Jessica Huntington, rich, beautiful, and smart, seeks refuge from betrayal in a desert paradise only to discover life is full of surprises…like a dead husband.

Jessica Huntington is hiding out from her own well-planned life, now in shambles. Her law career tanked by the Great Recession, she failed miserably as a desperate housewife in the Silicon Valley playing beat-the-clock with her 30-something hormones. In the end she put on a little baby fat, but no baby. The final blow: walking in on her husband in bed with a well-known Hollywood blond. The Rancho Mirage home where she grew up, surrounded by the beauty of the desert resort town near Palm Springs, seems the perfect place to take refuge. That is until her best friend’s husband is murdered. Jessica and her friends are soon thrust into the fray stalked by scoundrels in pantyhose, stilettos, Bruno Magli shoes, and Armani suits. Roger Stone had something that got him killed. What was it and to what lengths will they go to get it back?

A DEAD HUSBAND is the first in the Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery Series.

Oh? When can we read the next book?
A DEAD SISTER will be out early 2014.

What genre are these books?
A mystery series set in the beautiful resort communities in and around Palm Springs, CA with heart and humor.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
Mostly women, age 30s-65+ with a sense of humor, who understand what it’s like to get in over your head and do whatever it takes to stay afloat. Women who are struggling to come to grips with the planful, playful, and painful aspects of life. Women who root for the underdog: even a gilt-girl underdog like Jessica Huntington. I hear them cheering her on in a chiding sort of way–“Come on Jessica, get off your duff and go for it. You’ve been dumped by a guy who is a monumental ass! Count your blessings you found that out while you’re still 30-something!” These are women who can come up with as many words for skank and scumbag as Jessica Huntington–polite and not-so-polite words for Jessica’s ex and the Hollywood blond in bed with him. They champion Jessica Huntington’s passion for doing the right thing and setting things right where she can, like figuring out who killed her best friend’s husband. Turns out she’s a fighter not a whiner, when cast into the fray–a reluctant but resourceful heroine. Oh and this book is for men too who want to learn a thing or two about how women think and what they really want.

We probably should get to know Jessica better.
Jessica Huntington born with a silver spoon in her mouth–probably a good thing given how mouthy she can be. She seems to have it all–money, looks, education–she steps right out of law school into her dream job and marries her dream man! All the money and privilege in the world can’t keep her safe from loss and betrayal–her parents’ divorce when she was young and her own now.

Fortunately she has Bernadette in her life–St. Bernadette, sometimes. Hired as the housekeeper before Jessica was born she now manages the Rancho Mirage family estate where Jessica takes refuge. She’ll admit to being in her 60s, but pushing 70 she’s a stalwart companion who does not suffer fools–even the ones she loves! And she can cook like a saint or an angel.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
Life is an extravaganza of unpredictable dimension and proportion: figuring out how to hang tough and make the most of the wild ride is the challenge. On my way to Oahu to join the rock musician and high school drop-out I married in Tijuana, I was nabbed by the police as a runaway. When the police let me go and the rock band broke up, my husband and I had to find another way to survive. Our next stop: Disney World where we trained to be chefs, courtesy of the Walt Disney World University. A GED for my husband, and many more years of education eventually landed us in academia—with Ph.D.s from the University of Michigan we took professor jobs with U of M’s longstanding football rival, The Ohio State University.

Retired now from my role as a professor in social work and behavioral science, I have picked up a long-time interest in writing fiction. In my professional career I wrote and published widely as a scholar, with more than forty manuscripts of varying lengths on my vita. I also carried out hundreds of training, consulting and speaking engagements on a number of gloriously nerdy topics.

So what on earth does a research scientist have in common with a mystery writer? As avid fans of the mystery genre will tell you at the core of any good mystery is a passionate search for the truth. Discovering the truth involves finding and assembling pieces of complex puzzles in order to solve seemingly intractable problems—scientist and sleuth are cut from the same cloth!

Still married to the same sweet guy, I live with my husband in one of the seven desert resort cities in the Palm Springs area. In addition to reading and writing mysteries I enjoy painting, hiking, hanging out with my handsome husband and tending to my Siamese kitties.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
http://www.desertcitiesmystery.com/

And social media?
@aburke59 on twitter and I’m on facebook as Celeste Burke.

How easily do new storylines come to you? If we give you four random words – Man, Woman, Airport, Darkness – can you give us a brief storyline?
Call it providence, destiny, kismet–whatever you want. It was at work that night. Two lost souls, their lives in chaos, find each other in the midst of a blackout in one of the busiest airports in the country. What caused the blackout? What was he doing where she found him that night? Does she dare reveal who she really is, and why she’s so lost? Sometimes one night is all it takes to forge a new beginning–if they can only survive the night.