The Mormon Candidate - a Novel (68 page)

“I might as well keep this,” Ben said
, “c
onsidering I could have ruined it for him
tonight
. Still could, actually.
Or maybe not.
”

“
You don’t make any sense,
”
Keera said.

“
Nothing
makes sense
anymore.
The o
nly
physical evidence
I had
against him
has just gone up in smoke.”

“Is it over?
Tell me it’s over!
”

“
Almost.
Can I borrow
your iPhone
?
” Ben took it, got on the Internet, and sign
ed
into his
g-
mail account. Finding the e-mail he had sent to himself
w
ith the attached file of Zachariah Hinck
ley’s trial and evidence, he
forwarded it to
Rex
. “It’s up to them now. I’m done.”

“Good.”
Keera
put her arm around his waist
. “
And I’m done being single. Go
t m
e a
fiancé
!
I love saying it
!
Fiancé
.
Fiancé
.
Fiancé
.
God, i
sn’t it a beautiful word
?”

“Yes, my dear fiancé
e
.”

She
laughed
and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Ouch!”

“What’s wrong?” S
he
touched
the back of
his shoulder, feeling the bandage
under his shirt
.
“
You’re
injured
!
”

“
Not exactly
.”
Ben
let
Keera
into Fran’s back seat
and got in next to her
. “You know that football tattoo you l
ove
d
so much
…
”

The End

Acknowledgements

As with my other n
ovels, the historic details underlying the
story required extensive research and verification. In achieving this level of authenticity, I have benefited invaluably from the works of many scholars and biographers.

Special mention is due to Richard Ostling and Joan Ostling, authors of
Mormon America – The Power and the Promise,
Richard Abanes, author of
One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church,
Deborah Laake, author of
Secret Ceremonies,
Latayne Scott, author of
The Mormon Mirage,
Martha Beck, author of
Leaving the Saints
, Michael D. Quinn, author of
The Mormon Hierarchy—Extensions of Power
, and Jon Krakauer, author of
Under the Banner of Heaven
.
(
A comprehensive
list of primary bibliographical sources appears next.
)

From a genealogy point of interest, t
he LDS database at
www.FamilySearch.org
is a fascinating destination. It
has amassed
upward of 2.5 billion names
through a global effort aimed at obtaining copies of every available source of popul
ation records. Unfortunately, the database
currently allows only members of the Mormon Church to
search individual names for information on posthumous baptisms.

I am grateful to
editor Renee
Johnson and the team at Create
Space, as well as
to
my
friends and family members
,
whose thoughtful input, critical comments, and enthusiastic encouragement have sustained me along the way and made this novel possible. Thank you!

Last but not least,
to
my readers, whose enjoyment is the purpose of my work.
As alwa
ys, your comments and thoughts are
greatly appreciated
. A
n e-mail contact is provided through the website at:
www.AzrieliBooks.com

Bibliography

Books:

Skousen, Royal, Ed.
The Book of Mormon – The Earliest Text.
New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009.

Ostling, Richard N. and Ostling, Joan K.
Mormon America – The Power and the Promise.
New York: HarperCollins - HarperOne, 2007.

Abanes, Richard.
One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church.
New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003.

Brodie, Fawn.
No Man Knows My History – The Life of Joseph Smith
.
New York:
Alfred Knopf, 1945 and
First Vintage Books, 1995.

Bushman, Richard Lyman.
Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling.
New York: Knopf, 2005.

Krakauer, Jon.
Under the Banner of Heaven.
New York: Doubleday, 2003.

Quinn, Michael
D
.
The Mormon Hierarchy—Extensions of Power.
Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997.

Anderson, Devery S., Ed.
The Development of LDS Temple Worship 1946-2000 – A Documentary History.
Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2011.

Laake, Deborah.
Secret Ceremonies – A Mormon Woman’s Intimate Diary of Marriage and Beyond.
New York: William Morrow and Company, 1993.

