Reasons to read any mystery
by Mette Ivie Harrison: (1) They’re set within the struggles of active Mormons
in Utah (members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, an all-American historic
treasure). (2) They face the grim reality of what death and other crimes do
within a close community. (3) The protagonist, amateur sleuth and Mormon
bishop’s wife Linda Wallheim, reveals her very vivid agony over the principles
of her church, her faith, and her marriage, while drawn to rescuing victims of
crime around her.
Not of This Fold is Harrison’s very to-the-moment probe of immigration issues and the
treatment of darker skinned members within the church and its gospel, The Book
of Mormon. Linda Wallheim tries to set a good example of how a person can
question the church and its heritage, yet live within the bounds of faith in
God. So at first she defends the gospel she lives with, but her difficult
friend Gwen—a more outspoken and angry rebel than Linda—challenges such easy resolution:
“The idea that Latinos are the descendants of the Lamanites and that we as Mormons have a duty to bring the gospel to them, there’s an inherent superiority and colonialist attitude about it. I see it in the way that Greg Hope interacts with people every Sunday at church. He’s the white guy with the truth. They have to defer to him.”
Linda can’t deny the
situation. And with Gwen, she’s quick to blame Greg Hope, who’s both a Mormon
bishop (local congregation leader) and an employer of especially the Latinos in
the region with uncertain immigration status. Of course, he’s assisting them in
getting proper papers. Or is he?
When the Mexican mom of three
small children is murdered, Linda and Gwen realize that their probing of the
situation may have enflamed it further. Violating partnerships with their
husbands, they struggle to investigate the roots of the crime, and of a local
crime wave of breaking and entering that seems oddy parallel to Greg Hope’s
security business among prosperous Mormons in the area.
As always, Harrison’s
plotting is tight, her pacing compelling, and her attack on the morality of the
Mormon Church sharp-clawed yet heartbreaking. As Linda continues to test the
resilience of her marriage, her own faith, and her sense of responsibility to
women in the area, questions and insights tumble and align. For readers of the
Linda Wallheim Mystery Series, this is a must-read book.
On the other hand, those not
already hooked by the characters and situation may struggle with Not of This Fold. Linda’s callous
disregard of her husband’s concerns and her encouragement of risk for other
women don’t make her very likeable. To the extent that a powerful mystery
series shows hard-earned growth in the protagonist, Harrison is missing the
magic ingredient this time around—Linda treats her husband poorly in many ways,
similarly to what she did in the 2017 title in the series, For Time and All Eternities. When her husband Kurt finally demands
that she drop her investigation, he says she’s got to listen to him this time:
’And if I don’t?’ I asked stubbornly. …‘If you don’t, well …’ There was only a moment’s hesitation before he said, ‘I’m going to have to call both you and Gwen in for a disciplinary counsel.’It wasn’t at all what I’d expected, and it made me wonder what was going on in his head. I wished I could be more sympathetic to him, but he was using his position bullying me, and I wasn’t about to put up with that.
Linda’s attitude toward Kurt
eventually robs her of the chance to feel she’s solved the case and rescued
someone, which also deprives the book of the satisfaction that a well-solved
mystery usually conveys. Add this book to any shelf of Mormon mysteries, Utah
settings, or women sleuths—but for maximum pleasure, read Harrison’s early
titles first, to catch on to what she’s working to convey.
PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.
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