The Martyr's Chapel — D.J. Delffs

Redemption and greed collide in the quaint town of Avenell.

Griffin Reed is the widowed rector for the prestigious campus of Avenell University, nestled in the rolling hills of Tennessee. A man of deep spirituality with a penchant for classic literature, Father Grif thoroughly enjoys the gentle atmosphere of Avenell accented by the thriving undercurrent of university life.

But that fine balance is jolted when a Pulitzer-prizewinning playwright is found dead in the Martyr's Chapel, a 150-year-old church on the campus property. Gentry Truman had served as writer-in-residence at the private university, and though his term had not been without its stormy moments, the community is reeling from his death's sinister intrusion. While local authorities suspect a local hermit of the crime, Father Grif believes otherwise. With the somewhat comic assistance of his intrusive, spinster sister and his long-standing friendship with a Baptist prison chaplain, Father Grif uncovers a surprising list of suspects as he struggles to shed the light of faith on the darkness plaguing his small parish community.