Murder Victim Found In New Mexico’s Lightning Field

Aug. 22, 2008 - PRLog -- Loveable lesbian breast cancer survivor, Tess Camillo, is back. In previous novels, she proved nothing could stop her—not personal health issues, gruesome crucifixions, or a rattlesnake under her bed. Now she must solve a murder at her most intriguing crime scene yet—New Mexico’s Lightning Field—in Morgan Hunt’s new mystery novel “Blinded by the Light” (ISBN 9781593500856, Alyson Books, 2008).

New Mexico has served as the locale for numerous mysteries. Readers know Joe Leaphorn's haunts, and writers like Kathleen Gear, Susan Slater and Robert Westbrook have explored New Mexico’s mountains and deserts. But until Morgan Hunt’s “Blinded by the Light,” no mystery writer had ever brought readers to the Lightning Field, one of the most unusual manmade structures in the Southwest.

Tess Camillo and her pregnant Albuquerque friend, Beth, decide to visit the Lightning Field—400 lightning poles in a special configuration that form an exotic earthworks art piece by Walter De Maria in New Mexico’s western desert. Tess enjoys the fascinatingly beautiful sunset effect on the poles. And when lightning strikes, she finds the experience electrifying. But Tess never anticipated finding a dead body in the field the next morning.

At first the victim appears to have been struck by lightning, but when the body’s bare feet are not caked with mud from the rain, Tess soon realizes she has walked into yet another case of murder. Worse, her pregnant friend, Beth, is arrested and nearly suffers a miscarriage. When Tess finally has an “Aha!” moment that will clear her friend, the murderer acts to prevent Tess from revealing the truth. Will Tess see justice done, or will the killer succeed where breast cancer could not?

Hunt wanted an original setting for this latest Tess Camillo mystery, while also enticing the reader with the eerie majesty of the Lightning Field. Hunt’s humorous yet reverent depictions of the Lightning Field will make readers long to see for themselves what Hunt describes as “four hundred grand filaments of coppery neon [that] rose erect from the ground…as though Mother Earth had exposed her own nerve fibers…in a holy, mystical unveiling.”

Morgan Hunt’s latest mystery reflects her love for New Mexico. The author depicts many additional western New Mexico scenes in Albuquerque, Socorro, and Quemado. Tess enjoys frequenting such Albuquerque restaurants as The Olympia Café and Saggio's Pizza, where “their crust is to die for,” and she spends a night out dancing at a fictionalized version of the city’s Salsa Under the Stars. Anyone who loves the Southwest and pines, like Tess, for the occasional good murder, will be entranced with “Blinded by the Light.”

About the Author
Morgan Hunt was raised on the Jersey shore in Brigantine. After time spent at college, she enlisted in the Navy. Today she lives in the Pacific Northwest. In 2001, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which inspired her breast cancer survivor sleuth. Hunt is the author of three Tess Camillo mysteries: “Sticky Fingers,” “Fool on the Hill,” and her latest “Blinded by the Light.”

“Blinded by the Light” (ISBN 9781593500856, Alyson Books, 2008) can be purchased through local and online bookstores. For more information, visit www.morganhuntbooks.com. Review copies available upon request.

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