A Bad Deal in Mormon Land

by T.I.M. Wirkus

Sometimes things are not as they appear, especially when religion, magic, and shady dealings mix.

It’s 1908, and itinerant spirit medium Madame Ilsa von Hoffmann is at the end of her professional rope, facing down two unappealing options: join an ill-conceived commune founded by some fellow trans ex-vaudevillians, or take on a high-paying but mysterious job offered by a religious extremist in Salt Lake City. Madame Ilsa opts for Utah and the employ of one Roger Marsh who, it turns out, wants her to summon the ghost of Joseph Smith, Mormonism’s founder, to give his blessing to Marsh’s fledgling offshoot of the mainstream church.

Unsure how she’ll pull off this near-impossible task, Ilsa finds an ally in Francie Bream, an East Coast journalist in town to profile Mormon women at the dawn of the twentieth century. Bream’s motives remain obscure to Ilsa, though she begins to suspect the journalist has an agenda far more sinister than she could have imagined. Complicating the situation further are an inept and volatile henchman, a relentlessly orthodox Mormon apostle, a copper magnate with a fetish for polygamists, Marsh's rogue third wife, and a vengeful private investigator from Ilsa's past. As dead bodies accumulate around her, Madame Ilsa worries less and less about saving her career, and more about making it out of Salt Lake City alive.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, LGBT, Historical

308 pages, Paperback

Expected publication October 1, 2026

About the author

T.I.M. Wirkus (they/them) is the author of the novels The Infinite Future (Penguin Press, 2018) and City of Brick and Shadow (Tyrus Books, 2014), which was a finalist for the Shamus Award and the winner of the Association for Mormon Letters Best Novel Award. Their novella, Sandy Downs, won the 2013 Quarterly West novella contest. They hold a PhD in creative writing and literature from the University of Southern California.

Reviews

[Lizardley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent novel on every level. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

To anyone who might be on the fence about this novel, I'd like to provide a little extra to supplement the summary. While the summary is essentially correct, the way it is worded makes it seem like this story is primarily from the point of view of Ilsa and takes place over a longer span of time than it actually does. This novel has POVs from every major character, and most of this novel happens over the course of three days. To someone who doesn't know that, the beginning feels like a bit of a drag, particularly because there are so many viewpoints, and time doesn't seem like it's moving fast at all. I think knowing this ahead of time would have made me look on the beginning more favorably.

To now begin gushing, this was an unbelievably tight and well-crafted novel. The large cast of characters are all well-developed and all go on arcs over the course of the novel. Their interlinking narratives and motives all work in service of the idea that all people are complex beings with their own goals, contradictions, and capability for grace. Maybe I've just been reading a lot of garbage recently, but the deftness with which Wirkus handles the many, many subplots and relationships and ties them all together by the end really impressed me. The relationships between these characters feel messy and complicated and real, but everything is still wrapped up neatly, with nothing dangling in a way that doesn't serve the narrative. The narrative is compelling, particularly with the context from the plot summary that bodies are going to drop. I almost felt as if I was reading a proper mystery novel; I was trying to figure out motives and predict what characters were going to do before they did it. It is a delightful web to be caught in.

The tone of the novel is utterly brilliant. It has this wry voice that makes the unbelievable, such as the (apparently real) Mormon dime novels and toe length-based phrenology, sound perfectly plausible in the world of the novel, and because the Mormon dime novels were real, I'm inclined to believe that some unbelievably racist and classist white man developed toe-phrenology. I also quite enjoyed the references to "A Study in Scarlet" and Pagliacci. Wirkus includes a list of sources at the back, which I always appreciate. Hello again, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender, and I'll have to add Manliness & Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917 to my list.

I truly cannot recommend this enough.

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me way too long to finish, and I am struggling to put my finger on the exact reason why.

Let me start by saying the premise is very interesting: a spirit medium gets called into Salt Lake City to summon the spirit of Joseph Smith, and while working on that impossible task, she will be surrounded by dead bodies and a bunch of interesting characters. But then you get into the book, and realize that this is not just the story of Madame Ilsa, but also of all those side characters.

In short chapters, each of the characters gets a POV, and slowly but surely, the plot develops, and you learn how all of the characters are tied together. You see, the summoning is not the only thing going on in this community, there’s intrigue about unions, the abolishment of polygamy in the mormon church… this made it so the book was somehow simultaneously slower paced than I had hoped, and too fast paced to really get attached to anyone.

I think my expectations weren’t aligned with the actual book, so while the story was interesting, I feel like I couldn’t connect with the characters enough to really be invested. Every time I picked up the book I breezed through a handful of chapters, but I got distracted / bored rather fast, and didn’t have that ‘I have got to know what happens next’ feeling at any given moment.

