Books: Where Was Aimee?

THE VANISHING EVANGELIST (334 pp.) —Lately Thomas—Viking ($4.95).

Canadian-born Aimee Semple McPherson, 28, landed in Los Angeles in 1918 with $10 and a tambourine. Six years later she had built these assets into the $1,500,000 Angelus Temple and a $25,000 radio station, all paid for by cash donations from the fanatic flock that supported her Foursquare Gospel.

Auburn-haired, athletic, with brilliant, hypnotic eyes and a prominent nose and chin, Aimee sometimes looked more like a female impersonator than a woman. She had been married twice—to Holy Roller Missionary Robert Semple, who died in China,...