T'Gracie Reese Livres

Nina Bannister is thrilled to be invited to a major research university so that she can spend a semester as recipient of the school’s first “Golden Age Teaching Award.” The fact that an old and dear friend, Lucinda Herndon, is Ellerton University’s current president only adds to her excitement. But both the academic world and Nina’s professional and emotional lives are turned upside down when President Herndon makes a shocking announcement to her faculty and staff. What follows are twenty-four chaotic hours as Nina faces both a bloody murder and a stunning Mind Change.

Nina Bannister has always called her little congregation in Bay St. Lucy "the Church of No Surprises." Everything from her favorite pew to her favorite hymns to her favorite verses to her favorite people to her favorite pastor, Brother Tamp-is comfortably predictable. Even the summer camping retreat at Tombigbee State Park in northern Mississippi is unchanging, featuring the Frank Bannister Fishing Contest, organized years earlier by her deceased husband. This summer is different though. The church's decision to have their retreat in conjunction with the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church draws the ire of white supremacists. The request by a gay couple to be married in a formal church service proves highly controversial. Brother Tamp's arguments with a new young minister over matters both financial and theological grow ever more bitter. And the forests around the camp seem suddenly to be haunted by Chickasaw warriors, enraged at having been expelled from their native lands.Nina hopes and prays for the best but gets the worst: a shocking murder.And she has very little time to solve it before her little church of no surprises suffers a traumatic Faith Change.

A sudden medical emergency lands retired teacher and amateur sleuth Nina Bannister in the Bay Saint Lucy Hospital. However, the blood clot in her leg, soon becomes the least of Nina¿s concerns as a crazed maniac threatens to take over the hospital and highlights his pronouncement by blowing up a car with a body inside directly at the hospital¿s front entrance. Nina¿s friends and colleagues rally around her and the local sheriff Moon Rivard and his new deputy Michael Yancy are determined to protect Nina when the madman decides to use Nina as his mouthpiece, demanding that she speak directly to the press and clear his father of a long-standing crime. The hospital staff rush to protect their important patient and move Nina to a bed in a more secure location. The plot thickens even more and soon many of Nina¿s friends become embroiled in the strange goings-on, causing Nina to doubt her own moral code. Will Nina survive the bed change and all the hi jinx at the hospital? Or will the maniac succeed in forcing Nina to do his bidding?