City of Saints - A Mystery (Hardcover)

To the outside observer, Salt Lake City seems to be the squeaky-clean "City of Saints" - its nickname since Mormon pioneers first arrived. Its wide roads, huge Mormon temple topped by a horn-blowing angel, and orderly neighbourhoods give it the appearance of the ideal American city. But looks can be deceiving. When beautiful socialite Helen Kent Pfalzgraf turns up dead, Salt Lake County Deputy Art Oveson - a twenty-something husband, dad, and devout Mormon just getting his start - finds himself thrust into the role of detective. With his partner, a foul-mouthed, vice-ridden former strike-breaker, he begins to pursue Pfalzgraf's murderer - or murderers. Their search takes them into the dark underbelly of Salt Lake City, a place rife with blackmail, corruption and murder. Throw in a cowardly sheriff seeking re-election, a prominent local physician with a host of skeletons in his closet, and swirling rumours of an affair between the murder victim and an elusive Hollywood star, and you've got "City of Saints", a mystery based on a true yet largely forgotten murder that once captivated the nation but still remains unsolved eighty years later.