Blessed Be the Wicked

In D. A. Bartley's compelling debut, Detective Abish Taylor returns home to Utah and uncovers dark secrets lurking within the quiet Mormon community.

Detective Abish Taylor left Utah for a reason. But with her husband’s passing, it’s time to come home. Reconnecting with her family means dealing with her past: the father she abandoned and the community she left behind. Her one escape is serving as the sole police detective in the small town of Pleasant View. But when the quiet Mormon suburb in the Wasatch Mountains is shaken by a macabre death—with the hallmarks of a sacred ritual dating back to the days of Brigham Young— Abbie is called into action.

As she uncovers the dark side of the picturesque neighborhood—infidelity, corruption, and the greed of a global religion—Abbie discovers just how far some powerful leaders of the Church will go to bury their secrets. Especially as the brutal murder unearths a sinister tradition lurking in the religion's not-so-distant past: the ultimate sacrifice for unforgivable sins. With the chief pressuring her to close the case and the community that once sheltered her watching her every move, Abbie must find justice for the dead—before she’s silenced for good.