Mette Ivie Harrison, Utah mystery novelist, talks about two faith journeys: Her own, and the one taken by her fictional suburban detective

Author Mette Ivie Harrison writes mystery novels, but in some ways the biggest mystery in her books is about faith.

Her detective, Linda Wallheim, is a suburban Salt Lake City wife and mom, raised in the faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — for which her husband, Kurt, is a bishop, a position of respect and authority in their local ward. But as she noses around in crimes in her supposedly picture-perfect community, she learns things that makes her question her faith.

In the fifth book in the Linda Wallheim series, “The Prodigal Daughter,” Linda is asked to help find a runaway teen girl who’s living on the streets in Salt Lake City. Meeting the girl, Sabrina, causes Linda to encounter homelessness, and confront the way the male domination of her faith leaves makes victims of women and girls.

I talked with Harrison about the book, and her own issues with the Latter-day Saint faith in which she was raised but no longer practices. The venue for the interview was the downtown neighborhood where much of her book’s action takes place.

Read it here at sltrib.com.