Review of Murder Among the Mormons
Rating *****
Murder Among The Mormons is a story about greed, deception, and self-preservation. It all starts when a man named Mark Hofmann announces the discovery of a historical document that calls into question the beginnings of the Morman church. The document, later known as the salamander letter, goes through a rigorous analysis by church historians and is determined to be authentic. It’s the beginning of a long string of discoveries of rare documents by Mark Hofmann.
Mark’s uncanny ability to find rare and valuable documents raises suspicions, but the worn and tattered letters and papers he brings forward all pass inspection by numerous experts. As you might inspect, there are plenty of buyers for such material, and Mark starts a thriving rare documents business.
Things start to unravel for Mark when the police charge him for the deaths of two individuals with whom Mark had done business. The storyline is remarkably similar to the one covered in the rare art documentaries in my previous post on abstract art.
This three-part docuseries covers the story from all angles: the victims, the experts, the people who knew and trusted Mark and finally Mark himself through audio from interviews done shortly after his conviction. The audio interviews provide a rare look inside the mind of a psychopath.