REVIEW: A DEAD HUSBAND (A Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery Book#1) by Anna Celeste Burke

Synopsis (from Amazon)

Jessica Huntington, rich, beautiful, and smart, seeks refuge from betrayal in a desert paradise near Palm Springs 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?

This is the first in the Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery Series

Review

Jessica Huntington is self-absorbed and self-destructing, but able to shift her focus when her good friend's husband Roger is killed and Laura is the prime suspect. Jessica's friends are an unusual combination including St. Bernadette, Jessica's caregiver since she was a child, Brien the pool guy, Tommy, her like a brother friend, Jerry, the hunky PI and Peter, the lawyer she hasn't seen since she graduated from law school.  As she finds herself involved with some pretty scary people, her divorce and louse of a husband become less of a focus.  Nothing like a murder to make her more responsible. She even can see some new beginnings if she manages to survive.

The characters are fun even for someone who isn't up on shoe designers. They also are unique enough that anyone would easily find one they could relate to. The story has  a lot more shopping than I could ever do, many twists and turns that keep it interesting, and moves along quickly. I'm looking forward to the second in the series, A DEAD SISTER.