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WORK TITLE: Blessed Be the Wicked
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Donna Alison Bartley; Alison Bartley
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.dabartley.com/
CITY: New York
STATE: NY
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland; married; children: one son, one daughter.
EDUCATION:Boston University, B.A.; University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D., J.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, novelist, attorney, and research scholar. Attorney and researcher in New York, NY.
MEMBER:Daughters of Utah Pioneers.
RELIGION: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
D.A. Bartley, whose full name is Donna Alison Bartley, is an American mystery novelist who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Much of early life was spent in Ogden, Utah, until her family moved to France, then to Germany. The family came back to the United States, to Salt Lake City, Utah, in time for her to attend high school there. She is of the Mormon faith and notes that her family “can trace its roots back to some of the earliest converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” stated a writer on Bartley’s website. Her ancestors settled in Utah “before the Transcontinental Railroad was finished in 1869,” the writer added.
Bartley graduated from Boston University with a B.A., and she holds a Ph.D. in political science and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She has worked as an attorney and a research scholar in New York City.
In her debut novel, Blessed Be the Wicked, Bartley draws on her family’s Mormon history to tell the story of Abish “Abbie” Taylor, a New York City police officer transplanted back to the place where she grew up. Abbie had left her hometown of Pleasant View, Utah, early in life, rejecting the Mormon faith that surrounded her there. She had been living a comfortable life with her husband in New York, but when he dies, she decides to return to Pleasant View and start her life over in a much smaller community. She joins the town’s police force as a detective, believing that it will be an easy job. After all, she thinks, how much crime could there be in a tiny place like that?
Her expectations are upended when a leader of the Mormon church is found dead, wearing full religious regalia and with his throat cut from ear to ear. Abbie sets out to solve the murder and uncover the truth behind the mystery, but soon runs into the stonewalling efforts of church leaders. Many of them, it seems, are more interested in protecting the church and its reputation than in solving a brutal killing. At the same time, Abbie has to navigate a troubled relationship with her father, a church historian whose personal and religious lives are often contradictory.
Assessing Blessed Be the Wicked, a Kirkus Reviews writer observed that “the book’s setting and subject material give it potential.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer concluded, “Readers will look forward to this unusual woman’s next outing.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2018, review of Blessed Be the Wicked.
Publishers Weekly, July 30, 2018, review of Blessed Be the Wicked.
ONLINE
D.A. Bartley website, http://www.dabartley.com (October 16, 2018).
MEET ALISON
Donna Alison Bartley grew up Mormon. Her family can trace its roots back to some of the earliest converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is a member of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, which means her ancestors settled in Utah (or Deseret, if you’re going to be technical) before the Transcontinental Railroad was finished in 1869.
Alison, who goes by her middle name, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where her dad was studying linguistics at the time. Her parents moved back to Ogden, Utah, when she was two (hence, no charming Scottish accent). When she was ten, her family moved to France, and when she was eleven they moved to Germany. Her family returned to Salt Lake where she went to high school. (Go Olympus Titans!)
Alison attended Boston University, but the need to travel was in her blood and she spent her junior year abroad. She moved to Leningrad, USSR, in 1991, and moved from St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1992. The following summer she pretended to study French in Paris, but mostly drank black coffee at sidewalk cafés and did some serious people watching.
After college, Alison went on to get her Ph.D. in political science (her dissertation focused on how countries used the concept of sovereignty in legal disputes) and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She then moved with her husband to New York City where she practiced law and spent time as a research scholar.
Alison has lived in Manhattan longer than she has any other place on the planet, but she still finds it hard to navigate without mountains. She and her husband live with their teenage daughter and son on the Upper East Side.
Bartley, D.A.: BLESSED BE THE WICKED
Kirkus Reviews. (June 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Bartley, D.A. BLESSED BE THE WICKED Crooked Lane (Adult Fiction) $26.99 8, 7 ISBN: 978-1-68331-720-3
As the lone detective in her small Mormon community, Abish "Abbie" Taylor must use her understanding of the faith she rejected when a religious leader is murdered.
Abbie has been living a life of luxury and privilege with her husband in New York City, but after his death, she returns home to Pleasant View, Utah. She takes a job as the small force's detective, assuming it will be an easy one given the area's predominantly Mormon, law-abiding makeup. But then a church leader is found dead, bearing wounds and wearing clothing that hint at a violent and bloody chapter of the church's past. As she and the promising young Officer Clarke investigate, Abbie realizes that many of the church's leaders are involved in actions that are less than legal, let alone moral. Even her own boss seems reluctant to fully investigate. Further complicating matters is Abbie's troubled past with her father, a man whose position as a respected church historian doesn't match up with his treatment of his own wife. The reader is given many, many passages about Mormon history and practices, yet key facts of the plot, such as those about Abbie's past career in law enforcement, are distributed sparingly. One wants to like Abbie, but Bartley's sluggish, predictable prose makes it hard to engage.
Although the book's setting and subject material give it potential, the lackluster style keeps this off the must-read list.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Bartley, D.A.: BLESSED BE THE WICKED." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A540723388/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=3b43a04e. Accessed 30 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A540723388
Blessed Be the Wicked: An Abish Taylor Mystery
D.A. Bartley. Crooked Lane, $26.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-68331-720-3
Abish Taylor, the heroine of Bartley’s surprising debut, left Pleasant View, Utah, and the Mormon faith early in her life, eventually becoming a police officer in New York City. After her husband’s death, she returned home to Pleasant View, where she assumed the detective position for the local police force. She thought it would be an easy way to pass the time between hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter, but the job turns serious when a man is found dead in the basement of a newly purchased McMansion in a swanky part of town. The victim is dressed for Temple in full ceremonial regalia, his throat cut from ear to ear. As she sets out to solve the murder, Abish must navigate the particular realities of Mormon culture, where protecting the reputation of the church often takes precedence over investigating a grisly murder or two. The book contains a goodly dollop of Mormon history, which adds unexpected layers to the mystery. Readers will look forward to this unusual woman’s next outing. (Aug.)