CALLED HOME

Moroni Traveler, lapsed Mormon and private investigator in Salt Lake City (Gone to Glory, etc.), has agreed to help Ellis Nibley, from backwoods Wasatch, find out why his wife Melba committed suicide. But the town, one of a cluster living the Mormon doctrine, clams up when Moroni starts asking questions. He soon realizes that there's something important being concealed, especially by the women, and that it somehow relates to local doctor Joseph (``Dr. Joe'') Sutton. Meanwhile, Moroni's neurotic, quixotic ex-girlfriend Claire Bennion has returned to the area where she grew up, posing an unexpected and tragic complicationbut one that keeps him stubbornly probing against a background of forest fires and threatening hostility. The answers, when they come, are quite nasty enough to explain the cover-up. Fascinating Mormon lore, plain-speaking style, and an intriguing puzzle: the best so far in this series.