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Anna Celeste Burke
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A Dead Husband Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery #1 Kindle Edition

by Anna Celeste Burke (Author), Peggy Hyndman (Editor), Ying Cooper (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,227 ratings
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Jessica Huntington is a wealthy attorney whose life has been upended. She moves back to her childhood home near Palm Springs to reassess her life. When a close friend's husband is murdered, she asks Jessica for help in solving the crime. Along with a close-knit group of friends affectionately named the Cat Pack, Jessica is soon on the trail of scoundrels in pantyhose, stilettos, Bruno Maglis, and Armani suits. Even in a desert paradise, life is full of surprises.

USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Anna Celeste Burke, brings you an unconventional sleuth hot on the heels of high-living lowlifes in the Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery Series.

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5***** “This book has everything! Suspense, colorful characters, romance, and a beautiful and interesting setting, all woven together with intelligence and wit.”

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  1. Book 1 of 7
    Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery Series
  2. Print length
    296 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    December 10, 2013
  6. File size
    3010 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Anna Celeste Burke is an award-winning and bestselling author. Her books include the Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery series set in the Coachella Valley, the Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery series set on California's Central Coast, and the Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery series set in Orange County, California.



Rebecca Mitchell is a performance artist and classically trained vocalist, as well as a professional host, emcee, and personality. Her natural flair for the dramatic, coupled with her love of being in the studio, brought her to the world of narrating in 2013.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00H870VMU
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Create Space (December 10, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 10, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3010 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,227 ratings

About the author

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Anna Celeste Burke

Anna Celeste Burke

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Anna Celeste Burke is an award-winning, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author!

Welcome! Join me to get a free eBook--just copy & paste the link: http://www.desertcitiesmystery.com

Life is an extravaganza! 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 had met in San Diego and 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 landed us in academia at 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. I'm still married to the same sweet guy and live with him in the Palm Springs area. In addition to reading and writing fiction, I enjoy painting, hiking, hanging out with my handsome husband and tending to my Siamese kitties.

An award-winning and bestselling author I enjoy snooping into life's mysteries with fun, fiction, & food—California style! I write books in five series: The Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery series set in the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs, the Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery series set on California’s Central Coast, The Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery series set in Orange County, California, The Seaview Cottages Cozy Mystery Series set on the American Riviera, just north of Santa Barbara, and The Calla Lily Mystery series set in Northern California's wine country.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
1,227 global ratings
The prequel to this book is Love, a Foot Above The Ground
4 Stars
The prequel to this book is Love, a Foot Above The Ground
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.The prequel to this book is Love, a Foot Above The Ground. This is also the first story in the Jessica Huntington Desert Cities mystery series.Life should be pretty good for Jessica, but it's not. When she graduated from law school, she was immediately hired by a law firm that hired her for a position she's always dreamt of having. Not only that, but soon after graduating, she married the love of her life. Now, not many years later, Jessica and her husband have lost their jobs because of the economy, and their marriage ends in divorce. As a result, Jessica moves back into her family home to live with her longtime friend and confidant, Bernadette.Once she's back home it doesn't take her long to get involved in the party scene, and she soon realizes she's drinking too much and knows she needs to get her life under control. Soon after she realizes this, her friend Laura phones and tells her she returned home that morning, after a night of partying, to find her husband dead. Although Jessica is not a defence attorney, she rushes to her friends side. After speaking with Laura, Jessica decides they are going to need the assistance of another lawyer, if only because she's not a defence lawyer, and starts planning on bringing another one into the fold. Jessica's first thoughts go to an alumni friend who's not only brilliant, but has a history of winning trials for his clients. When Jessica meets with her lawyer friend, he advises her it could take the police a long time to do their investigation, because of staff shortages, and suggests she bring others in to help them do their own investigation.As interesting as this story is so far, it gets a lot more involved as Jessica and the team set out to determine what's actually happened. Not only is it important to clear Laura of any possible charges, they also need to find out who murdered her husband and why. It's also going to be important to bring the guilty person to justice, in order to make life easier for Laura's children.
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Top reviews from the United States

