"On the same evening that a body is found in Picketsville's urgent care clinic, a mysterious break-in occurs at the house of one of Callend University's faculty. Sheriff Ike Schwartz thinks both events might be connected to an icon, The Virgin of Tenderness, in the faculty member's possession. Is the victim somehow connected to the university? And why did he enter the country under an assumed name? Then, what appears to be outdated spycraft--a microdot--is...

Elderly Jonathan Lydell III is proud of his family history and his house, which he is committed to restoring to its antebellum configuration, complete with a stranger room. Found in many family homes in the 1800s, an attached room with its own entrance, separately locked and kept for use by unknown travelers, it was intended to protect the family from unsavory guests. Nearly 150 years ago, an inexplicable murder took place in the locked stranger room...