WICKED WEDNESDAY
Please welcome Marla A. White to Discover... I love suspenseful horsey tales. A wicked ride. I have my copy!
Hey Brenda, thanks so much for letting me take over this
Wicked Wednesday to talk about the two different wicked rides in “Cause for
Elimination”. One is mechanical, the other equestrian, and each is “wicked” in
every sense of the word, depending on your perspective.
The first wicked ride is Ellie May, a classic 1960s mint
green and white pickup truck that remains a bone of contention in the divorce
between Emily Conners and her ex-husband Nick. To Emily it’s just a way of
getting from point A to point B, while Nick loves the truck so much he named
it. Which was primarily the reason it was the only thing she asked for in the
divorce.
For Detective Justin Butler, the ride is wicked as in the
worst ride he’s ever taken. Only partially restored, the springs from the seat
hit him in all the wrong places. Then again, Emily’s driving is so terrifying
to the normally stoic cop he forgets about how uncomfortable he is and merely
hopes to survive.
Ellie May is based on a real truck that belonged to someone
who worked in the building next to mine for years. I’d stare out the window of
my office and, being a horse person who yearned for their own truck and trailer,
I fell in love with it. And the growl of the engine was so wicked! She started
as a minor part of the story and, like so many characters in my books, demanded
more page time of her own. I never knew it belonged to and always wished I’d
gone next door to find out more about it. Lesson learned—grab those chances
when they come along!
The other wicked ride in “Cause” is Reese, the off-off the
track Thoroughbred owned by Lottie Gray, the unpredictable, mischievous
socialite. After the murder of her trainer, she turns to her friend and
assistant trainer to take over the ride. And as anyone who rides knows, some
days are fabulous while others are disasters.
As Emily battles back from a life-altering numbers
throughout the book, she has several kinds of rides. One is a romantic, fun
adventure getting Justin on a horse and one is a disaster at a clinic with
hunky eventing legend Dearg McGregor that breaks open the big man’s heart. Eventually,
Emily will be challenged to ride past her fears or risk losing it all.
Reese is more than a little inspired by my former horse,
also named Reese. A sweet, giant goofball with a bigger than life personality,
I learned so much from my years owning and riding him. Not as much as Emily
does, I was nowhere near her level of rider, but every fence we came to he did
everything I asked for. Not that we were successful all the time; when I’d ask,
“are you sure we want to go over that?” he’d oblige by answering, “I’m cool
with not doing it, I’ve got nothing to prove.”
BLURB
"Cause
for Elimination" is an award-winning suspense/mystery/romance set in the
world of equestrian eventing. Emily Conners finds her boss's dead body in their
horse training stables and that's only the start of her problems. Detective
Justin Butler is brought in to investigate and Emily is worried that in the
process of looking for the killer he'll discover the dark secret she's keeping
from everyone, even her best friend. As the search for the murderer heats up,
their hearts become entangled and their lives at risk, forcing Emily and Justin
to work together to find the killer before they strike again.
As a once
and (hopefully) future eventer, the horse world was a large part of my life and
I love introducing horse and non-horse people alike to this arena and colorful
cast of characters.
EXCERPT
Lost in her own thoughts, Emily flinched when the detective
broke the relative silence of the pickup’s cab, having to raise his voice to be
heard over the truck’s throaty engine as they roared down the road. “You do
realize I’m a cop, right?”
She glanced over and saw his white-knuckle grip on the
passenger door armrest. “That’s the fourth orange light you’ve run,” he fussed,
relaxing his hold to make air quotes around the word orange. “Not to mention
the speeding,” he added as they charged up the freeway entrance ramp.
Who knew detectives
were such wusses?
“Oh, come on, even traffic cops tell you it’s okay to go ten
miles over the posted speed limit.”
“You’re going twenty miles over and that’s an urban myth.
Besides, I thought all you horse whisperers were the calm, patient type.”
He shifted in his seat. When Nick refurbished the truck, he
hadn’t gotten around to replacing the bench
seat. Unruly springs tended to poke
people in rude places. She was used to the rough ride but considering the cop’s
car was so cushy it probably had heated seats, she took pity on him and
throttled Ellie May back to a gentle purr, reducing the bouncing to a bare minimum.
“You want scary, you should ride with a DQ.”
“DQ?”
“Dressage Queen,” she answered. “Talk about brutal. Besides,
I told you before, I’m still pretty new to the horse world.”
“So, Ms. Conners, what made you want to work in a barn?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Is knowing that relevant to
your investigation?”
“I’m just trying to make polite conversation,” he said with
a warm smile.
It had been a long time since she’d had any type of
conversation, polite or otherwise. Pam had a way of asking questions as if she
cared but ended up using the information against you. And Emily had learned
through skilled practice to figure out the answers her various doctors wanted
to hear in order to prescribe more painkillers, but that’s not the same as conversation,
is it? Maybe she needed to brush up on her social skills, but the wisdom of
starting off with a cop seemed shaky at best.
BOOK LINKS
Amazon https://amzn.to/3qk7XCP
Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/b6zjM6
BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/books/cause-for-elimination-by-marla-a-white
GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62233827-cause-for-elimination
All Author https://allauthor.com/book/70256/cause-for-elimination/
Marla White – Social Media LinksTwitter: https://twitter.com/TheScriptFixer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marlaw825/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarlaAWhiteAuthor
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://www.amazon.com/stores/Marla-A.-White/author/B094DVMCR4?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
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