The Angel Acronym [Hardcover]

Paul M. Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2003 | Series: Non-Prophet Murder Series

Finding the church archivist dead in the temple complex was somewhat awkward for the RLDS church hierarchy. What was the archivist doing in the temple in the middle of the night and, what was he doing with President Fred M. SmithÂ’s declaration of supreme directional control?

For the public relations department, this was all in a dayÂ’s work--something not so very difficult to explain away with a few carefully worded phrases. And that would have been that, had the director of church education, erstwhile philosopher Toom Taggart, not smelled something rotten on the second floor.

Alternately suspenseful and humorous, The Angel Acronym romps through the corridors of religious orthodoxy and the pages of history to probe the perplexities of religious truth, public image, and church bureaucracy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Edwards offers a fresh take on the biblio-mystery with this debut effort, set at the Independence, Mo., headquarters of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Toom Taggart, a coffee-swigging, cynical historian, suspects foul play when one of his colleagues turns up dead in the church archives. Although denominational officials and police treat the death as an ill-timed heart attack or stroke, Toom finds reasons to believe that the deceased was actually poisoned-but why, and by whom? Edwards explores what's at stake in ecclesiastical history by positing that a newly discovered document showing the prophet Joseph Smith to be a charlatan might have been enough to push one of Toom's co-workers to murder. It's not a particularly original plot, and the identity of the killer is never really in question, but the iconoclastic Toom is a deeply likable protagonist. Along the way, Edwards serves up some interesting and even profound thoughts on faith, the nature of belief, the power of knowledge and the psychological effect of killing on a murderer. The book's dry, wry humor occasionally goes over the top with unnecessary authorial asides, but is mostly right on the money. Edwards offers particularly cogent and stinging indictments of ecclesiastical bureaucracy in all its pencil-pushing banality. While the novel will be most appreciated by RLDS and LDS folks who understand the many unexplained insider terms, others will simply be hooked by the characters.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In Edwards' Angel Acronym, an archivist at the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) headquarters in Independence, Missouri, discovers some unsettling correspondence. It seems to prove that Joseph Smith's revelations in Palmyra, leading to the Book of Mormon, were a fraud. Such knowledge is enough to get the archivist murdered, though at first his death seems accidental. Toom Taggart, editor of the church's press, becomes the sleuth ferreting out the truth in this witty exercise that purports to be the first in a series. Many of Toom's endless intellectual jokes fly between Independence and the better-known Mormonism found in Salt Lake City. In fact, publication by Signature, a Mormon press from Utah, is a kind of prank in itself, particularly since Edwards used to work in Independence. His droll insider's view may not have much resonance for Baptists but should evoke chuckles from Saints regardless of their stake. John Mort
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Signature Books (April 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156085166X
• ISBN-13: 978-1560851660
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,938,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How I narrowly avoided being murdered, February 27, 2004

By 

Mark M. Thomase (Maine) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Angel Acronym (Hardcover)

Let's get this out of the way right off the bat: as a murder mystery, this book wasn't all that impressive. I knew who the murderer was even before the murder had taken place.

On the other hand, if you are at all interested in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), or any other dysfunctional bureaucracy, you will find this book insightful, cynical, hilarious and so close to the truth that it is painful.

Paul Edwards is the direct descendant of the first three Presidents of the RLDS Church, including Joseph Smith, Jr., and was a long time church functionary. Toom Taggart, Edwards' fictitious Director of Church Education, bears more than a passing resemblance to Edwards. A few other church figures are also thinly disguised, including Graceland College professor William Russell, who finds himself transmogrified into "Russell Williams". Even worse, there is a (very) minor character named "Gnuoy" -- Didn't any of the editors at Signature Books notice that this is "Young" spelled backwards? Or are they laughing along with the author?

Edwards, and Toom Taggart, spend most of the book exposing the bureaucratic incompetence of the RLDS Church -- an incompetence so gross, says Edwards/Toom, that it has become the standard by which all other incompetence is measured.

As a personal note, a few years ago the RLDS Church flew me out to Independence to interview for the position of Church Archivist. I didn't get the position, which engendered no small disappointment in me. Now it turns out that I may have been better off not getting the job at all, because Edwards' fictitious Church Archivist is the unfortunate murder victim in this novel. I feel like I narrowly avoided an untimely end.

Although the book is weak as a mystery, and Toom Taggart's cynicism is so thick it is hard to take at times, this was a delightful book well worth every penny paid for it. I look forward to the further adventures of Taggart. And after some years of frustration wrestling with the Church bureaucracy, I would be happy to suggest some murder victims if Edwards gets writer's block.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating page-turner, June 13, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Angel Acronym (Hardcover)

Paul M. Edwards' The Angel Acronym is an involving and original mystery, featuring the head director of church education, Toom Taggart, who suspects foul play when the church archivist is found dead in the temple complex. A dark and twisted tale of hidden motives, and the conflicting politics of bureaucracy, religious zeal, and public perception, The Angel Acronym is a fascinating page-turner to be read closely to the last page.