It's no April fool joke when Sister Rebekah, leader of a religious sect called The Faithful United for Beatification at the Second Coming of Our Blessed Lord and Savior, tells her followers on April 1 that the Rapture will occur in two weeks on Easter Sunday. Watching the television news clip of Sister Rebekah's proclamation, Warren "Mitch" Mitchell, reporter for the St. Paul Daily Dispatch, tells his wife, Martha Todd, that he's glad he won't have write the sect's long name because the story about the second coming will be covered by the newspaper's religion writer. However, the religion writer calls in sick the next day, so Mitch and his photographer buddy, Alan Jeffrey, are sent to interview Sister Rebekah. They find her frighteningly sincere in her claim that she communicates directly with the lord and that only her followers will be led to heaven on Easter Sunday. All others, she says, will be doomed to an unknown-and possibly very short-future. The next morning, Sister Rebekah is found dead in her bed, her future shortened by a silver bullet in her head and a wooden stake driven into her heart. The doors of her hotel suite are locked from the inside and surveillance cameras show no one entering or leaving after Sister Rebekah's last phone call. As they often do, Mitch and Al set out to unlock the mystery of the murder. The task becomes more complicated when two members of the Faithful United, Sister Salome and Brother Noah, both claim to have been chosen by the lord to succeed Sister Rebekah as the cult's spiritual leader. Members choose up sides and downtown St. Paul becomes overrun with news media from all around the world. Hotels and bars are filled with reporters and photographers and the streets are jammed with sound trucks and SUVs. More chaos ensues when a pacifist group tries to join in the Rapture and a militant group attempts to hang Sister Salome. On the fateful Easter morning, Sister Salome is found dead in her bed with a silver bullet in her head and a wooden stake in her heart. Brother Noah has disappeared, along with the sect's substantial bank account. And Mitch soon finds himself in a life-or-death wrestling match with a gun-wielding cold-blooded killer.
About the Author: Glenn Ickler is the author of the Mitch and Al series, which now includes 13 titles. He has had a long career in newspapers as a reporter, feature writer, theater critic, columnist, and editor. He has been part of an editorial page staff that was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and he has won numerous awards for his writing. A native of Minnesota, he now lives in a small town in Massachusetts, somewhere west of Boston.