His Right Hand

Starred review from October 12, 2015
Harrison’s outstanding sequel to 2014’s The Bishop’s Wife focuses on a timely social issue. At the annual bishopric dinner, Linda Wallheim and her husband, Kurt, the LDS bishop of their ward in Draper, Utah, are dismayed by the critical, controlling way that Carl Ashby, Kurt’s second counselor, treats his wife, Emma. One night soon afterward, a distraught Emma phones Linda and Kurt to report that Carl is late coming home from a church meeting. Kurt and Linda drive over to the church, where they find Carl strangled with a woman’s scarf. The subsequent autopsy reveals that Carl was transgender. This revelation comes as a surprise to nearly everyone in the couple’s community, including Emma and their two high school–age children, both adopted. Higher-ups in the Mormon Church want to play down Carl’s secret past. Linda, as the ever-helpful bishop’s wife, tries not only to comfort Emma and her children but also to assist the police in the hunt for Carl’s killer. The suspect pool may be small, but Harrison once again dramatizes the agonizing plight of those who firmly believe church doctrine and yet by their nature have a fundamental conflict with it. Agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary.

September 15, 2015
A Mormon bishop's wife questions tenets of her faith and searches for clues to her own identity while hunting a murderer. The dinner Linda Wallheim and her husband, Kurt, have planned with his closest associates and their wives doesn't go at all well. Carl and Emma Ashby arrive late, then Carl squabbles with Linda over his dogmatic statement that a woman's place is in the home, and a furious Emma insists on leaving. A few days later, she phones Linda and Kurt in a panic because Carl has not returned from a meeting. When the Wallheims find him at the church, he's been strangled. An autopsy reveals that Carl was biologically a woman who had borne a child. Could Emma possibly be so sheltered that she never realized the husband with whom she'd adopted two children was a woman who'd had some cosmetic surgery? Although the police always suspect the spouse, Linda can't believe the mentally and physically fragile Emma, who insists that Carl was the perfect husband and father, could be guilty and delves into Carl's past looking for other suspects. The revelation that the youngest Wallheim son is gay brings back the pain of Linda's first marriage, which even her children are unaware of. Madly in love, she married her college sweetheart only to discover gradually that he was gay. Her divorce wrecked her relationship with her conservative family and drove her to become an atheist until she finally returned to the church. Although Kurt and the police both warn her against meddling, Linda can't let go until she finds the truth. This second case for Linda (The Bishop's Wife, 2014, etc.) does a wonderful job of parting the curtain on many of the Mormon Church's mysteries.

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October 1, 2015

Linda Wallheim, the titular character from The Bishop's Wife, returns to investigate another murder in her ward where her husband is the presiding Mormon bishop. When Carl Ashby, a member of her ward's leadership, is murdered in their church, it is revealed that Carl was biologically a female. In a church where women are barred from holding positions of leadership, Carl had been living a lie. As the church leaders struggle to keep the news of Carl's gender under wraps, Linda is called upon as the bishop's wife to help ward members through hard times. In so doing, she begins to uncover secrets unknown to the police, and she must choose between supporting the church's hushed handling of the situation, or giving Carl the justice he deserves by finding his killer. VERDICT Harrison provides a fascinating look into the Mormon church from the point of view of a woman who sometimes struggles with its strict rules. Linda's insider's perspective is almost as engrossing as the mystery itself. Recommended for mystery lovers.--Brooke Bolton, Boonville-Warrick Cty. P.L., IN

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2015
Fans of Harrison's popular The Bishop's Wife (2014) will be glad to see Linda Wallheim again. As the wife of the bishop in her Mormon ward, Linda is often called upon to counsel and support the women in her community. When Carl Ashby, one of the counselors in her husband's bishopric, is murdered, Linda rushes to his widow's side. All signs point to the murderer having been someone known to Ashby. Linda soon learns, however, that no one really knew the man. Ashby transitioned into living his life as a man in his twenties. His early years as Carla were a secret he intended to take to the grave. Linda is an extremely likable and refreshingly imperfect series leadan ideal guide to aspects of Mormon life that may be unknown to many readers. She's also curious, smart, and impulsiveessential traits for any successful amateur sleuth! In her author's note, Harrison explains that this book was inspired by the journey of a family friend who came out as transgender and transitioned while remaining in the Mormon faith.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)