Seer Stone

by Donna Banta

It’s spring of 2010 and Matt Ryan is now running a private detective agency with the help of his lapsed Mormon assistant, Carrie Zimmerman. The work is steady but tedious. That is, until another lapsed Mormon, Annie Christiansen, hires Ryan to investigate her estranged husband’s murder. As a mutual attraction between the Ryan and his new client smolders, he is drawn back into the LDS community, this time in pursuit of a serial killer. The chase takes Ryan and Carrie to Utah where they encounter a web of patriarchs and prophets, blood oaths and second anointings, along with other ghosts that conjure up from the Mormons’ colorful past.

321 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 27, 2022

About the author

Donna Banta authored her first full length story at age ten, a mystery/thriller about the cote of mourning doves that toddled around her backyard. To this day, she continues her fascination with the mystery and intrigue that persists within small, seemingly like-minded societies. Open House, her latest mystery, takes place in an elite neighborhood in Dallas. Previous novels, Seer Stone, False Prophet, The Girls from Fourth Ward, and Mormon Erotica, are set within LDS communities in Northern California. Her short fiction has appeared in various literary journals and story collections including, Latter-Gay Saints: An Anthology of Gay Mormon Fiction (Lethe Press) and Recreating Our Common Chord (Wising Up Press). She lives in Sonoma, California with her husband.

Reviews

[Mark Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seer Stone is the third book in Donna Banta’s Matt Ryan Mystery series. In many ways, it’s the best one so far. As with the other books in the series, Seer Stone is the well-crafted, humorous tale we’ve come to expect from Banta. And this time, she’s added the elements of danger and magic at the story's center.

As we’ve come to expect from the series, Banta's Mormon characters receive the brunt of the humor—some are over-the-top, many are quirky, and all are memorable. But there are exceptions. In fact, in Seer Stone, Mormon women (and ex-Mormon women) are among the strongest, most intelligent, and most sensible characters in the novel. Even Matt Ryan (now a private detective) is overwhelmed by many of the women he encounters. And rightly so. In a way, Banta has written a homage to the power of women, especially those stuck in a repressive culture.

In Seer Stone, Banta takes us out of the fictitious Northern California town of Abbottsville and thrusts us into the middle of some Mormon strongholds in rural Utah. Banta’s descriptions of the scenes and the people we meet along the way are so well-drawn that readers will feel they’ve actually made the trip too. And being in the midst of the scene is downright scary at times.

This is a mystery, and as such the novel is full of twists and turns. You can try to figure out things right along with Matt Ryan, and his delightful new employee, ex-Mormon Carrie Zimmerman, but I doubt you’ll see the surprise ending coming.

If you’re looking for a fun read, a complex mystery, and a story full of folklore and magic, then Seer Stone is the book for you. I highly recommend this novel and all of Banta’s work. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

[Monya Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghost stories that make you laugh (and sometimes shiver), plus characters with familiar traits that make you squirm - oh and a mystery too. A completely pleasurable read from wry observer of so many things LDS Donna Banta