Death in the Covenant
An Abish Taylor Mystery
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
The growth of the Mormon Church has slowed. Young men are abandoning the Church, leaving their female counterparts unmarried and childless. Now, the Church is about to lose one more member...and it may be due to murder.
Detective Abish “Abbie” Taylor returned to the mountain town of Pleasant View, Utah, hoping for a quiet life. But that hope dissipates like a dream when she wakes to an unsettling phone call. Arriving at the scene of a fatal car accident, she discovers that the victim was one of the most beloved leaders of the Church—and an old family friend.
Abbie is skeptical when her father insists the death was not an accident, but in an attempt to patch up their relationship, she takes a few days off from her job as the sole detective in the police department, and heads to Colonia Juárez, a former LDS colony in Mexico. There, she uncovers a plan hearkening back to the Church’s history of polygamy. But Abbie knows too well that bringing secrets to light can be deadly. Is that why her father’s friend died?
Abbie realizes with a jolt that her investigation could cost her father his job and possibly get him excommunicated. Who is the murderous mastermind of this secret plot? Time is running out for Abbie to save her father’s position—and her own life—as dark forces close in, and the outlook for Pleasant View turns decidedly unpleasant.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tensions within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are at the heart of Bartley's exceptional sequel to 2018's Blessed Be the Wicked. Lapsed Mormon Abish "Abbie" Taylor, who works as a detective for the Pleasant View City, Utah, PD, is shocked to learn that an old friend, Heber Bentsen, a high-ranking member of her former church, has died in a car crash. Abbie's police partner labels Bentsen's death accidental, but Abbie is disturbed by the circumstances a witness reported another vehicle was present in the wrong lane, causing Bentsen's car to swerve. And the second vehicle's driver, who told the witness he called 911, didn't remain on the scene. The autopsy confirms foul play: Bentsen's head was battered in with a rock. Meanwhile, Abbie's father, a BYU professor, reveals that Bentsen was asking him about unmarried women grad students who suddenly dropped out of school. The trail leads Abbie to Mexico and some unsettling revelations. The thoughtful plot well serves the book's strong female lead. Readers will want to see more of Abbie.