Deadly Vows: The True Story of a Zealous Preacher, a Polygamous Union and a Savage Murder

Journalist Wright is far from a dispassionate reporter of this sordid murder story; he was close friends with the killer, Pentecostal minister Sean Goff, and even feels some responsibility for the fatal stabbing of Joy Risker, having had extensive discussions with Goff about how one could plan a perfect crime. Wright and Goff used television shows about forensics as a guide for a movie script about a murderer who could stay ahead of the police by knowing how not to leave incriminating clues, but Goff, who believed in polygamy, used the concept to kill Risker, the woman he married while still married to his first wife. When her friends became suspicious of the e-mails Goff sent under Risker’s name, the scheme fell apart. To an outsider, the story is far less interesting than to Wright, who also offers details of his friendship with Goff that will be tedious to many. The prologue, in which what will prove to be Risker’s corpse is found in the Arizona desert, is repeated, word-for-word, in the 18th chapter. Wright’s decision to thank Goff in the acknowledgments will strike many readers as bizarre. Agent: Sharlene Martin, Martin Literary Management. (Jan.)