DESOLATION FLATS

A Mormon police officer’s beliefs about good and evil are tested when the murder of a race car driver appears related to the rising Nazi party.

While Arthur "Art" Oveson (A Killing In Zion, 2015, etc.) is keeping time for his cousin Hank’s speed trials at Salt Lake City’s Bonneville Speedway in 1938, his Mormon beliefs won’t let him fudge the numbers, even a little, to make it seem like Hank’s on top. Anyway, Hank’s times may not matter now that the British have landed in the figure of Clive Underhill, with support from his brother, Nigel. Clive’s come to Utah to break records, and he seems on track to do just that until an explosion in his car during a practice run threatens his life. Art’s sprint to the car to rescue Clive earns him a dinner invitation along with the driver’s everlasting gratitude. It’s a shame the sentiment isn’t shared by Nigel, a sourpuss determined to argue with everyone, even Art’s former police partner Roscoe Lund, who serves as Clive’s paid protection now that he’s left the force. After a late night, Roscoe and Nigel argue loudly and publicly, throwing suspicion on Roscoe when Nigel is found dead the next day. Art is named to head the investigation because he’s in charge of missing persons, and Clive has now disappeared. With Roscoe also gone AWOL and no other known suspects, Art can’t figure out which connections to investigate until he starts to learn about the racing team’s relationship to fascism and Nazism. As deep as he is in his investigation, Art can’t ignore the trouble at home between Clara, his depressed wife, and their eldest daughter, Sarah Jane, who threatens to leave the LDS community and start her own revolution.

Once the murder is connected to the Nazis, everyone becomes a potential suspect—except, of course, Hunt’s improbably virtuous hero, whom readers are likely to either love or loathe.