SCORCHED GRACE (Gillian Flynn Books, 2023)

🔥A Best Crime Novel of 2023: The New York Times, the Guardian, APPLE BOOKS, Barnes & noble, BOOKPAGE, Novel suspects, Marie claire, New Orleans Magazine
🔥A Best NOIR novel of 2023: crimereads
🔥PinckLey Prize FOR CRIME FICTION, Best debut novel, WINNER
🔥NATIONAL bestseller (USA TODAY) & indie bestseller
🔥Massachusetts Book Award, LONGLIST
🔥Anthony Award for Best First Novel, Finalist
🔥International Thriller Writers Best First Novel, Finalist
🔥winter 2024 reading group indie next list
🔥Crime Writers’ Association NEW BLOOD DAGGER AWARD, LONGLIST
🔥New England Book Award (NEIBA), Finalist
🔥A Most Memorable Debut Mystery of the Year: Barnes & Noble
🔥Left coast crime AWARD FOR best debut mystery, FINALIST
🔥Macavity Award for Best First Mystery, Finalist
🔥The times (london) crime fiction pick, april 2023
🔥amazon editors’ Pick
🔥Powell’s Books pick of the month
🔥Audiobook, Librofm, & KIndle bestseller
🔥Irish Independent Summer 2023 Pick
🔥Book marks’ best reviewed novels OF THE WEEK, Feb 2023
🔥New York Public Library’s Book of the day, june 12, 2023
🔥INDIE NEXT PICK, American booksellers ASSOCIATION, March 2023
🔥Most Anticipated DEBUT by Goodreads, THEM, LGBTQ Reads, Book riot
🔥A Best Book cover of the year: Electric Lit
🔥Books-A-Million Expert Picks of Debut Authors 2023
🔥Audiofile 2023 Earphones award for exceptional audiobook
🔥Optioned for a screen adaption

Out now in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Poland, Brazil, and Germany.

Sister Holiday, a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed nun puts her amateur sleuthing skills to the test in this “dark, sneaky thriller” and “freight train of a murder mystery” (Gillian Flynn).

When Saint Sebastian's School becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their surrounding community are thrust into chaos. Unsatisfied with the officials' response, sardonic and headstrong Sister Holiday becomes determined to unveil the mysterious attacker herself and return her new home and sanctuary to its former peace. Her investigation leads down a twisty path of suspicion and secrets in the sticky, oppressive New Orleans heat, turning her against colleagues, students, and even fellow Sisters along the way. An exciting start to Margot Douaihy’s bold series for Gillian Flynn Books that breathes new life into the hardboiled genre, Scorched Grace is a fast-paced and punchy whodunit that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

Click here for SCORCHED GRACE CONTENT NOTES.

ACCLAIM FOR SCORCHED GRACE

“Within five pages, I was in love with this novel. The voice is unique and confident, the sense of place deeply present, and the plotting completely assured: every time I was about to ask a question about Sister Holiday, her background, her drive, the mystery—the answer magically appeared. Sister Holiday is simply a joy of a narrator—and definitely my kind of character: flawed, dark, buoyant, and often laugh-out-loud funny. I feel like she and Camille Preaker from Sharp Objects should go on a road trip together. This novel is so much more than a mystery (which is my favorite kind of mystery), it’s an exploration of faith, love, and the worthy struggle to be a better human. I just loved it!” –Gillian Flynn, bestselling author of GONE GIRL, SHARP OBJECTS, and DARK PLACES; writer/showrunner of UTOPIA

“Showstopper of a series debut.” –Sarah Weinman, New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice

"A fiery apocalypse and a rebirth that will leave readers stunned. This is no cozy. It is a story about love and faith and despair, and Margot Douaihy has created an instantly memorable character – edgy, headstrong, hardboiled, deeply flawed, darkly funny, with a voice that crackles and burns with passion and wit. Sister Holiday may not know where she’s headed, but you’ll follow her anywhere." –Neil Nyren, Book Trib

“Stunning fiction debut … briskly plotted master class in character development.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Flames flicker around the edges of Margot Douaihy’s SCORCHED GRACE, casting light and revealing darkness, hinting at the sort of destruction that offers the possibility of a new beginning. Douaihy immerses the reader in her hyperlocal New Orleans setting and the murky depths of Sister Holiday’s tormented soul. Her prose is frequently lyrical and often lacerating, her characters layered and intriguing. SCORCHED GRACE is both entertaining and devastating, dominated by a queer sleuth with a clever, curious mind and a fatalistic yet somehow still hopeful heart.” –BookPage, starred review

"One chapter into Margot Douaihy’s SCORCHED GRACE and you’ll be ready to follow Sister Holiday wherever her instincts take her. Vibrant, crackling and deliciously insubordinate, it’s a mystery full of trapdoors and surprises but with a keen emotional force that leaves you shaken, hooked." –Megan Abbott, bestselling author of BEWARE THE WOMAN & DARE ME

