Bloodstains and Candy Canes

By Marla A. White

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?

• Language: Unknown
• Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
• Release date: Nov 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781509242764

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

Call him.

Dolores is right. Shaw once told me 911 calls are automatically routed to the Highway Patrol where they get sorted to the appropriate agency. If you know the local police number, you’ll get a faster response by calling them directly. But I also know the last person I want to see right now is Officer Dylan Shaw.

Who cares? I ask. The dead guy isn’t going anywhere.

Dee narrows her eyes and gives me an icy gaze. No, but the killer is. The police need to get this place locked down fast if they’re going to have a shot at finding them.

Well poop, I hadn’t thought of that. My head is too far up my own butt to think past my broken heart. Fine, I’ll call him.

She nods, pulling the sobbing Bethany under one arm and using the other to guide, coerce and otherwise wrangle Agnes, the guests, and caterers alike back to the veranda. Very few people have the strength to refuse Dolores’ will of iron.

When there’s no one else around, I slip into the den and grab my phone. Stomach lurching with dread, I hit the button for Shaw and wait the tension-filled five seconds as it rings once before he answers. "Hey Mandy, what’s up?"

His cheerful tone surprises me until irritation sweeps it away. Does he not realize I’m mad at him for ghosting me? This isn’t a social call, Shaw.

Praise for Marla A. White and…

BLOODSTAINS AND CANDY CANES

…literally Hollywood backstabbing fun. Fantastic characters in a close room cozy mystery will make you want to grab a cup of your favorite drink (or perhaps a special brownie), and dive into the story for an entertaining, quirky read.

~ C J Bahr, award-winning author

~*~

…It's all fun and games until one of the guests is murdered… Marla White brings a twisty page turner laced with humor and Hollywood snark…

~ Nancylee Myatt, Emmy winning television writer/producer/creator. 

~*~

STARLIGHT MINT SURPRISE MURDER:

…White blends cozy mystery with small town holidays perfectly… Highly recommended!

~ N.N. Light Review

~*~

… 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

~*~

… filled with intrigue, humor, and an adorable labradoodle named Chewbarka. A debut cozy holiday mystery is a treat not to be missed…

~ C J Bahr, award-winning author

Bloodstains and Candy Canes

by

Marla A. White

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.

Bloodstains and Candy Canes

COPYRIGHT © 2022 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, 2022

Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-4276-4

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

To all the frontline workers who kept us going through the tough times, including small animal veterinarians like Dr. Nahmi Jones and her terrific crew at Blue Cross Pet Hospital. There aren’t enough muffins in the world to thank you for your care.

Chapter One

I don’t know how I get myself into these things.

My plans for my first Saturday off in two months had been simple—finish my Christmas shopping for my folks back in Ohio, get the packages ready to be mailed on Monday, then relax with a good book. Even a mediocre book would do, as long as it’s a little smutty. The best male companionship I’ve had of late was my faithful Rottweiler, Boy.

The other men in my life have disappeared, vanished into thin air without a trace. To be clear, it’s not like I’ve had a ton of men flocking around me. A lowly first-year small animal veterinarian with more debt than paycheck would have to be stunning for that to be the case in Los Angeles. I’m cute in a girl-next-door way, but stunning is a pretty high bar in Tinseltown.

Instead, I let my head vet technician, Dolores Jackson, talk me into coming to a swanky Beverly Hills cookie exchange with her. Dolores is the best most days, and the first friend I made after I moved to Los Angeles, but she can be a force of nature. She’s worked for Dr. Clodfelter, the owner of the clinic and our boss, for so long, she knows where all the bodies are buried. That’s how she got both of us off the schedule on a Saturday two weeks before Christmas.

Naturally when my sweet, eccentric landlady and former 1960’s Hollywood starlet, Mrs. Clara De Vine, heard about the party, she insisted on tagging along. Sometimes I think her mansion might feel a tad lonely with only her Yorkshire terrier, Schroeder, for company. Maybe she lets me live in her pool house practically rent-free to keep her company. And since her pool house is three times the size of any L.A. apartment I could afford, I’m very grateful.

On the other hand, she also throws massive parties with guests of all ages and invites me to come over to meet new people. Maybe she thinks I’m the lonely one. All I know for sure is I hope when I’m eighty I can shake my booty the way she does.

So here I am, crammed in the backseat of Dolores’ smallish car clutching a plastic container of homemade Candy Cane cookies in my lap. I opted for the buttery candy cane-shaped cookies, made by twisting strands of white and red colored dough together, because