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Anna Celeste Burke

Goodreads Author

Born

in Fort Leonard Wood MO, The United States

Website

http://www.desertcitiesmystery.com/

Twitter

aburke59

Genre

Mystery, Suspense, Humor and Comedy

Influences

Janet Evanovich, Jonnie Jacobs, Rebecca Forster, Sara Paretsky

Member Since

December 2013

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Anna Celeste Burke is an awarding-winning, USA Today & Wall Street Journal Bestselling author!
Welcome! Join me, snooping into life's mysteries with fun, fiction, and food--California style!

Life is an extravaganza and so unpredictable! 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— Anna Celeste Burke is an awarding-winning, USA Today & Wall Street Journal Bestselling author!
Welcome! Join me, snooping into life's mysteries with fun, fiction, and food--California style!

Life is an extravaganza and so unpredictable! 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 cats.

The Sonoran Desert is a beautiful setting to ponder life’s mysteries, by the surrounding mountains and the bountiful delights of the desert resort communities. I hope you enjoy reading the books in my three cozy mystery series: The Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery Series, The Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery Series, and the Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery Series. Cheers! Anna

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Dear Anna: Thank you for the contact. What an extraordinary life you have had. And I agree with you - you take life by the neck and, without judgement, go with it wherever it takes you. Keep trucking and to hell with the begrudgers. Have you yet figured where life goes from here? Regards Patrick.

Anna Celeste Burke I spent 30 years studying social and human behavior and know less now than ever! I'm waiting for that "wisdom" thing to kick in but it hasn't happened…moreI spent 30 years studying social and human behavior and know less now than ever! I'm waiting for that "wisdom" thing to kick in but it hasn't happened yet. I'm reading the Cloud of Unknowing written by an anonymous monk a thousand years ago or so. Thought that would be appropriate reading given how much time I spend in that state of mind anyway! For now, I'm just writing and trying to accept what I don't understand. Our desert here in California is a good place to do all that. It will be hot soon, though. The desert's way...Cheers! (less)

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What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

Anna Celeste Burke There are so many. My early life was filled with one mystifying event after another. In a family where there are lots of secrets, the truth is hard to…moreThere are so many. My early life was filled with one mystifying event after another. In a family where there are lots of secrets, the truth is hard to come by. Unsolved mysteries fade too soon into the past and take their truths with them, don't they?

One of the many mysteries in my life that remain unresolved won't ever get resolved at this point. What is the truth about my maternal grandmother's role in our extended family? Who was she? Other than a name and a few half-truths and rumors, I'll never know because she died more than a decade ago.

Rumor has it that she married my 30-year-old grandfather when she was a teenager. Was she really a nightclub singer with whom my grandfather became smitten? I find that difficult to believe because the man I knew as a "Grandpa" was not one to frequent saloons. A tee-totaller and an active member of a rather ascetic protestant church congregation, barhopping did not fit his persona.

There was that picture though. Grandpa as a college student in the 1920s sporting a full-length raccoon coat. On his head, a white straw boater hat. He was surrounded by what might have been fraternity brothers. They all held pennants raised at football games to urge team members on to victory. On the way home did they make a stop at a local speakeasy to toast a hard-won game?

He met his future wife after he'd left college behind. Maybe the same year they repealed Prohibition. My mother was born in 1934. Rumor also has it that my thirty-year-old grandpa was ready to settle down and his teenage bride was not. Not long after my mother was born, Grandma left, perhaps yearning for the excitement of her life as a singer. She took my mother with her and ran up bills all over town. That's before Grandpa hired a private detective to find them and bring them back--not once, but many times.

By the time my mother turned six, Grandma was gone for good. The subject of D-I-V-O-R-C-E was not discussed openly when my grandfather took that drastic step. It wasn't a word associated with fine, upstanding, churchgoing people like him. How had it come to pass that he took such a huge, socially stigmatized step? I'll never know that either because while he was alive, we never spoke of his first wife. Grist for the rumor mill when it happened, I'm sure, but a reason for secrecy in my family even decades later.

The woman I called Grandma was his second wife. A sweet, soft-spoken woman, she was devoted to my grandfather. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I fully understood what it meant that my Uncle was my mother's half-brother. Even then I didn't learn much more about my "real" maternal grandmother.

After my grandfather and his second wife both died, this woman reconnected with my mother. Where had she been since she left when my mother turned six? Rumor has it, she had been forbidden to see my mother or initiate any contact with her as a condition of the divorce agreement. Even after she remarried, she had continued to abide by those rules. Why?

