Recipe for Murder (A Pine Cove Mystery) by Marla A. White

Christy Maurer

14 hours ago

Categories: BooksCozy MysteryCurrent Giveaways

Recipe for Murder (A Pine Cove Mystery) by Marla A. White | Guest Post with $25 Amazon gift card Giveaway 6/28

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Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Recipe for Murder (A Pine Cove Mystery) by Marla A. White. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!

Recipe for Murder (A Pine Cove Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Pine Cove, a fictional version of Idyllwild, tiny town on top of a Southern California mountain
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wild Rose Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 17, 2026
Print length ‏ : ‎ 328 pages
Paperback

Mel O’Rourke traded her LAPD badge for the quiet life, running a bed-and-breakfast in tiny, quirky Pine Cove.

But when Jackson Thibodeaux, the charming café owner who broke her heart, stumbles back into town, her tranquil second act is toast. While attending a culinary academy in New Orleans, Jackson found the body of a classmate. The police rule it a suicide, but Mel’s instincts—and Jackson’s near miss with a bullet—scream murder.
Between a cooking school full of shady suspects, a reformed cat burglar for a sidekick, and a complicated love triangle involving the deputy sheriff, Mel has her hands full.

Perfect for fans of the sweetness of Jenn McKinlay and the snark of Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan.

Author Guest Post

I don’t know if this is true for every writer, but I find myself inspired to write the stories I do because of locations I’ve visited. And not because of their beauty or grandeur. I’ve been awed by the beauty of Hawa ’ai, fell in love with the wilds of Wales and took the fastest tour of Paris, taking in as much as I could in 2 days, but none of those places inspired me to write a story set there.

Give me your quirky, your odd or unusual places, and I’m all in.

I have a fantasy series set at the Mission Inn in Riverside, CA, which is both beautiful and yet kitschy beyond belief. When I pitch the story as the angel Gabriel arguing with his boss, getting kicked out of Heaven and exiled to Riverside, 8 out of 10 people who know the area nod and say, “That sounds about right.” I’m clearly more of a fan of the area than they are, but I digress. You’re reading this blog because you like cozy mysteries, so let’s stick to Pine Cove.

Pine Cove is based on the small town of Idyllwild, CA, in the San Jacinto Mountains. Idyllwild has no Starbucks, no chain restaurants or stores, and one small movie theatre that a friend described to me as having living room chairs as seats. There’s an ice cream/jerky shop, and carved wooden bears around every corner. It’s surrounded by a thick forest of pine trees and has a small creek running right through the middle.

I had the privilege of coming back twice a year for a writer’s retreat where I served as a mentor. Since I was staying for free, my digs were anywhere the organizers could find. Twice it was in an inn with themed rooms, like “Winter” with the décor to match. A few times it was at a hotel where, once on a particularly dreary, foggy day, they had a fire all laid out and going for me. But my favorite place, the inspiration for The Brook in “Recipe for Murder,” is the Silver Pines Lodge.

It wasn’t until my third year going to the retreat that I was given this oddly shaped, narrow room in the main lodge building. Everything was rustic and…quirky. They have a stuffed bear’s head over the fireplace in the main room of the lodge, along with books and games from times gone by. I could hear rushing water, which I assumed was the creek. By the time I found out it was really the koi pond out back, I was already hooked. It seemed like the perfect setting for a story, but I didn’t know what I wanted to tell.

But then The Wild Rose Press had an open submission for their “Cookie Book” line, and I knew that’s where I wanted to set it. At the time, trying to make a family favorite holiday cookie was vexing me, so I decided to have my main character struggle with dough as well. And of course, she needed to be some sort of amateur detective, but why was she up in teeny-tiny Idyllwild?

Not going to lie, I was going through some career stuff so I decided my main character should move someplace new to start over. Coming up from Los Angeles, nothing screamed “second chances” and a redemption story like the picturesque little town of Idyllwild. I know, wish fulfillment at its best, right? But the location made everything click. I could easily picture Mel O’Rourke, my main character, deciding if she had to start over, why not wipe the slate clean and move to somewhere the polar opposite of where she lived?

In “Recipe,” Mel gets to have the tables turned when a big-city cop looks down on her like she’s a bumpkin. A death in New Orleans brings an old friend back to town looking for her help. The detective on the case dismisses the crime and Mel as being a “hick,” which only makes her dig her heels in more. C’mon, even in a city the size of Los Angeles, the suspicious death would merit an investigation. Could the cops be involved?

Mel is and will continue to be a fish-out-of-water in Pine Cove, but that’s the absolute joy of writing these books. The discovery of situations that are new to her, like being part of a love triangle, and then seeing how she and everyone around her reacts. The characters aren’t based on people who live there, but their way of life is on every page. There’s a UFO house in town, for Pete’s sake, what’s not to love? (Stay tuned for book 3 to hear more about that!) But that’s what I enjoy the most about the people of Pine Cove and their real life counterparts in Idyllwild. Despite seeing Mel as the quirky one, they welcomed her to their little community with open arms, much like the residents welcomed a bunch of writers from all over the world. Because at the end of the day, the people who live there are just as much a part of what makes me love a location as the place itself.

Speaking of odd and interesting locations, coming soon will be a reader magnet about Mel and her reformed cat burglar friend Poppy at a Renaissance Faire! Because what is weirder than a fake town, set out of our own time, and missing jewels that shouldn’t even be there? The story is born out of my own ridiculous infatuation with getting dressed up and going to the Faire.

About Marla A. White

Marla White kills people for a living—on paper, at least.

An award-winning mystery and suspense author with roots in Hollywood, Marla White made a striking debut with Cause for Elimination, earning recognition from Killer Nashville, the RONE Awards, Reader’s Favorite, and a second-place finish with the Orange County Romance Writers in Romantic Suspense.

Originally from Oklahoma, Marla carved her path through multiple states before landing in Los Angeles, where she built a career in television development and now teaches screenwriting at UCLA Extension—including the fine art of script coverage and story analysis.

When she’s not plotting her next murder (fictional, we promise), she can be found in her garden, on a hiking trail, cheering for the LA Kings, or field-testing craft cocktails in the name of research.

Social Media Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScriptFixer

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marlawriteswords/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarlaAWhiteAuthor

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@marlawriteswords

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@marlaw825

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21467766.Marla_A_White

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/marla-a-white

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3MHIzkB

Substack: https://substack.com/@marlawhite?utm_source=edit-profile-page

Purchase Links –
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