The Nurse and the Talisman — Ruth Burnett

Caring for a rapidly weakening old recluse on isolated Staghead Key was almost more responsibility than Holly Wilde wanted. Heretofore the recently capped young nurse had worked in the sterile-white security of a Miami hospital. Nothing in her experience had prepared her for the lonely island or for the luxurious Morgan mansion, in which she was to live and work. But could any experience have prepared her for a confrontation with the dark and mysterious forces of voodoo? For no sooner had Holly met Eli Morgan, her elderly patient and the wealthy owner of Staghead Key, than she found herself plunged into an environment where voodoo was not only accepted but practiced.

Eli Morgan was obviously ill, yet his medical tests yielded no indication of serious trouble. Eli confided to Holly that someone wanted him dead and only his lost voodoo bezoar, a stone talisman, could save him. To cure her charge would require more than thermometers and blood pressure cuffs. Somehow Holly had to locate the bezoar.

She accelerated her search markedly after noticing the rising antagonism between Dr. Reuel Morgan, Eli's attractive son, and Kirby Milbank, Eli's nephew, toward whom she felt a deepening distrust. And when a servant who had tried to confide in her was knifed in the mansion driveway, Holly knew she was dealing with a spiritual evil more formidable than a modern nurse cared to contemplate.