The Angel Acronym: A Mystery Introducting Toom Taggart

By Paul M. Edwards

"What I'm talking about is knowledge. Knowledge is lived, not forgiven. ... It's an old Druid idea but an interesting one. Knowledge can't be forgiven. We can be forgiven for our deeds, maybe for our... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156085166X
• ISBN13: 9781560851660
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Signature Books
• Length: 234 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

How I narrowly avoided being murdered

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.

A fascinating page-turner

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.