This week, Susie Black’s Saturday Author Spotlight shines on cozy mystery author Marla A. White.
About the author:
Marla White started her illustrious career as a storyteller at the age of four by drawing on the TV screen to help Winky Dink get out of mortal danger, earning her a firm spanking. As a grown-up, she’s been involved in several award-winning television movies for ABC, CBS, USA, and HBO. Later, she became the head of television for Emmy Award winner Peter Tolan. She currently teaches story analysis and story workshops at UCLA. A lifelong horse lover, when she’s not writing, she’s out in the garden, hiking, or putting together impossibly difficult puzzles.
Susie had the opportunity to read and review Framed for Murder, Marla’s latest release. Here is a blurb to whet your appetite:
After a life-changing injury, Mel O’Rourke trades in her badge for bed sheets, running a B&B in the quirky mountain town of Pine Cove. Her peaceful life is interrupted when an old frenemy, the notorious and charismatic cat burglar, Poppy Phillips, shows up on her doorstep, claiming she’s been framed for murder. While she’s broken plenty of laws, Mel knows she’d never kill anyone. Good thing she’s a better detective than she is a cook, as she sets out to prove Poppy's innocence. The situation gets complicated, however, when the ruggedly handsome Deputy Sheriff Gregg Marks flirts with Mel, bringing him dangerously close to the criminal she’s hiding. And just when her friendship with café owner Jackson Thibodeaux blossoms into something more, he’s offered the opportunity of a lifetime in New Orleans. Should she encourage him to go, or ask him to stay? Who knew romance could be just as hard to solve as murder?
Here is Susie’s review:
The last person on the planet that ex-cop-turned-B&B operator, Mel O’Rourke, expects to show up at her quaint Southern California mountainside inn is her old nemesis, cat burglar Poppy Phillips. Mel’s life is turned upside down and inside out when charming, on-the-lam Poppy begs Mel to help prove the sticky-fingered second-story gal was framed for murder. Mel would prefer to let her pain-in-the-patootie frenemy finally pay the price for her nefarious past deeds. Unfortunately, thanks to a pesky moral compass she can’t seem to shake loose from, Mel knows in her heart of hearts Poppy is no choir girl, but she would never murder anyone, and finds herself smack-dab in the middle of Poppy’s mess.
Author Marla A. White has penned a laugh-out-loud, madcap tale chock-full of zany, imperfect characters readers will fall in love with one moment and want to smack upside their heads the next. The plot runs at a breakneck pace with Poppy and Mel getting out of one mess only to fall into a bigger one. Author White liberally peppers Mel and Poppy’s antics with snappy dialogue that is more tangy than hot salsa. With enough red herrings to throw readers off, White keeps them guessing on whodunit.
Add a dash of romance with a smokin’ hot local sheriff to the foibles, and you’ve bought yourself a ticket to take a rollercoaster-worthy wild ride.
Fast-moving and adventurous, Framed for Murder is more fun than whacking a piñata.