GONE TO GLORY

This time out, Moroni Traveler, Salt Lake City p.i. (The Angels' Share, Baptism for the Dead), is asked to defend baseball idol Pepper Dalton, a former Bees' shortstop now accused of murdering his sister Priscilla. It seems that Pepper and Priscilla had different plans for their inheritance, the abandoned mining town of Glory: He wanted to sell it and buy up the Bees; she wanted to donate it to the Flock of Zion and its ""Shepherd,"" her husband Zeke. While Moroni sorts through clues (among them, the mysterious woman in white who visited Prissy just before she died); topples dreams; and withstands the loony demands of his ex-wife, Claire (who swears that his father is father of her soon-to-be-born child), another murder occurs--and both the Latter Day Saints and the Phoebe Clinton Home for the Aged seem to be involved in a quest for Glory. The downbeat ending finds two more dead, and Moroni and good friend Willis of the Latter Day Saints' hierarchy outmanipulating a world-class manipulator. The Mormon background is as fascinating as ever, but here it takes a backseat to baseball and the obsessive Claire. In all, a strong addition to the series.