It was not a bad book by any means, and I think with expectations properly adjusted, you will enjoy it! Personally, I would have liked to see the focus be more on Madame Ilsa and her adventures and past. She made for such an interesting character, and her chapters were my favorites. Alas, the rest of the book was a big part, and while necessary, less enjoyable for me personally to read.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The summary implied that this would be primarily Ilsa's story, but instead it was told from a wide cast of narrators, changing with each short chapter. While a glut of POV characters and frequent perspective switching can sometimes muddy a story or make it hard to get into, A Bad Deal in Mormon Land pulled it off. All of the characters and their various plot lines were carefully interwoven, and access to each character's internal thoughts always served a purpose not only in their journey and in deepening their character, but also in adding nuance to the other narrators.

Ilsa ended up honestly being one of the less compelling characters of the bunch by being pretty straightforwardly what she was presented to be. She remained a down-on-her-luck, fake spirit medium with generally good intentions, but not so far as to get in the way of a payday for the length of the story. Many of the other characters had much more inherent internal conflict. Diantha Marsh was part of a plural marriage and still cared deeply for her husband despite coming to oppose the practice and her husband's intentions to revive it, and loved Mormonism despite her distaste for its general treatment of women. Francie Bream’s disgust with the violence powerful men could get away with led her to embrace violence herself and ultimately confront the unpleasantness of learning that the people she hoped to help didn't see her as a heroic vigilante but just as another violent, dangerous person. Others offered uncomfortable glimpses into their humanity that elided simple ideas of the roles they filled and made it hard not to feel a conflicting mix of emotions for them, like the trio of sad, lonely little men– Adam, Roger Marsh, and Gilbert Snaith– who played powerful villains in other characters' stories while being pitiable and vulnerable from their own perspectives. I was taken with all these characters; regardless of how quickly or slowly their strands of the story moved, they always kept my attention with their messy, complicated relationships and internal lives.

The only letdown in the book was the ending. After the plot lines converged, it was a rush to the end. I was left unsatisfied with many characters' fates, their stories cut off rather than resolved. And some plot threads were simply left hanging.

[ishi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you netgalley for this ARC!

"She wasn't a bad person, or if she was, she had become one for a good reason."
​A Bad Deal in Mormon Land earns a 4.5/5 (rounded to 4 for this). It successfully blends 1908 historical fiction, crime, and humor into a highly specific, unique setting, aiming for a quirky tone while handling dark subject matter.
The premise is excellent. The cult imagery and tension surrounding the religious offshoot and cult elements are built very well. The narrative tackles dark themes like murder, religious extremism, and summoning ghosts, but balances them with an, irreverent, offbeat tone.
The character relationships are deeply complex. The narrative has real teeth when it deconstructs toxic loyalty and enmeshment. Instead of relying on sentimental illusions about family, it forces objective, uncomfortable confrontations, and gracefully avoids platitudes about "blood." The author is consistently good at these localized, messy character dynamics, and they carry much of the book's weight.
The main drawback is the formatting. It reads more like a series of connected vignettes than a single cohesive story, which makes the progression slightly choppy. Scenes frequently end right at their most pivotal moment, omitting the necessary reaction beats. It feels exactly like watching a movie where a scene cuts off a second too early, leaving you feeling like a paragraph or two is missing from the chapter, rather than building the intended suspense.
​Ultimately, the abrupt cuts are a byproduct of the book aiming for a. More quick/quirky rhythm. It works because it set out to be an offbeat thriller with messy character dynamics and cult elements, and it delivers on that front.

[Pipa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-Arc!

This is an intriguing and unconventional mystery that gradually reveals itself to be far more interested in character, belief, and power than in solving the murders at its centre. While it starts off a little slowly, the story becomes increasingly compelling as the different narrative strands begin to converge and the motivations of its varied cast come into focus.

Rather than following a traditional whodunnit structure, the novel makes it clear early on who is responsible, shifting the tension towards understanding why. That choice felt refreshing and allowed for a deeper exploration of character psychology and the influence of ego, faith, and control. I particularly enjoyed the way the book examined different belief systems, from organised religion and extremist Mormon offshoots to more informal spiritual practices like Ilsa’s clairvoyant work, and how easily power can be abused within them. The inclusion of a trans main character was also a welcome part of the story, and despite some heavy themes, there were moments of unexpected lightness that balanced the tone nicely.

That said, the ending felt more rushed than the rest of the novel, and a few loose ends were left unresolved, which made the conclusion slightly less satisfying than I’d hoped. Still, it’s a thoughtful and distinctive read with plenty to reflect on, even if it doesn’t fully stick the landing.

[Gabriela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel felt very dynamic. The author did a great job of setting up many characters, their arcs and motivations, for us then to go on this high speed train wreck of a collision. It felt almost like a dark comedy movie. Not because it was particularly funny, but more so the way that multiple storylines run parallel, gaining speed and intertwining together, something I associate with French comedies. It's a testament to the author's skill that the execution didn't drag, rush or get confusing. It was perfectly executed and pretty much everything was tied off in a satisfying way.

