The tiny Gulf coast town of Bay St. Lucy is in for a change when a local actress returns home along with her famous husband to stage a performance of Hamlet in the city's new cultural center. Town elder Nina Bannister, a retired English teacher and former mentor to the young woman, is invited to rehearsals to offer advice. Nina is more than happy to share her wisdom, but it soon becomes apparent that the acting company is in need of more than literary help, as the famous actor is a tyrant to both his cast and his wife. When the man is also exposed as a philanderer, Nina fears that her former...

Bay St. Lucy is a sleepy little Gulf Coast community--and that's the way its residents like it. Most of them generally ignore the monstrous old Robinson mansion that sits in the center of town, until one day, insane old man Robinson dies and leaves the house and its accompanying fortune to the town. The residents are ecstatic and begin planning improved schools and cultural centers. Local retired school teacher and village elder Nina Bannister is sent to the man's funeral in New Orleans and to represent Bay St. Lucy at the reading of his will. However, Nina returns from her trip saddened to...

Nina Bannister loves to paint, and she sees nothing wrong with hanging her painting and those of her fellow painting classmates on the walls of Elementals, a small shop she runs in downtown Bay St. Lucy. But, when the shop's owner, Margot Gavin, a former administrator at the Chicago Art Institute, arrives for a visit, she is appalled at the sight of all the beginner artwork, and demands that her friend remove the eyesores--that is, paintings--from the walls. Nina is hurt but her feelings are quickly forgotten when Margot invites Carol Walker, a creative young docent she had met at the Chicago...

Retired school teacher Nina Bannister has not been idle in her golden years. Now, this famous resident of Bay St. Lucy, Mississippi, is heeding the call of duty again, by running as a replacement candidate for the U.S. Congress, when the state's present Representative is killed in a plane crash. To her great surprise, Nina is elected, and--to her even greater surprise--she quickly finds that she is not cut out for the lowly life of a newbie--kowtowing to party leaders. When Nina suggests in an off-hand moment (which is secretly recorded by her staff and uploaded to social media) that the...

Nina Bannister's good friend, Margot Gavin, has invited Nina to her bed and breakfast plantation house, The Candles, for a few days of rest. Nina is looking forward to a quiet visit with Margot, and the two friends sit down to a snack of tea and wine. Unbeknownst to them, their plans will be interrupted, first by thirty unexpected guests (and their cats) who arrive by limousines, and then by an unexpected former owner who has been deceased since the Civil War. What else can possibly occur? How about an unexpected hurricane (the aptly named Clarence) Can Nina and Margot face the many...

"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 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. The hospital staff rush to protect their important patients, 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...