Scott, Latayne C.
The Mormon Mirage.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.

Decker, Ed and Hunt, Dave.
The God Makers.
Eugene: Harvest House, 1997.

Beck, Martha.
Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith.
New York: Crown, 2005.

Ahmanson, John and Archer, Gleason L., Tran.
Secrete History – An Eyewitness Account of the Rise of Mormonism.
Chicago: Moody Press – The Fieldstead Institute, 1984. (Originally published in Denmark in 1876 under the title
Vor Tids Muhamed
– “The Muhammad of Our Time.”)

Articles
and Essays
:

Pyle, Richard
.
“
Mormons, Jews Si
gn
Agreement on Baptizing Holocaust Victims
.”
Associated Press Newswire,
May 5, 1995
.

Eden, Ami.
“
Sister Golda, Brother Bashevis: Mormon Baptizers at it Again
.”
The Jewish Forward
, July 27, 2001
.

McEntee, Peg.
“
LDS Church Reaf
firms No Proxy Baptisms of Jews.”
The Salt Lake Tribune
, December 11, 2002.

Walsh, Paton Nick. “Russians fume as Mormons buy souls.”
The Guardian
, November 22, 2003.

Urbina, Ian.
“
Again, Jews Fault Mormons Over Posthumous Baptisms
.”
The
New York Times
, December 21, 2003.

Makotoff, Gary.
“
Posthumous Baptism is a Terrible Insult to Jews
.”
Deseret Morning News
, January 11, 2004.

Thiessen, Mark
. “
Sen. Clinton Joins Effort to End Mormon Baptisms of Holocaust Victims
.”
The Associated Press
, April 20, 20
04.

Radkey, Helen.
“
Proxy Bapt
ism of Jews: The Splash Goes On
.
”
Avotaynu – The Int’l Rev. of Jewish
Genealogy
, February 7, 2006.

Young, Neil J. “Southern Baptists vs. the Mormons.”
Slate
, December 19, 2007.

Heneghan, Tom.
“
Catholic-Mormon Tensi
on over LDS Baptism of the Dead.”
Reuters Blogs
, May 8, 2008
.

Marshall, Kelly
. “
Mormons and Jews Reach [another] Agreement o
n Posthumous Proxy Baptism.”
CNN
,
September 2, 2010
.

Burt, Brandon
.
“
Rabble-Rouser Helen Radkey Keeping Tabs on Proxy LDS Baptisms
.
”
Salt Lake City Weekly
, September 20, 2011
.

Dreher, Rod.
“
Are
Mormons Stealing Grandpa’s Soul?”
The American Conservative
, October 19, 2011
.

Slosson, Mary. “
Mormon Church Apologizes
for Posthumous Baptism.”
Reuters
, February 14, 2012
.

Editorial.
“
M
ormon Posthumous Baptism, Again.”
The Jewish Week
, February 14, 2012
.

Sheffield, Carry. “A Mormon Church in Need of Reform
.
”
The Washington Post,
January 29, 2012.

Keneally, Meghan. “Mormon Church shuts down whistle-blower’s access to list of people posthumously baptized…but says it is to ‘protect’ Jews and Catholics not hid the names.”
The Daily Mail (UK)
, March 8, 2012.

Kaylor, Brian. “Prominent African-American Southern Baptist Condemns Mormonism as Racist.”
Ethics Daily
, June 15, 2012.

Mason, Prof. David V. “I’m a Mormon, Not a Christian.”
The New York Times
, June 12, 2012.

Visual:

Whitney, Helen, Dir.
The Mormons.
New York: PBS – American Experience, 2007.

Roos, Bram.
The Mormon Rebellion.
New York:
A&E – History Channel, 1997.

ALSO BY AVRAHAM AZRIELI

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The Jerusalem Assassin – A Novel

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Non-Fiction:

Your Lawyer on a Short Leash

One Step Ahead – A Mother of Seven Escaping Hitler

AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:

www.AzrieliBooks.com