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Delving into the conditions that drive an otherwise normal person to murder is compelling stuff.
Throw in peeks behind the curtains of one of America’s most debated religious organizations and the historical document trade and you’ve got enough violence, intrigue and nerdiness for three television miniseries. “Murder Among the Mormons” packs all this and more into a three-episode package that keeps you watching and raises some interesting questions but feels lacking in deep, probing examination of the answers to those very questions.
“Murder” tells the story of a series of bombings that shook the Salt Lake City, Utah area in October of 1985. At the heart of these events is Mark Hofmann, a historical documents dealer with a seemingly supernatural ability to conjure anything his prospective customers are looking for. When Hofmann’s business associates start dying, he becomes the focus of an investigation into the murders and the possible forge
fame) and Tyler Measom (
An Honest Liar) detail one replete with greed and different flavors of deception could easily fill another handful of installments. (This being the era of competing docuseries on the same compelling subject, though, means we could very well see another streamer or network’s exploration of the same unsettling, sometimes impenetrable, events that gripped Salt Lake City, Utah in the mid-1980s.)
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If the name Mark Hofmann or the term “the Salamander letter” immediately ring bells, then you have a road map for the twists and turns
Murder Among The Mormons takes. Greater context is provided for even those who followed along with (or, decades later, just ended up down a digital rabbit hole one night) the years-long coverage of the series of mail bombings that took place in 1985. But the show is a solid primer for those unversed in the late-20th-century collision between the Church Of Jesus Christ Of The Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mor