All The Write Stuff: The Starlight Mint Surprise Murder

When Mel O'Rourke traded in her badge for a spatula, she had no idea baking could be so hard...or deadly.

The Starlight Mint Surprise Murder

By Marla A. White

Genre: Holiday Cozy Mystery Audiobook

After injuring herself on the job as a Los Angeles cop, Mel O'Rourke leaves the force battered both physically and mentally. Looking for a fresh start, she moves to a quiet mountain town and opens the Babbling Brook Inn. Excited for her new life, Mel decides to participate in the town's holiday cookie contest, but her newfound joy crashes when one of her guests turns up dead in her lobby.

Mel is tempted to attribute the death to natural causes, but when another guest dies, her cop sense kicks in. The local Sheriff tells her to stand down, but with her own life in danger, Mel won't back off. With everything on the line, she has to push through her own fears to catch the killer before more bodies drop, perhaps even her own.

EXCERPT

“Keep him in our freezer?”

It took Mel over twenty minutes to get through to the sheriff’s department. After telling the dispatcher what happened, that was the best advice he had to offer. No one was available to come out for a non-emergency until late tomorrow morning at the earliest. She thanked the dispatcher and returned to the Great Room to mentally measure the body. It surprised her when Jackson, apparently over his squeamishness, tagged along behind her.

The Babbling Brook only served breakfast, and when they replaced all the old appliances with gleaming new ones, thanks to her brother Liam being a contractor, Vinnie had insisted they’d be serving fresh food and wouldn’t need the big chest freezer that used to be in the laundry room. Instead, they bought a smaller upright one for the kitchen. Unless someone held the door to this smaller unit closed until Mr. Hubbard froze into an upright human popsicle, it wouldn’t do.

She scrubbed her hand across her eyes and heaved a sigh. “I don’t suppose we could just put him outside? Surely it’s cold enough?”

As she feared, Jackson shook his head. “Unless you’ve got a way to keep him in a high place, bears, coyotes or even dogs might get to him. What about a garage or tool shed?”

She gnawed at her thumbnail. “Nope, not yet anyway. Liam was going to get around to it this summer.”

“Liam?” Jackson’s attempt to act casual sounded strained. “Is he your husband?”

“Ewww, no. He’s my pain in the ass younger brother.”

For the moment, Mel pushed aside how oddly relieved Jackson appeared with her answer. There’s a dead guy under a sheet in her Great Room, and her marital status was what he’s worried about?

“I’ve got room in the freezer at my café, Ms. O’Rourke,” Jackson offered.

“You’d do that?”

He smiled, his dimples working their charm. “It’s a small town. Neighbors help each other out.”

“Yeah but keep a DB in with your food?” She shuddered. “That can’t be good for your ‘A’ rating.”

Mel was only partly joking. A thing like that would cause a stir for the health department in LA.

“Hey, if it’s good enough for a luxury cruise ship, it’s good enough for The Hungry Puppy.” He hurried to explain. “This one time on the Queen Mary they had to…never mind. I’m kidding, I have a spare chest freezer on my service porch. My dad likes to go hunting, and on the off chance that he actually shoots anything, we keep an extra one for storage. I have to turn it on, but in this weather I’m sure your Mr. Hubbard will be fine until it gets running.”

She put her hand out, surprised at how rough his hands were when he took it in reply. “Please, if you’re going to store dead bodies for me, call me Mel.”

“Jackson Thibodeaux. When I’m not blocking your drive, I run The Hungry Puppy Café.”

Get the Audiobook at:

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Book Links:
QiwiAudio: https://store.qiwiaudio.com/products/the-starlight-mint-surprise-murder

Google: https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAEDyfkc-pM

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/the-starlight-mint-surprise-murder-1

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Starlight-Surprise-Murder-Christmas-Cookies-ebook/dp/B09FYXBBMP

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-starlight-mint-surprise-murder/id1585527745

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-starlight-mint-surprise-murder-marla-a-white/1140148620?ean=2940162321743

Books2Read: https://books2read.com/u/bMw0v8

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/the-starlight-mint-surprise-murder-by-marla-a-white

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59063839-the-starlight-mint-surprise-murder

Audiobook Excerpt:

https://youtu.be/BK_jwdX2iCI

About the Author

Marla White is an award-winning novelist who prefers killing people who annoy her on paper rather than in real life. Her first full-length mystery novel, “Cause for Elimination,” placed in several contests including Killer Nashville, The RONE Awards, The Reader’s Favorite, and finishing second in the Orange County Romance Writers for Romantic Suspense. Originally from Oklahoma, she lived in a lot of other states before settling down in Los Angeles to work in the television industry. She currently teaches at UCLA Extension and gives seminars about the art of script coverage. When she’s not working on the next book, she’s out in the garden, hiking, cheering on the LA Kings, or discovering new craft cocktails.

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