I will never know. I never met her, or even spoke to her then either because by then my mother and I were living in separate countries. I had a family of my own and a career. I had developed the kind of estrangement that takes hold in families that keep secrets. A deeply personal version of "don't ask, don't tell." Maybe that's why I write mysteries with discrete endings. So many in real life don't end that way, do they?(less)

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Anna Celeste Burke’s books

Average rating: 4.3 · 12,604 ratings · 2,467 reviews · 58 distinct works • Similar authors

	A Body on Fitzgerald’s Bluff (Seaview Cottages #1) 4.07 avg rating — 1,025 ratings — published 2018 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Dead Husband (Jessica Huntington, #1) 4.13 avg rating — 962 ratings — published 2013 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lily's Homecoming Under Fire (Calla Lily Mystery #1) 4.31 avg rating — 635 ratings — published 2019 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Murder at Catmmando Mountain (Georgie Shaw, #1) 4.13 avg rating — 530 ratings — published 2016 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Dead Sister (Jessica Huntington, #2) 4.46 avg rating — 454 ratings — published 2014 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Murder of Shakespeare's Ghost (Seaview Cottages #2) 4.31 avg rating — 436 ratings — published 2019 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Murder at Sea of Passenger X (Georgie Shaw #5) 4.32 avg rating — 406 ratings — published 2017 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cowabunga Christmas (Corsario Cove #1) 3.79 avg rating — 448 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Merry Christmas Wedding Mystery (Georgie Shaw, #4) 4.27 avg rating — 377 ratings — published 2016 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Tangle in the Vines (Calla Lily Mystery #2) by Anna Celeste Burke (Goodreads Author) 4.45 avg rating — 350 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Anna Celeste Burke's Blog

The Real Poodle Springs

A Dead Mother

I don't know if of you're a fan of Raymond Chandler or not. He was one of the first authors to write Noir Mystery Detective Fiction. Philip Marlowe, Private Eye, was the epitome of the hard-boiled detective. Tame by today's standards, Farewell, My Lovely, Murder, My Sweet, and Double Indemnity [the screenplay on which he collaborated], and his other stories were considered dark an Read more of this blog post »

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Published on August 11, 2017 13:55 • Tags: authors, california, cozy-mystery, detective-mystery, fiction, murder, mystery, noir, novels, palm-springs, writers, writing

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Series by Anna Celeste Burke

Georgie Shaw (8 books)
by

Anna Celeste Burke (Goodreads Author)

4.31 avg rating — 2,958 ratings

Jessica Huntington (6 books)
by

Anna Celeste Burke (Goodreads Author)

4.36 avg rating — 2,705 ratings

Seaview Cottages (4 books)
by

Anna Celeste Burke (Goodreads Author),

Peggy Hyndman (Editor)

4.24 avg rating — 2,114 ratings

Calla Lily Mystery (4 books)
by

Anna Celeste Burke (Goodreads Author)

4.40 avg rating — 1,468 ratings

Corsario Cove (5 books)
by

Anna Celeste Burke (Goodreads Author)

4.00 avg rating — 821 ratings

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Anna is Currently Reading

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Alfred Hitchcock

by Gene D. Phillips

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Aug 05, 2014 06:35PM

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Never Let You Go

by Sabrina Devonshire (Goodreads Author)

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Anna Burke rated a book it was amazing The Vintner's Other Daughter (Calla Lily Mystery #4) by Anna Celeste Burke (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 02, 2023 06:39PM · 3 likes · like
Anna Burke and 2 other people liked Bonnie Dale Keck's review of The Vintner's Other Daughter (Calla Lily Mystery #4): "kindle unlimited, not out yet but needed place holder when do the review and to go ahead listing all the books, not even arc out yet When a young woman goes missing, Lily, Austin, and their friends become entangled in a new California wine country mys" Read more of this review »
Feb 19, 2023 02:13PM · see review
Anna Burke and 2 other people liked Judy Tucker's review of The Vintner's Other Daughter (Calla Lily Mystery #4): "The plot thickens as the posse searches for the missing girl. The characters keep getting better and the clues get intriguing. Lots of twists that will keep you reading until the end"
Feb 19, 2023 02:13PM · see review
Anna Burke joined the group The Source Book Club
Jun 29, 2022 03:02PM · 1 like · like

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Quotes by Anna Celeste Burke (?)

“Money can’t buy you happiness. I know, but I’d given it a good try. Not”
― Anna Celeste Burke, A Dead Mother

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“It could happen,” Bernadette agreed. “That picture could go virus.” “Viral, not virus,” I said not sure why I bothered to correct her. “Besides, I’m not”
― Anna Celeste Burke, A Dead Mother

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“Chili Upside-Down Pie Serves 6 Ingredients 1-1/2 Pounds Ground Beef 1/2 Cup Chopped Onions (1 Cup if you love onions) 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder 1 Small Can of Tomato Paste 1 Small Can of Tomato Sauce 1 Can of Chili Beans 1-1/4 Teaspoons Salt Sliced Jalapenos (optional) 1 Package Corn Muffin Mix (like Jiffy Mix) 1 Egg 1/4 Cup Milk 1 Small Can of Creamed Sweet Corn 2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese Chili Brown ground beef and onions. Drain grease. Add chili powder, salt, tomato paste, and tomato sauce. Cook 30 minutes. Add chili beans and cook 10 minutes. Put meat mixture in 9”x13” pan. Corn Bread: Mix muffin mix, egg, milk, and creamed corn well. Pour over meat mixture. Bake for 25 minutes at 400o F or until golden brown. Let stand 2 minutes and then turn over onto cookie sheet. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and place in turned-off oven until melted.”
― Anna Celeste Burke, Fall's Killer Vintage

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