His Right Hand

Zusatztext 91725216 Informationen zum Autor Mette Ivie Harrison Klappentext In the follow-up to the controversial and critically acclaimed mystery The Bishop's Wife, Mormon housewife Linda Wallheim finds herself ruffling feathers in Draper, Utah, as she assists a murder investigation that is being derailed by transphobia within the LDS community. In Draper, Utah, a tight-knit Mormon community is thrown into upheaval when their ward's second counselor-one of the bishop's right-hand men-is found dead in an elaborately staged murder on church property. Carl Ashby was known as a devout Mormon, a pillar of the community, and a loving husband and father. Who would want him dead? Linda Wallheim, the wife of the ward's bishop, can't rest as long as the ward is suffering. She is particularly worried about Carl's grieving family. But the entire case is turned upside down by the autopsy report, which reveals Carl Ashby was a biological female. In the Mormon church, where gender is considered part of a person's soul, some people regard transgenderism as one of the worst possible sins. Church officials seem to be more upset by Carl's gender than by his murder, and more concerned with hushing up the story than solving the crime. Linda realizes that if the police are to catch the killer, they are going to need an ally on the inside-and she is the only one who can help. Carl was living a life of secrecy for twenty years. What else was he hiding-and can Linda ferret out the key to his death before the rumors tear her community apart? Chapter 1 One Friday night in May, in lieu of our regular couple’s date, my husband, Kurt, and I were going to the annual bishopric dinner. Kurt was the bishop of our Mormon ward in Draper, Utah—it was the second year of his five-year calling, so this was the second annual dinner I’d attended.      I wished that I were looking forward to the dinner more, but it was just another one of the tasks of being a bishop’s wife. Tasks like playing Mrs. Claus at the annual Christmas dinner, coming up with excuses for Kurt when he was constantly late for family functions, and keeping a vigilant eye out for problems in the ward so I could alert Kurt to them. This dinner was going to be a little awkward no matter what. Kurt and his counselors would probably hint at all kinds of church matters that the wives didn’t and couldn’t know about, and we women would be left trying to make small talk.     There would be six of us coming to dinner: the first counselor, Tom deRyke, who was in charge of the adults and the Primary, and his wife, Verity; the second counselor, Carl Ashby, in charge of the Young Men and Young Women and the Primary, and his wife, Emma; and of course, Kurt, the bishop, and myself. We were going to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate surviving another year of performing the hardest jobs in the Mormon church—jobs which, I should mention, are completely unpaid, since we Mormons have a lay clergy. Kurt, Tom, and Carl served in the bishopric because they had been called to do so, and they performed their duties in addition to working full-time jobs to support their families financially.     As a bishop, Kurt was in charge of making sure that the whole ward was staffed, officiating at funerals and weddings, organizing the finances of the ward, conducting annual spiritual wellness interviews for all the youth, and holding church courts for discipline issues. He did a thousand other things, but those were the ones that he couldn’t delegate to his counselors. Tom deRyke and Carl Ashby handled a lot of the oversight of meetings, extending callings, girls and boys camp visits, dealing with tithing donations and missionary interviews, among other things. Without them, the job of bishop would have overwhelmed Kurt. They were his right hand in more than one way.     “Ready?” asked Kurt, poking his head into our bedroom.     I was wearing a nice b...

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Mette Ivie Harrison, MetteIvie Harrison
• Editore: Soho Press
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Tascabile
• Pubblicazione: 31.10.2016
• EAN: 9781616957636
• ISBN: 978-1-61695-763-6
• Pagine: 384
• Dimensioni: 127 mm x 191 mm x 23 mm
• Serie: A Linda Wallheim Mystery; A Linda Wallheim Mystery
• Categoria: Narrativa > Gialli