Doward Wilson
5.0 out of 5 stars MONEY, DIVORCE & MURDER
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2018
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I want you to meet Jessica Huntington! She is 33, wealthy, a lawyer and a shopping addict with a Black AMEX card. After finding her husband in bed with a young Hollywood blonde, Jessica has moved back to her mother's estate in one of the seven desert cities in the Coachella Valley east of Los Angeles. After a wild party to celebrate her divorce, Jessica gets a call from her best friend, Laura, that she got home and found her husband's body in the hall.
The investigating police have Laura at the top of the suspect list. Who would have wanted to murder Roger. He was just a nice guy who did remodeling work for the wealthy valley inhabitants. As Jessica works to clear Laura, she gets involved with a mysterious woman, a crime lord and a twisted murder plot. Will Jessica and her friends save Laura or become additional victims?

This first book in the series is both outrageously funny and addictive. Jessica and her friends are very realistically written and will keep you in both suspense and rolling on the floor with laughter! I love how the descriptions of the valley and the cities in it, bring the area to life. The writing is smooth flowing and very descriptive. I loved how intricate the murder plot was. It kept your attention and didn't let go until the final page. I highly recommend this book and series to anyone who loves a fascinating adventure, wild and wacky characters and nonstop action. Suitable for both mystery and cozy mystery fans!
13 people found this helpful
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mel345
4.0 out of 5 stars Jessica solves a murder
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2023
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Jessica is going through a divorce and her friends are out with her. Laura goes home to find her husband murdered and she is the prime suspect. Jessica helps to find out who really killed Laura's husband. She gets beat up a few times since the real murderer thinks she knows more than she does. Jessica enlists the help of her friends which are an interesting group. Lots of action with a twist at the end. Interesting, entertaining story and a quick read.
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Sandy Penny
5.0 out of 5 stars A LIttle Humor, A LIttle Murder
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2023
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I love the characters, good and evil, smart or confused. I love the stumbling around in the dark that solves the cases. When Jessica's friend's husband is murdered. her friend begs her to help keep her from being accused of murder after a night of infidelity. And the plot thickens, as they say. Jessica takes a couple of beatings in the investigation process and is not trying to put herself in danger. It's a great story, well told, with enough confusion and humor to keep your reading.
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Christy Curtis
3.0 out of 5 stars A Dead Husband needs EDITING!
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2015
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This book is such a disappointment. First the beginning has nothing to do with the story it needs to be removed. I had tried to read this book in July 2015 but the beginning gave me the impression it was not my type of book, one of the many chick lit books, so I ignored it. My loss because once the plot starts you'll find you can't put it down. I'm not one to mind typos or sentences jumping from one line down to another so that you have to read carefully to get the point but this book boy this book every sentence was jarring. This book has such a quality plot it could easily have cost me full hard cover price & I would have thought it worth it except for the lack of editing. Names are used in the beginning of a sentence & again at the end redundant! Sentences have words added that make no sense of what is being forwarded in the plot or the dialogue. One time Jessica, the heroine, drives somewhere at Sunset & a few sentences later she is driving towards lunch.

I'd like to have seen the women in the story be less helpless. I mean in this day & age what woman simply shops all day & has no idea what her financial status is or what her laid off husband is doing to pay the bills? And crying my goodness this goes on & on & it does NOT further the plot but then again the shopping doesn't either! I'm sure the author wanted we readers in the know what expensive clothes Jessica was buying. Sadly I'm not one of those women who had any idea who the makers of the clothes were.

The characters had problems Jessica's husband cheated on her, Laura's husband is found dead, and Laura's sister Sara isn't really fully fleshed out. She & her husband loan Laura's husband $5,000 & Sara gets so wound up about it she goes to her Sister's house to demand it back. The reason being is her two children. And that's it no explanation as to why she has to have money in their savings always. I wondered why? It's not like her husband Dave isn't working so you think he'd have insurance.

