JUST DESERTS

Dilettante chef Angie Amalfi doubts if she'll actually survive her engagement to San Francisco homicide detective Paavo Smith, what with her meddling mom micromanaging the whole affair. So Angie leaps at the chance to spend some time away with her fiancé in the sun-drenched Arizona desert town where he'd spent time as a boy -- and maybe explore the possibility of a Southwestern-themed wedding feast.

But her groom-to-be is going back there to help a friend investigate the murder of a wealthy local -- and it seems this tiny desert community is a hotbed of deadly secrets. And when a second course of murder is served up, suddenly Angie's tasty getaway with her lover is starting to look more and more like her final meal.