I love that we followed a trans woman in a historical setting. It's not something I encounter often so it was refreshing and interesting to read about her experience and how the world perceived her at that time.

The reason I picked up the book was because Mormons are an interesting subject and I was curious how they'd be portrayed. I think the book did a good job of delving into just enough of the inter-politicking and belief system to be understandable to someone with little context yet has enough nudge-nudge for those in the know. I'm no expert on Mormonism in 20th century (and this book is not trying to be a documentary) so I'm not going to claim whether this is or isn't accurate. But it was for sure interesting.

Overall, great entry from the author and I'd be interested in reading more.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

[Hannah Deverall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Bad Deal in Mormon Land is a short and delightful romp through Utah in the early 20th century. The novel follows Madame Isla, a medium in a low part of her career who takes a job in Salt Lake City, Utah to summon the ghost of Joseph Smith in order to reintroduce polygamy to the Mormon church. However, this job quickly becomes more complicated with the introduction of a journalist seeking revenge for her dead mother and the arrival of an ex Madame Isla thought long gone.

I found this novel really cute and funny, while not shying away from the darker aspects of this time period. My favourite aspect of A Bad Deal in Mormon Land was easily the trans representation: trans characters were just there, and their transness was not an important aspect of them as people or the novel itself. Another thing that I really liked was the perspective hopping, which really gave the reader a comprehensive look at what was going on in the world around the characters, and not being constricted to a single viewpoint with the same set of biases.

Readers looking for something fast paced and narratively messy (in a very good way) will love this book. Overall, I give A Bad Deal in Mormon Land 4.75/5 stars. Thank you to BooksGoSocial for providing this novel for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Cori Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A considerable change of pace from my general fantasy, scifi and queer romance reading, and very welcome -- this fast-paced noir set in Salt Lake City 1908 features a spirit medium, an excommunicated Mormon Elder and his unpleasant henchman, a journalist, a third wife, a copper magnate with a polygamy fetish, a private investigator and the ghost of Joseph Smith (perhaps). Each of these has POV chapters, which does mean paying some attention to who everyone is and what they're up to! But that's the fun of this story, all these people have different goals and motivations, which gradually intersect in an increasingly unexpected way.

I picked the book up at NetGalley purely for Madame Ilsa von Hoffmann, and maybe wish we'd seen a bit more of her, because she's had a fascinating life as an ex-vaudevillian and travelling medium. However, once I settled into the pace of the story (it all unfolds over a few days) -- and especially Once The Deaths Began -- I really enjoyed this insight into a challenging period for the Mormon church, about which I know very little (no impediment to the story, I learned what context I needed.)


Rating: 15/20
This review is based upon a complimentary advance review copy provided by the publisher.

[Veronika Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three of the things I love best in a book – religion, magic, and shady dealings. Add to that a medium, seances and murder, all wrapped up in a Gothic mystery, and you have the perfect recipe for my favourite literary concoction.

The year is 1908, and our main character, Madame Ilsa von Hoffmann, a spiritualist medium, has fallen on hard times. Then she is hired by Roger Marsh, a Mormon elder who has been excommunicated by the church for refusing to accept that polygamy is no longer legal. He has three wives. He wants Ilsa to raise the spirit of Joseph Smith, who founded the Mormon religion. But is Ilsa a fraud?

I once attended a ‘seance’ for a podcast, where we learnt how it was all done including why it was always dark and attendees stayed together round the table. Mediums kept props in their dresses, in pockets or sewn into the lining. The seance scene later in the book is a triumph, absolutely brilliant.

I just LOVED this book. The characters, the setting, the mystery. Each of the main characters is richly drawn and has their own story. My favourite was probably journalist Francie Bream, who is writing an article on Mormon women, but appears to have a more sinister agenda.

Incidentally, the title of the book is taken from a Mormon dime novel and yes, that really was a thing. Like a Victorian Mills & Boon.

[Brynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the ARC.

I think the best word to describe this book for me was, fun. This was a really fun read, and the hijinks that ensue from the first chapter all worked to come together at the end very satisfyingly and in a way that made narrative sense. Loose ends were tied up, character arcs were wrapped up, and the larger conflict at hand was resolved. I think another thing that led to my enjoyment of this book was the setting in particular. I don't think I've come across another book that takes place and revolves around early 20th century, Mormon Utah, with a focus on spirituality and seances. So, this was a very unique read for me. The writing is also very sharp and witty, with a great momentum to it. I was never bored, or waiting for a chapter to end so the plot could continue on. The multiple POVs at the start were a little confusing at first, but afterwards it was not a hinderance at all. While this is a book definitely driven by the plot and with the multiple POV's we get some limited character growth and insights, I never felt that characters actions didn't make sense or came out of nowhere.

