guest is one of those authors, Marla White, who has appeared previously, but today she is bringing us her Christmas Cookie story, which has just been released, Blood Stains and Candy Canes, and is certain to grab the readers' attention.

Marla White appeared in My Writing Corner in October featuring her book, Cause For Elimination. She is a story analysis instructor at UCLA and writing coach who lives in Los Angeles. She graduated from the University of Kentucky where she took her first horseback riding lesson. After dabbling in hunters, barrel racing, and weekly trail rides, she fell hopelessly in love with the sport of eventing. She “conquered” Novice level before taking a break to pursue novel writing but hopes to return to the saddle some day soon. Her first novel, The Starlight Mint Surprise Murder, was published in 2021, followed by the first two books in her Keeper Chronicles series. When she’s not writing, she’s out in the garden, hiking, or putting together impossibly difficult puzzles.

She starts today's visit with some Fun Facts about her newest book and interesting facts about her:

The cookie recipe in the book is for a Welsh cookie that came from a friend’s grandmother. It’s really different and worth a try! You fry them on a griddle rather than bake them.
When I was trying to come up with a name for my main character “Mandy” was the first thing to pop in my head, exposing my deeply ingrained Barry Manilow fandom.
The plot is inspired by real life events. Well, not the murder part (one can only dream) but the trajectory of poor Bethany’s career closely resembles my own TV path.

How about a blurb for Blood Stains And Candy Canes

Attending a swanky cookie exchange is the last thing on veterinarian Dr. Mandy Brown’s holiday to-do list, but she agrees to help a friend out. The party comes to a screeching halt after a body turns up on the kitchen floor, a carving knife jutting out of his back.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Mandy comes face-to-face with Officer Dylan Shaw, a man she thought she was dating until he ghosted her. Tensions escalate as motives for murder come out of the pantry as fast as guests scarf down the pot-spiked brownies, making everything all the merrier.

Although the case seems open and shut, Mandy doesn’t believe the evidence. Can she and Dylan put their differences aside and find the real killer, or risk one of the bakers getting away with murder.

Let's talk to the characters in Blood Stains and Candy Canes:

Mandy, tell us a little about your life right now?

Everything is kind of hectic right now what with the holidays coming up. I’d like to say I have to finish up my gift shopping but I’ve only bought 1 gift so far so honestly I need to start shopping. Shoot, I need to start shopping! But first I need to get the decorations up on my landlady’s mansion or she’ll climb up on the roof and do it herself.

That crazy cookie exchange Dolores dragged me to completely set my carefully mapped out schedule off-kilter, but then a murder will do that. I suppose it didn’t do much for poor Rick Sanford’s holiday plans either. I don’t like to judge people, but it’s possible he had it coming.

What do you want most in your life?

That would have been an easy question six months ago. Ever since I was a freshman in high school, the only things I wanted were to be a small animal vet and to be Mrs. Zachary Roberts. All of that changed when he came out to L.A. to be an actor, changed his last name to Robárds for some reason, dumped me for a woman with bigger boobs, and was charged with her murder. All in one month before I got here! He hadn’t accomplished that much in a month the entire time I’d known him.

So now I guess what I want most in my life are good friends, a job I love, and to find someone that I can trust with my heart. And chocolate.

What makes you happiest?

I feel so happy when I can help an animal feel better. The look in their eyes when you’ve taken away the pain and made them happy? Oh my gosh, that’s the best part of my job. The second best? The look on the owner’s faces when their pet can come home.

After that what makes me happy? Chocolate.

What frightens you the most?

Being so completely wrong about anything the way I was wrong about Zach. As a doctor and a woman, you have to rely on trusting your gut and after the poop storm of finding out Zach couldn’t be loyal for one month on his own, I’m afraid of making the same mistake again. Which makes me second-guess myself constantly, bringing on a whole new level of anxiety.

What frightens you most about having to deal with Dylan?

(Mandy smiles mysteriously.) Again, if you’d asked me that before the disaster of a cookie exchange, it would have been a different answer. He was so dang frustrating to deal with, I was afraid I was misreading the signs all over again. But now? After the cookie party? Nothing frightens me about Dylan.

Now let's hear from Dylan:

What do you want most in your life right now?

To protect and serve, ma’am. I love being a cop and I just want to be the best officer I can be. In a perfect world, I want to be a detective one day but this world is far from perfect, isn’t it?

What frightens you most about Mandy?

Her temper (he laughs and shakes his head). Did you know the first time I met her, I ran into her clinic covered in blood with a dog in my arms? When she found out I’d accidentally shot him, she tore me a new—oh, can I say a-hole? Anyway, you do not want to get on her bad side, she is fierce.

What do you admire about Mandy?

I guess the flip side of the same trait, her fire, her drive. When she believes in someone or something, it’s one hundred percent balls to the walls. She doesn’t hold back.

What do you want most for your future?

The house with the picket fence, kids in the yard, the whole American dream, with the right woman by my side. Is that too corny? Can I change my answer? Because when I’m with Mandy what I want most is to get through the day without getting fired, shot at, or having to chase her big Rottweiler Boy through a crime scene. And her, of course. (Smiles shyly) That’s super corny. Can I change my answer to a vintage, restored muscle car?

How about an excerpt?

I start to creep closer to see if the butcher block is missing a knife when Shaw turns and plows smack into me. I stumble backward—again, the shoes’ fault, I wouldn’t have nearly landed on my butt in my clogs. Fortunately, Shaw has quick reflexes and grabs my arms to hold me steady. I don’t fall, but my knees feel like jelly at his touch.

“You’re right, the box is stamped with Queen Bea Bakery. I’m going to let the detective know. Seriously, you should rejoin the rest of the, um…”

He can’t quite say the rest of the sentence, so I finish it for him. “Suspects?”

His cheeks pink, and his gaze drops mine as he nods. “Yeah, the rest of the suspects.” Still holding on to me, he pulls me close for a quick, soft kiss. “Be careful, babe. One of those women might be a killer.”

Reeling from either the kiss or him calling me babe, I’m not sure which, I make my way back to the patio. Common sense says what should bother me more is the idea one of the women I’m mingling with might be a killer. I graduated near the top of my class in vet school, so why does this one sandy-haired, lantern jawed, cop confuse me so easily?

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Thank you, Marla, for being my guest today on My Writing Corner. Following are Marla's buy links and social contact information.

Bloodstains and Candy Canes buy links:

Marla's Social Media Links

Twitter

Instagram