I liked this is a stand alone book with a hint of what's to come in book 2. I'd really like to buy the second book however I'll read a few chapters & see if it has the same lack of editing if so I'm not sure I'll buy it now I'll just wait till it's free. Which is a crying shame all authors should be paid for their hard work. And Ms Burke put a great deal of thought into the story line.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars The amazing story line will keep you turning the pages.
Reviewed in Canada on August 29, 2019
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I loved this story from start to finish, it’s hard to put down. It was fast paced and a twist just when you thought it was figured out. I love Jessica Huntington Harpers character, she shows that she is only human with her strengths and self doubt at time. Jessica is willing to do what it takes to clear her friends name even if it endangers her life and the life of her friends.
I won’t say anything more as I don’t want to spoil it totally for you.
I would highly recommend this book and I have also listened to it as an Audiobook and that was a totally new way for me and I would recommend the Audiobook and I will look for more Audios in the future, they are extremely relaxing.
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Simon
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Detective Thriller
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 17, 2014
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A Dead Husband by Anna Celeste Burke is a flawless diamond of perfection, oozing class, wealth and the underbelly of crime sizzling below the surface. The opening chapter is amazing and the author wastes no time in setting the mood with two rich wives, Jessica and Laura, living their routine existence of expensive designer clothes, gorgeous homes in Palm Springs, luxury cars. The descriptions draw the reader into this elite world only to have them smacked across the head as this world is violently torn apart.
And once Jessica's rich world has been trodden on she must put on her detective shoes as a lawyer and discover why her best friend's husband has been brutally murdered in their home. Here the author excels at wringing every emotion to fully explain just how terrible a violent loss can be to family and friends. But the violence doesn't stop there as Jessica delves deeper into the seedy underworld of organized crime and those who flit around its fringes. Not your usual hard-nosed, hard-boiled detective thriller, more your Gucci loafer, Cristal kind of work.
This reader had a hard time putting down this superior detective thriller seen from the POV of a woman in no way trained to handle the toughness needed. Every chapter brought fresh information like a detective's report piecing together a maelstrom of unfathomable clues. A masterpiece of detective writing made all he more brilliant by this great author's talent.
FIVE STAR detective thriller and very highly recommended.
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Katielou
4.0 out of 5 stars mystery
Reviewed in Australia on August 5, 2018
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What fun this story is...fast funny....a good read
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Maria
4.0 out of 5 stars Armed with a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes and a black Amex card.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 24, 2014
Verified Purchase
If you're 18 - 80 years old, enjoy chick-lit, like a good mystery and appreciate a sprinkling of humour, this is the book for you.
In the first half the plot gently meanders, giving the reader the opportunity to get to know the characters, the neighbourhood and get the flavour of the Coachella Valley where the story is set. In the second half the pace picks up, bringing the story to a satisfying conclusion.
Jessica, the only child of wealthy parents, returns to her childhood home to celebrate her forthcoming divorce and seek the comfort of her old housekeeper, Bernadette. Waking with a hangover and a vague recollection of the previous evenings' events she learns her friend returned home to discover her husband murdered. Armed with little more than a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes, a black Amex card and a good heart, Jessica sets off to support her friend and "get to the bottom of things." Unravelling the mystery leads her to discover marital infidelities, financial disasters and into the murky and dangerous world of Russian gangsters.
As a life-long tomboy with zero fashion sense, I generally prefer mysteries a little grittier but I found this book an entertaining and engaging read. Well-written and good fun.
One person found this helpful
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PoohBear
5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT READ!!
Reviewed in Canada on July 26, 2018
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I loved the fast pace, the convoluted twists & turns. The female protagonist shows strength but also moments of self-doubt. A rip-roaring read, police procedural with amateur sleuths getting involved. Fun too! Can't wait to read the following books & the author's other series.
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