[Elle Ferranna · Rating 5 out of 5]

With full knowledge that most of the Western United States, not just Utah, is “Mormon Country,” some readers may not appreciate the depth and honesty, especially in its treatment of religious extremism, gender-specific survival, and marital fraud as forms of performance and reinvention.

A summer read filled with manufactured authority and varied metaphors about how organized religion shapes masculine perception, it's humorous and will likely resonate with women who know that survival requires improvisation, wit, and emotional calculation. It's also a modern exploration of the history of erotic and religious economics, institutional hypocrisy, and survival through performance.

Historical facts related to the LDS Church demonstrate that religion has always been a form of power and that it can be used to destabilize and to build systems that align with radical ideals. A quick read with historical grounding, religious mythology, lots of spectacle, and the politics of secularism.

Thanks for the ARC, Type Eighteen Books!

[KATIE MEYERS]

A Bad Deal in Mormon Land is an imaginative and engaging blend of historical fiction, mystery, and dark humor. T.I.M. Wirkus crafts a story that feels both grounded in its time period and creatively unpredictable, pulling readers into a world where nothing is quite as it seems.

What makes the book stand out is its central premise. The idea of a spirit medium being tasked with summoning a major religious figure immediately creates intrigue, and the story builds on that with a cast of characters whose motives are anything but straightforward.

The narrative is filled with shifting alliances, hidden agendas, and moments of tension that keep the reader engaged. At the same time, there’s a sense of wit and unpredictability that gives the story its unique tone.

A compelling and original read for those who enjoy historical settings with mystery, dark humor, and unconventional storytelling.

[Narrative Khaos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-Arc 💜

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars

A Bad Deal in Mormon Land was such a pleasant surprise.

First of all, I am not an easy 4 star giver. So this is genuinely a very good book.

It is sharp, very funny, and beautifully written. The vocabulary is rich without feeling heavy, and the prose has a depth that makes you slow down and appreciate the craft. The story itself intertwines in such an entertaining way. The absurdity, the tension, the religious undertones, and the shady dealings all blend together with clever structure and timing.

What I loved most is the humor. It is subtle, satirical, and intelligent. The book manages to poke at extremism, belief systems, and human ambition without ever feeling preachy. It feels confident and different.

It is not your typical historical fiction. It stands out for its voice and tone. Different and genuinely enjoyable.

Well done!

[Kcaroth1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Bad Deal in Mormon Land is a fun character study of several people in Utah just after the turn of the century. Their quests for power and recognition are driven largely by religious structures, whether through conservative or progressive Mormonism, the spiritualism of the day, and other isms such as capitalism, feminism, etc.
I particularly enjoyed the way that all of the various character arcs intertwined and came to their conclusions at the end because there were many points where it did not seem that they were going to interact with each other.
Short chapters kept the story moving when it was threatening to slow down. Plus the quirky characters and dry humor made this very entertaining to read.
Thank you to Librarything and Type Eighteen Books for the ARC.

[Mary White · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unexpected look into Utah at the start of the twentieth century— particularly, into the inner workings of the Mormon Church… as imagined by the brilliant mind of T.I.M. Wirkus. The novel is part historical, part crime, part humor, written in riveting prose and featuring one of the most memorable characters you’ll ever meet: trans spirit medium Madame Ilsa von Hoffman, a former vaudevillian trying to make it on her own in a world not quite ready for her. This is an unforgettable, entertaining read, with twists I never saw coming and an emotional heartbeat that takes you by surprise. Don’t miss it!

[ezmodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the ARC


Okay so…
Starting off I can’t say that this book has a very engaging first few chapters. I was mostly very confused as there were so many characters introduced all at once. Nevertheless I powered through and it got interesting half way. Towards the end of the book though…
It didn’t make sense for it to end that way, I felt like there was no closure in the sense that those who actually perpetuated the harm (the pastor that gave the baby to the wrong mother for example) were not brought to justice and it was Francie who’s life was ultimately ruined even though all she wanted was her sister back and to take revenge on the man who separated them.

2.5 stars. Great premise but not the best execution

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book was a little short it was very intriguing. The characters form an unusual mix of people from retired vaudevillians to journalists turned vigilante. The setting, period and characters all come together to make a truly enjoyable read that really keeps you turning the page.

[Lottie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the overall writing and characterisation was overall good, and the setting and time period felt unique

[azrael☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

dnf at 65%
i didn’t dislike this book despite being unable to finish it. i liked the setting, the different storylines that were beginning to intertwine and i liked the of the book as well, it seemed original and intriguing.
however there were so many characters i started to get a little confused and no major events nor plot twists really happened so far.
i’ll try to finish this book in the near future but for now i’ll pause it.