Grasp For Time And All Eternities (Linda Wallheim Mystery, #3) Originated By Mette Ivie Harrison Depicted In Electronic Format

up toI love mystery series, you feel involved in characters lives and watch them develop, The third entry in any series is often a “make or break”, and I will keep going with this series because I find the inside look at the LDS community fascinating.
But this entry was a heavy story involving a serious subject within the LDS Church history polygamy, While the investigation qualities of the main character are extremely far fetched in this book, her inner dialogue is what I imagine would be real for a woman struggling with her love of family and church and in this case churchculture and her disillusionment with the same church.
This story is a clunky at times, but I plan on reading the next installment,.stars. This is definitely more heavyhanded in the whole questioning Mormonism theme than the two books previous are, but as an exMormon, this obviously didn't bother me.
In fact, I just kept wanting to push Linda just a teensy bit more so the whole shelf came crashing down.
But I'm pretty terrible like that, I found the plot of this one interesting, as I find anything to do with polygamy fascinating if offputting in how it is often practiced.
Hubby bugged the crap out of me in this one, but Linda did, too, at times, I think I probably just felt more sympathy for her because I related to her more, I can handle my own flaws better than someone else's, I like a mystery so I found it interesting that there was no dead body ,no missing child, just a domestic situation that held my attention for the better part of the first half the book before the mystery is finally served up.
There is a nice development of characters and a good mystery when the murder finally happens, However, I don't believe the actual who done it and was disappointed with the ending, DNF
Soho Crime/Soho Press

I have to give up on the series right here, The characterizations, have not gotten any better and the stories are not keeping me that engaged, I was waiting of the book on polygamy as Linda has told us her views from book one and two.
For more thoughts on this series please see reviews for book one and two,

sitelinkBook One

sitelinkBook Two

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through Edelweis.
Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own, The Mormon church may have disavowed the polygamy it became so infamous for in theth century, but for some Fundamentalist LatterDay Saints, plural marriage isn't just ancient history.

Mormon bishop's wife Linda Wallheim is stunned to learn her son Kenneth has gotten engaged to a young woman from a polygamous family.
Naomi Carter may have left the religion she grew up in, but the Carters will still be the Wallheims' inlaws once Kenneth and Naomi are married.

Stephen Carter, Naomi's father and the patriarch of the Carter clan, invites the Wallheims over to the Carter family compound in the remote foothills of the mountains outside Salt Lake City.
Stephen Carter wishes to extend an olive branch to his future inlaws, and introduce them to his five wives and twentytwo children.
But Linda suspects he also wants to try to persuade the Wallheims that his way of life is truly righteous.

From Linda's point of view, polygamy is an abhorrent practice, one that dehumanizes women and makes children vulnerable to unhealthy family structures.
She and her husband, Kurt, arrive at the Carter compound braced for troubleLinda has her eyes peeled for signs that Stephen's wives and children are unhappy or abused.
Although she can't find concrete evidence of mistreatment, Linda's gut instinct tells her that something on the Carter family compound is deeply wrong.
She can't quite put her finger on whatuntil it's too late, and one of the family members is found murdered.

Afraid that Stephen Carter's unworldly, sequestered wives and children might suffer at the hands of investigating police, Linda vows to stay at the compound until the murderer is found and the survivors are safe.
But even if she manages to do more good than harm with her snooping and interfering, Linda can't unsee what she has seen during her time at the Carters'now, confronting the legacy of polygamy in her own Mormon family raises even more questions about her already shaky faith.
This is therd Linda Wallheim mystery, set in Utah with a Mormon woman as the accidental detectiveexcept that by now she's gained a reputation for sleuthing and is requested to step in.
When Wallheim's son becomes engaged to the daughter of a polygamist, she and her reluctant husband visit the Carter family at their rural compound.
The day after the arrogant,timesmarried Stephen Carter lectures the Wallheims on polygamy and its history, he's murdered and Linda stays to help.
Like the previous books, this is a mixed bag, There are too many characters to keep track of, and several potentially fascinating ones are poorly developed and too quickly dismissed.
Stephen turns from a charismatic, intriguing person into evil incarnateso much so that it's incredible ANYONE would speak to or associate with him.
The plot is overly complex, although I did like the sweet and believable reconciliation between Linda and her husband as she decides her love for him overrides some theological differences.
Harrison is worth reading, especially for those with an interest in Mormonism, but in my opinion her novels still just aren't quite "there.
" Mette Ivie Harrison gives readers another fantastic story, This series just gets better and better, If I have one complaint it's that she needs to write faster, Linda Wallheim is such a wonderful, complex character, You do not have to be Mormon or a woman to understand the mental and emotional issues she is confronting in this and the earlier books.
She could be you or someone you know or want to know,

