Shortly after, a badly beaten wife, Mercy, arrives at Bybee’s motel claiming that Crowe caught her with another man, whom he then proceed to castrate, behead and dismember, and she is afraid for her life.

Without thinking, Bybee promises to keep Mercy safe, and again without thinking, brings her to his girlfriend Zolene’s house (Zolene is out of town) where he proceeds to let her stay, eat Zolene’s food, shower, wear Zolene’s clothes and then allows her to seduce him. Still not thinking clearly, Bybee tells Mercy he has Faith stashed and promises to bring Mercy to see her. The next day, Faith is dead and Mercy is missing, causing Bybee to think he might have made a mistake, but not sure if it was a mistake to take Mercy to Faith or to tell other members of his investigating team that he was taking her there.

Now, Bybee’s living with his conscience, an investigating team that blames Bybee for the mess their case is now in and with an angry Zolene who was less than pleased with Mercy’s original housing arrangement. Bybee is able to gather what senses he hasn’t taken leave of and look into Mercy’s disappearance and tries to put his case and life back on track.

Sister Wife has all the elements of a suspenseful novel, but it falls short on several accounts. Bybee is entirely too trusting when first dealing with Mercy and he uses poor judgment as far as Zolene is concerned. He also doesn’t use a lot of acumen when dealing with his fellow investigators.

Bybee is not a particularly likable character. One of the investigators has a very well chosen name, Darvis Gant, and he acts just the way his name sounds. The mystery is very easy to figure out, though the whys are never entirely clear.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry