Residents of a Southern town are confronted with their religious bigotry in this deeply felt story of justice, regret, and forgiveness.
When Lee Street, a prominent businessman, is found dead on his property the Muslim community was trying to purchase to build a mosque, a Muslim, Ismael Hagarson, is arrested for the murder. Hagarson had been outraged when Street reneged on the real estate deal with no explanation and now seems the most likely suspect.
Local minister Ike Benheart reluctantly comes forward with another explanation for Street's death. Street was deeply troubled by questions about homosexuality, and met with the minister just before his death. Benheart suspects Street's death was not a murder but a tragic suicide.Though Benheart goes to the defense attorney with his suspicions, nothing will dissuade the authorities from prosecuting Hagarson.
It is up to Benheart to get to the bottom of Street's death and exonerate Hagarson. His search for the truth extends globally to Bangladesh, locally into the townspeople's deep seated prejudices, and inwardly, as he must come to grips with a dark family secret held for a generation.
A probing, fearless exposé of prideful Southern intolerance reminiscent of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.
About the Author: Fred Howard is the minister of the Unitarian Church of Valdosta, Georgia. He has also published Transforming Faith: Stories of Change from a Lifelong Spiritual Seeker, which won the Nautilus Book Award.
Howard was born and raised in Macon, Georgia. He studied at Valdosta State College and the Medical College of Georgia and spent twenty years practicing medicine. Howard then chose a new calling and graduated from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in 2006. He spent a year in the clinical pastoral education program at Emory Hospital and was ordained by the Christian Universalist Association.
Howard lives with his wife, Kathy, in Valdosta. They have three children, Mandy, Misty, and Dustin, and seven grandchildren.
