Death in the Covenant by D.A. Bartley

Death in the Covenant: An Abish Taylor Mystery by D.A. Bartley --- 310 pages

The Mormon Church is experiencing a demographic crisis in this second book featuring Detective Abish Taylor of the Pleasant View, Utah Police Department.  Disillusioned young men are abandoning the Church and leaving young Mormon women unable to fulfill their sacred obligation to marry and bear children to strengthen the Church for the final Battle. The Apostles, twelve men who advise the Prophet and form the governing Council of the Church, disagree on how to fix this problem. Some urge a return to the polygamy once practiced in the Church's early years, despite laws and public  opprobrium that brought the Church into disrepute then.

Detective Abish “Abbie” Taylor, a lapsed member of the Church, returned home after the premature death of her husband, hoping for a quiet life and a chance to start over. Instead she finds herself drawn into a clash of wills with the secretive, male hierarchy that dominates the Church and demands absolute, unthinking obedience from church members. One night she is called out to the scene of a fatal car accident, where she discovers the victim is one of the Apostles and an old friend of her father's --- Heber Bentsen.

Abbie is skeptical at first when her father, a respected LDS historian, mentions that Bentsen was recently inquiring about the whereabouts of a number of young women who abruptly dropped out of their graduate studies program to undertake special "missions" for the Church.  Following a hunch, she tracks the women and finds they have all recently crossed into Mexico not far from an old established LDS colony. Abbie takes a few days off from her job and heads to the Colonia Juárez, where she uncovers a plan to “seal” young women to church leaders in temple ceremonies. The children born of these "marriages" are then adopted by Mormon families in the United States.

Now Abbie possesses dangerous knowledge that poses a challenge to these men and their plans, and soon the threats begin. Abbie realizes her investigation could cost her father his job and his good standing in the Church.  It could cost her her own job.  It could even cost her her life.

This book is better written than Bentley's debut novel, Blessed Be the Wicked. It makes for a more compelling read. A significant amount of the plot however, still turns on Bentley's allegations about the beliefs and credulity of  ordinary Mormons and accusations about the Church's leadership. It's not the first time that a religious sect has been portrayed in lurid colors and won't be the last.

Click HERE to read the * review in Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the  review and author profile from MysterySuspenseReviews.com

Blessed Be The Wicked by D.A. Bartley

Blessed Be The Wicked: An Abish Taylor Mystery by D.A. Bartley --- 328 pages including Acknowledgments.

The debut of a new mystery series by first-time author D.A. Bartley shows promise.

Abish “Abbie” Taylor is a widow who moved back to her hometown of Pleasant View, Utah after the recent death of her husband, Phillip. Her experience as a detective for the New York City Police lands her a job as the only detective on Pleasant Valley's small police force. It's clear she's been left well provided for, and needs the job more for something to do and as a way to reconnect with the community. Abbie is less sanguine about  reconnecting with her family, who pretty much cut off all contact (except for her brother, John) when she abandoned the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) and married outside the faith..

Her first major case as Pleasant Valley's detective, is the murder of a Church Elder in macabre circumstances. The victim is found in an empty house, wearing sacred temple clothing and killed in a brutal manner that replicates a ritual called Blood Atonement that the Church has disavowed. Abbie and her partner, Officer Jim Clarke, a devout LDS member begin their investigation, but soon find themselves stymied. Church leaders do not want the media to get wind of this case and the police chief is pushing for a quick closure. What is it that everyone is so anxious to prevent Abbie from finding out about Elder Steve Smith and his Celestial Times Shares development project in Costa Rico?

The book contains a great deal of historical background on the LDS Church, which ties into a key component of the mystery.  However the rest of the backstory is extremely sketchy, particularly about the relationships between the characters. Instead there is a lot of snobbishness, that gives a strong impression of an affluent and controlling elite more intent on preserving their privilege than seeing justice done.  The mystery is solved in a stunning conclusion. But Abbie herself is still a cipher; except she seems well on the way to becoming a closet alcoholic --- although she drinks only the best wines, of course. A second book, Death in the Covenant,  is in the works. Let's hope it provides more real character development and fewer branding opportunities.

Click HERE to read an interview with the author from Thrill Begins.com.

Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from Book Reviews and More by Kathy.com.