Harrison delves into issues that permeate our lives not just issues of polygamy, but abuse and bullying between ages and within families.
She tackles these issues with compassion,

Sometimes Linda's character gives me a connection of sorts to a friend, a very dear friend of mine, who was Mormon and passed away two years ago.
In many ways she was like Linda intelligent, caring, loving and nonjudgmental, My friend had such an impact on so many people that when she became ill with an inoperable brain tumor people she never met as well as those of us who were close to her donated hundreds of hours of their leave time to her.
Even employees who had been on the other side of her in various cases donated time to her because she was such an amazing person.
Through Linda's character I often feel that I'm still learning the many facets I knew my friend had in life.


While there are descriptions of the Mormon faith it is woven into the story so you learn something new without having something pushed at you.
This is definitely one series that anyone can enjoy, I think it's good to fight for things you believe in and to work to change things that are wrong.
And I agree with this author that polygamy as practiced by certain authoritarian groups and antigay discrimination wherever it crops up are both valid targets for criticism.
However, literature written in the service of a cause often falls flat when it becomes so consumed with making its case in support of its cause that it fails to tell a good story.


So many of the details of this story seem contrived, Here are just three examples of many:

Naomi knows her half sister is being abused, but she doesn't know who's behind it.
Turns out it's the girl's own mother, yet no one ever saw it until she slapped her in public,Linda Wallheim feels compelled to stick her nose in everyone's business on the compound, yet no one complains,Linda and her son, Kenneth, casually go along with a polygamous wife's plan to cover up the murder of her husband and are not charged with a crime.


I think this author has narrative skill and lots of promise as an author, I'm confident she can do much better than she's done here, Although this kept my attention, especially descriptions of life in a Mormon polygamous compound and the clever detection work of the amateur detective on discovering the killer of the thankfully most unpleasant member, there were passages that I began to skip over because they became annoyingly redundant.
I'm talking about the many references to being a mother, . the hard work, the gratifying aspects, etc, etc. etc. I'll begin with this review with a disclaimer that I'm not Mormon, The author of this book is, as is the firstperson narrator and a majority of the characters, The narrator and author is very much an openminded Mormon, yet there were some references to Mormon beliefs still held by the narrator that prevented me from really connecting with the characters, because things accepted as truth just seemed so foreign to me.
I am a religious person Methodist, so I wasn't closeminded to the religious aspects or even learning about Mormonism, . . but just be prepared that this is a book written by a Mormon, about Mormons, and presumably even for Mormons, since a lot of beliefs weren't explained very clearly and were just kind of taken for granted that I knew what they were.


On to the actual story: The book wasn't awful, but it just wasn't great, Overall, the best word I can describe the writing is "clunky, " Conversations between many characters, especially the narrator and her husband, felt stiff and unnatural, I haven't read any other books in this seriesI didn't realize it was a series until after I started reading itand I don't necessarily think you have to in order to not be lost.
But I do wonder how the relationship between Linda and her husband is portrayed in the other books, It just came off as totally unrealistic to me, They have grown children but still find it awkward to have a conversation with each other A sideplot in this book is about their marital problems, but the whole thing is handled strangely.
It feels as if they are much younger read: immature than they are supposed to be, and I simply had little connection to them especially the husband, who was a real piece of work at times.


