The Angels' Share

Private eye Moroni Traveler, first met in Baptism for the Dead , is having a miserable summer. The temperature in Salt Lake City is 100 in the morning; his father and partner has a lump in his throat that may or may not be cancerous, and is seeking help from the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), faith healers and splinter religious groups--but not from his son. And the church wants Moroni to drop his case of a missing missionary just as it gets complicated. But after several women are murdered and sexually mutilated, the church returns to Moroni for help, hinting that the killings are connected to the missing missionary. When a former lover of Moroni's is kidnapped, he must find the murderer before she becomes the fifth victim. While delivering some scathing insights into the Mormon church, Irvine burdens his mystery with red herrings, false clues, long quotes from LDS scriptures and a surprise, hard-to-believe solution. (July)