cover image Whitewashed Tombs

Whitewashed Tombs

A. Robert Thurman. St. Martin's Press, $16.95 (246pp) ISBN 978-0-312-01112-3

Adam Leer, ex-FBI agent, ex-Mormon, Salt Lake City lawyer, is hired by Ben Asher to file an antitrust suit against Basin, a health conglomerate that threatens to swallow up Asher's medical laboratory. There have also been hints of price-rigging and Medicaid fraud, but before Adam can do anything Asher is killed in a car wreck that may not be accidental. His beautiful widow Jackie presses Leer to continue the suit. Leer also must contend with his estranged familyhis turning away from the Mormon church has cut deepand try to maintain his relationship with non-Mormon Jo. The solution is a bit strained and Adam's and Jo's talk is larded with buzzwords like ""commitment,'' but the writing is smooth and the Salt Lake/Mormon background is fascinating. Among other things, readers learn that getting a drink in Utah ``is an exotic exercise in hypocrisy,'' and that strict Mormons tend to leave 10% tips. Thurman is a find. (December 22)