Melissa M. Garcia has lived most of her life in the sometimes gritty, but always entertaining landscape that is Southern California. She graduated from California State University in Long Beach with a degree in English/Literature. Garcia is the author of the Los Angeles crime series featuring Luc Actar (including Falling Angels, Chasing Demons, and Raising Hell) and the Death Valley Mystery series (Stranger and Next of Kin). She has also published an e-book collection, Faith Departed: Short Stories of Mystery, Crime, and Despair. She lives with her husband in Southern California and is at work on the next Death Valley Mystery.