I think the author is trying to use her fiction as an outlet to preach to people, which can sometimes work, but it seemed too obvious and forced here.
The forefront of her message this time around was how polygamy is not OK and is not something most Mormons believe is OK, but instead of being a juicy suspense thriller, the plot was pretty boring.
A side message showing support for LGBT people was kind of shoehorned in maybe this was addressed more fully in the other books in the series, but it seemed out of place here, or at least extremely underdeveloped considering how much it played a role in the Wallheims' marriage.
This book managed to both drag on at times and also feel rushed, especially its resolution, I was surprised when I read in the author's note that she had gone through over a dozen drafts of this book, because honestly it feels like a first or second draft.
For anyone expecting an exciting, tantalizing mystery taking place at a polygamist compound which sounds entertaining, doesn't it, sadly, don't look here.


As an active LDS member, it was nice to pick up something that makes references to familiar church concepts.
I dont know that I always felt swept away by the fiction writing itself, At times it seemed as though Harrison wanted badly to show off what she knew of antiMormon material, I think I could have appreciated that on its own merits, but the story itself was decent enough, I did not guess the murderer correctly, perhaps more a sign of my own simpleton manners, but I dont know that the writing necessarily paved the way in that direction.
I feel as though a good mystery will lead you by the nose, completely surprise you by the end, and then make you feel just a little dumb for not having guessed what was in front of you all along.
On the whole, Im intrigued enough to go back and read the first two books in the series, but I wouldnt beg you to go making it your next read.
Like some other reviewers, I enjoyed the two prior books as much for their honest but not hostile insight into less well known Mormon beliefs as for their "mystery" component.
For Time and All Eternities was fully as revelatory about Mormon practices, but so sharply critical basically a feminist antiLDS tract partly clothed in the poorly chosen garments of a mystery story that I felt manipulated.
And of course the book suffers from the problem which eventually confronts all mystery series with a lay protagonist: the man actually usually woman on the street does not run into more than maybe two or three murders in a lifetime, whether he manages a BampB or a bookstore or a church or a museum.
A recurring character who regularly deals with murders must for plausibilitys sake be in the business of dealing with murders.


full disclosure: I am not a current or former Mormon, nor is any of my relatives or close friends.
I believe the LDS religion to be false i, e. unScriptural. But I am leery of anyones account of the faults of her exboss or exhusband or exreligion, The Mormon church may have disavowed the polygamy it became so infamous for in theth century, but for some Fundamentalist LatterDay Saints, “plural marriage” isnt just ancient history.


For Time and All Eternities, by Mette Ivie Harrison, is a murder mystery that takes place at a compound that houses a polygamous family.
The synopsis for this book hooked me a murder surrounding a polygamous family, Since I am fascinated by religions and their practices conventional or otherwise, I knew I needed to read this one.
Initially, I was unaware it was part of a series and came to find out that it was actually the third installment that follows Linda Wallheim but I didn't find it difficult to read as a standalone.


The story opens with the main character, Linda Wallheim who is a Mormon woman, wife, and mother, finding out her son, Kenneth, is engaged to be married to Naomi Carter.
His betrothed is a part of a polygamous family her father had five wives, Linda and her husband, Kurt, make the drive to the Carter family compound to meet and greet with their new extended family.
Upon arrival, they meet charismatic Stephen, the family patriarch, who speaks of his decision to live "the principle" and after a night spent at the family home, and mingling with his unconventional family, Stephen is found murdered.
Since calling the police is out of the question, the wives fear they will be taken to prison and the children into care, Linda takes it upon herself to investigate the murder and find out who, in the locked compound, is responsible for the murder.


An interesting concept and a wellwritten plot, I really wanted to enjoy this novel, My main issue with this one is the way it was marketed, I expected the novel would have religious undertones and welcomed that completely I knew the concept of polygamy was a historically Mormon concept especially in regards to the synopsis of this book.
However, I was unaware that every character in the novel would be Mormon thus, I feel this should have been marketed as a LDS or Mormon mystery since it truly became the sole “pusher” for plot points.
For example, when Stephen is found murdered, instead of reporting the murder to the police, Linda waits for the Holy Spirit to guide her and decides to avoid calling.
This completely pushes the plot, as now Linda must be the sole investigator, but I found it to be irritating.
When you find a dead body, you call the police, This is only one, of many moments, where I found the religious undertones to be too distracting and took away from the plot.


If you do not mind a novel with significant religious discussion, then I would recommend this book as mentioned, the concept is fantastic and Harrison writes a mean plot.
Otherwise, I would skip this one, I ended up rating it

a,/stars.
.