The Starlight Mint Surprise Murder

By Marla A. White

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.

• Language: Unknown
• Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
• Release date: Nov 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781509237593

Marla A. White

Biography Marla White started her career as a storyteller by drawing on the TV screen to help Winky Dink get out of mortal danger. It was a thing back then and earned her the spanking of her life. Deterred by the negative feedback, she decided to be a park ranger until a miserable camping trip made her realize it was really a TV show about park rangers she liked, not the actual outdoors, and promptly switched majors. In Los Angeles, her first job was working for the producers of "A League of Their Own" but no, the character of Marla is not named after her. Since then, she's developed and sold several television movies and series. She's also been bossed around by several cats and a few horses.

Book preview

He cleared his throat. I, uh, looked you up after we met this morning.

You did a background search on me? That means… Oh shit.

Yeah, I know you’re retired LAPD. A badass, from what your file says. Shattered your ankle, chasing after a suspect and you still got your man. Wow.

Did he sound kind of turned on? Mel brushed the thought aside as being too weird to deal with right now. Please don’t tell anyone else about the ankle thing. I came here to start over.

Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. And I get it. You were a decorated, highly respected cop, I admire that. But this is my beat, my town, so leave the sleuthing to me.

Mel felt her blood pressure rise. That’s what I’m doing, buster. I’m the one who called you, remember?

He laughed. First you take pictures of the scene like the old guy was murdered, now you’re calling in a missing person who hasn’t even missed dinner? We don’t have crime up here the way you did in LA. You just have to trust me on this.

Few phrases drove Mel to do exactly the opposite of what she’d been told. "Trust me" topped the list. Going against her gut and trusting someone else never ended well.

Thank you for your advice, Deputy. She gritted teeth, barely keeping herself from adding Barney Fife before hanging up.

Praise for The Starlight Mint Surprise Murder

. . . A snowy mountain lodge, a cookie contest, a touch of romance and . . . murder. The perfect recipe for a fun cozy mystery!

~ Jennifer Snow, USA Today Bestselling Author

. . . Get lost in this winter wonderland filled with intrigue, humor, and an adorable labradoodle named Chewbarka. Ms. White’s debut cozy holiday mystery is a treat not to be missed. . .

~ C.J. Bahr, author

The Starlight Mint Surprise Murder

by

Marla A. White

Christmas Cookies Series

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

The Starlight Mint Surprise Murder

COPYRIGHT © 2021 by Marla A. White

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

Cover Art by Diana Carlile

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

PO Box 708

Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

Publishing History

First Edition, 2021

Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-3759-3

Christmas Cookies Series

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

For my Mom, who passed down love and wisdom along with her recipes.

Chapter One

Snow peacefully fell outside the mullioned windows of the rustic mountain getaway, the Babbling Brook Bed and Breakfast, carpeting the pine trees and guest cabins in fluffy whiteness, sparkling against the inky late afternoon sky while inside the large kitchen a mighty battle waged on.

Don’t beat the sugar and butter to death! Vinnie burst out laughing from the computer screen.

Smiling at her sister’s critique despite herself, Mel O’Rourke slapped the rubber spatula at the goo in the mixing bowl. It says to cream them, that’s what I’m doing.

I’m not sure ‘cream’ means what you think it does. You’ve got the flour, baking soda, and salt measured in separate bowls, right?

Yes, I did learn a few things from Paul Hollywood, Mel joked as she dumped the mixture into the eggs and sugar. With a puff, flour dusted her wavy bob in a cloud of white. Both sisters burst out laughing.

The snowstorm, an unwanted holiday surprise, shut the sleepy mountain resort town of Pine Cove off from the rest of the world below, including leaving Mel stuck getting ready for the Christmas Festival Cookie Exchange without her star baker, her sister Vinnie. This should have been the Babbling Brook Bed and Breakfast’s grand re-opening since the O’Rourke family voted to buy it a few months ago. If they were going to be introduced to the community via a cookie, it had to be the family favorite—Grandma O’Rourke’s Starlight Mint Surprise cookies.

Mel hadn’t baked since she was a child, but she figured if she binge watched The British Bake Off, all would be well. It was not.

Finally, with Vinnie’s help via Zoom, they got the first batch of cookies in the oven. Mel never understood the name, since everybody knew Starlight Mints were those red and white hard candies—and this confectionary delight couldn’t be further from that sticky sweet. Grandma’s cookie comprised a round chocolate mint buried inside a vanilla and almond flavored cookie dough with half a walnut on top. The recipe was so old, passed down from one generation to the next, that the chocolate mint wafers were no longer commonly found in stores. Fortunately, Mel put her investigative skills to work and found a source online and had ordered extra just in case.

While the cookies baked, the sisters chatted about the five guests who had managed to make it up the hill before the snow closed the road.

Vinnie voiced the same question Mel had pondered several times. Why on earth would the four yoga teachers from Culver City pick Pine Cove, in the middle of winter, for their retreat?

Beats me. They’re pleasant enough, Mel paused before adding with a frown, but it was so weird this morning. I swear Mr. Hubbard glared at one of them over breakfast.

Your scrambled eggs probably gave him indigestion, Vinnie teased.

The dinging of the timer cut off Mel’s retort. Eager to see the result, she pulled the baking sheet from the oven only to have her face fall as flat as the cookies. She held the giant, pancake-like globs up to the computer screen.

Vinnie’s eyes twinkled in merriment. Oh my gosh, what happened?

As frustrated as Mel was, she joined in the laughter. Shut up. I followed Grandma’s recipe to the letter, I don’t know what went wrong. She always makes it look so easy.

Suddenly, Mel felt terribly alone. It wasn’t the baking failure, she didn’t mind that. Much. This was the first time she’d been more than a fifteen-minute drive from at least one member of her family for Christmas.

The rumble of a truck out front caught her attention. Hang on, Vin.

She hustled through the bed and breakfast’s small lobby to peer outside. All day long a band of volunteers had been setting up the booths and lights in the tiny town square opposite the Babbling Brook for the upcoming Christmas Festival. They were testing the multiple strands of cheery lights when a huge pickup truck chugged up the street and parked right in front of the inn, coming between Mel and the magical holiday display.

Oh no he doesn’t! Mel dashed back into the kitchen. Sorry, I gotta go, Vin, this is the third time today he’s parked that truck right in front of our driveway to unload the stuff for the Christmas Festival. I’ll call you later. She slammed the computer shut.

****

Mel banged out the front door, ramming her arms through the sleeves of a jacket meant for Los Angeles’ version of winter rather than the arctic blast of the top of a mountain. She stormed toward the young man unloading more lights and