The Angels' Share

Moroni Traveler #2

by Robert Irvine

Private investigator Moroni Traveler searches for a missing Mormon missionary in a Salt Lake City consumed by the fear of a serial killer and begins to suspect that his own case is tied to the murders

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook

202 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Aka Val Davis, R.R. Irvine, Peter Heath, Peter H. Fine, Peter Heath Fine

Robert Ralstone Irvine studied anthropology and archaeology at the University of California at Berkeley and now lives in Northern California.

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't mind dark, gritty, or even when things aren't politically correct but this story was just so far fetched in a ludicrous kind of way. I thought the ending would make the slogging worth it, but it was actually worse. I would give this 1 star, but I added an extra star because some of this pretty creative, however most of this fell into the preposterous category.

[Reader57 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Be prepared, the murders in this one are quite grisly.
Moroni and his father are hired by a young woman and her father because her fiancé has failed to return from his two years of missionary work to marry her. At least she thought so, but then she caught of glimpse of him downtown. The truth of his disappearance is far more complicated. The Church wants him found quietly. When Moroni's on-again-off-again girlfriend is kidnapped as part of the situation he has to struggle to keep his head on straight while trying to find the killer before it is too ate.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so enjoyed Book 1, I jumped into Book 2 shortly after. I'm just fascinated by this series at the moment. Mike is such an interesting character being composed of opposites. He's large, athletic, and has the ability to turn on the crazy. Yet he doesn't enjoy violence and has a strong set of internal rules governing when he engages in violence.

In this story, he's up against a serial killer who enjoys his work and targets young ladies. The Mormon church plays a role in the plot as well. There's missionaries, the internal Mormon police, and then a splinter group that believes in celibacy.

I'm also enamored with Moroni's dad, Martin. They are currently living together and working together as private investigators. Martin is a little distracted with a health scare but he plays a key role in wrapping up the plot.

There are more ladies here than there were in Book 1 (yay!) and they have a wider range of roles (yay!) and aren't just victims or romantic interests (yay!). I'm keeping on that train wreck known as Claire (Moroni's ex-girlfriend). We also learned more about Moroni's mom, Christy (who I sometimes confused with Claire, but they are often compared to one another).

The action ramps up with the serial killer picking his latest victim. Willis Tanner, Moroni's best friend since grade school, works for the church and plays his cards close to his chest. These two friends can't seem to fully trust one another but Willis does come through and helps Moroni catch the killer in the end. Of course, this comes at the cost of keeping the church out of the news. All together, a very satisfying read. 5/5 stars.

The Narration: Jeffrey Kafer continues to be a great Moroni. He's serious and scary when he needs to be and supportive with his dad and professional when striking a deal with the church. I liked his voice for the old medicine woman in the sticks outside of Salt Lake City. Ha! Kafer nailed that salty tongue as she made one sexual innuendo after another. Pacing was perfect. No tech issues with the recording. 5/5 stars.

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Moroni Traveler is a private eye in Salt Lake City and is hired by a young woman's father to find her fiance who has gone missing. Traveler spends a lot of time pushing his investigation through what appear to be roadblocks set up by the LDS church structure and some agents of it that want to handle the case "in house."

The LDS/Mormon church and Mormon faith factor heavily enough into "Angels' Share" (1989) that I was confused at times and I pretty much lost interest. This is a short paperback with a detective character I hadn't heard of in Moroni Traveler and I thought it might be an immersive take on Salt Lake City in ways that might be like Pronzini with SF or McBain with NYC but instead Irvine's mystery is more of a conspiracy-riddled and hypocritical charge in Mormonism similar to what we see in the worst takes in Catholic church murder mysteries. Maybe I'm wrong.

The final third gets pretty weird and I don't think it is too spoilery to say that an off-branch Mormon sect factors into a sequence of murders because it is advertised on the jacket cover as a modern Jack the Ripper trying to bring down the LDS.

Verdict: A pretty bad mystery/thriller.

Jeff's Rating: 1 / 5 (Bad)
movie rating if made into a movie: R

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Moroni Traveler books are just great. He's an ex-pro football playing jack Mormon who works with his father in a detective agency in Salt Lake City. The father tells his son--don't get involved with anything having to do with the church--but, of course, the son can't help himself from doing just that. Good stories, well written, all the Traveler books are worth reading. So are Irvine's earlier books, mostly paperback originals, which were mysteries involving TV newspeople. Irvine worked in TV news before retiring and devoting himself to his Mormon mysteries.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gritty, sometimes dark and quick paced. I would like to see the series turned into a film.