Higher Authority

Higher Authority by Stephen White is part of his Alan Gregory series, but it focuses on Gregory's fiancée, Lauren Crowder, more than on Gregory. White weaves together religion and politics into a quilt no one wants to curl up in. With murder and threats of violence lurking around every corner, relationships from the familial to the friendly to the romantic find themselves in jeopardy upping the stakes for the characters. Higher Authority pits morality against politics and religion as it weaves an intriguing story that at times leaves the reader slightly adrift only to pull one back into its murky depths.

I had to laugh at the beginning sentence of the novel, “Blythe Oaks ran almost every morning.” I'm afraid “Blythe Oaks” immediately made me think of a retirement village, and I had trouble shaking that image. Once I got over that, this was an enjoyable mystery. It is only the second “Alan Gregory” mystery I've read, and I was surprised that it was more about Alan's girlfriend, Lauren, than it was about Alan.

Lauren's sister, Teresa, wants to pursue a sexual harassment suit against a woman who works for a Supreme Court Justice, and before long, it looks like murder might somehow be connected to the lawsuit. Teresa isn't as good at following through as her sister is, and she keeps disappearing when things get tough, leaving show more Lauren and an old acquaintance, now an attorney in Utah, to look into the case.

It was fascinating to me to read about some of the beliefs and practices of the Mormon Church, and I loved the setting – Utah, New Mexico, mountain biking in Moab and the gorgeous areas around Telluride and Ouray. Of course, there was blood and gore and gruesome nasties happening, but not bad enough to be off-putting for someone who likes to read mysteries. Both the storyline and the character development were good, and I will read more of Stephen White's novels. show less

I'm working my way through Stephen White's books and I haven't hit a bad one yet. This one was particularly interesting. D.A. Laurne Crowder's sister is sexually harassed by a pillar in the Morman community - a female pillar. People start to get murdered when the charges are brought to light.

This was a very good,suspenceful murder mystery.A page turner most of the time.

The story is of murder in and around members of the Mormon church.My only problem with this book is the biased slant against the Mormon church. I am not Mormon, I have 2 Mormon friends and I was offended for them. The author gives basics of the Mormon Chruch throughout the entire book,and that is fine,but there is a definite bias against the Mormon Church that I didn't think was necessary to tell the story.

My favorite of the early books of this series despite Dr. Gregory's low level of participation, nicely plotted, well-researched.

Naja. I missed Alan.

My blog post about this book is at this link.