“Margot Douaihy’s bold entry into the hardboiled genre revitalizes it for our times. Skillfully plotted, propulsive, and deeply engaged with the communities it represents, SCORCHED GRACE is one of the best crime fiction debuts I’ve come across in a long while.” –Don Winslow, #1 internationally bestselling author of THE POWER OF THE DOG and CITY ON FIRE

"Douaihy's prose is fresh and energetic, and she brings the delightfully original character of Sister Holiday vividly to life. The story satisfies right up until the very twisty end." –Karin Slaughter, bestselling author of THE WILL TRENT Series & PIECES OF HER

"The sacred meets the profane head on in Margot Douaihy’s debut mystery. It’s funny. It’s touching. Its honesty is refreshing, and we hesitate to compare the writing or the plot to anything prior. At times poetic and other moments full of zest. Sister Holiday breathes life into every scene and moment of this book.” –Barnes & Noble Editors

“Margot Douaihy’s chain-smoking nun Sister Holiday may be the most original character you’ll come across for quite some time.” –Molly Odintz, CrimeReads

“You’ve never met a mystery protagonist like Sister Holiday. A bold new entry in the burgeoning subgenre of queer crime fiction, Scorched Grace grapples with potent questions about what achieving justice even looks like in a world of corrupt institutions and the fraught belief systems that sustain them." –Abby Monteil, Them

“Blistering novel … reads like an epiphany … the perfect kind of warped thriller to kick off Gillian Flynn’s new publishing imprint.“ –Jim Ruland, Los Angeles Times

“The twisty plot, gorgeous language, and the renegade nun as a main character bring this novel into its own category. Scorched Grace is a novel both exciting and profound. The crisp pacing keeps things moving briskly forward while the writing takes you deep.” –Anne Laughlin, Lambda Literary Review

“Gripping, subversive and sincere.” -Sarah O’Neal, BookPage, starred audiobook review

“If you’re looking for a queer edgy Agatha Christie-type read, then this is one for you.” –Gay Times

"Harrowing and gorgeously written, with an unforgettable protagonist—Sister Holiday, “the first punk nun”—Margot Douaihy’s SCORCHED GRACE takes readers on a searing journey through faith, fire, and female rage. A brilliant debut mystery." –Elizabeth Hand, author of Hokuloa Road and Generation Loss

“Margot Douaihy’s SCORCHED GRACE is pure, hardboiled delight, and so is its protagonist, Sister Holiday. I can’t wait for the next installment.” —Kelly Link, MacArthur Fellow and bestselling author of Pulitzer Prize finalist Get in Trouble

“The rough, sarcastic, first-person voice of Scorched Grace seizes the reader in a headlock from the first page. Throughout Sister Holiday’s obsessive search for the fire-starter, her narration takes its solid place in the lineage of classic, hardboiled detectives filled with both self-effacing cynicism and dogged purpose. … SCORCHED GRACE blazes a queer path forward for the genre.” –Laurel Flores Fantauzzo, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine

“Fearless, ebullient, and twisty as hell, SCORCHED GRACE remixes the crime novel for our current age, and debuts a magnetic noir heroine, whose brash wit and profound soulfulness command our instant and utter devotion.” –Debra Jo Immergut, author of YOU AGAIN and THE CAPTIVES

“SCORCHED GRACE burns with the wholehearted energy of faith, love and transgression.” –Sophie Ward, Booker Prize longlisted author of THE SCHOOLHOUSE and LOVE AND OTHER THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS

“SCORCHED GRACE ignites with devout subversiveness. The novel offers a chance to bear witness to the fierce battle between affectively queer realities and spectaclism on a center alter. The vibe is cult-classic. Thrilling enough to sweep me off my feet, gritty enough to remind me of the coarseness of redemption and the tangibility of worthiness.” –Alexandria Kapczysnki, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

“Brutal and brilliant and one hell of a prose novel debut.” –Elliott Eatinger, Defunkt Magazine

“SCORCHED GRACE is like no other book you’ve ever read.” –The Lineup

“I’m going to read every Sister Holiday book from now until forever. I read the last ten pages with my eyebrows all the way up.” -Rebecca Joines Schinsky, Book Riot Podcast

”Confident, well-paced thriller—presenting a wide assortment of possible suspects, and never giving away too much at once… we are kept guessing about the identity of the killer until the final pages… a welcome introduction to the queer detective nun whom we didn’t know we needed.” -H Felix Chau Bradley, Xtra Magazine

“The most original sleuth you’ll encounter this year.” –Irish Independent

“Sister Holiday is utterly unique—a gold-toothed nun with a history of addictions that still haunts her and a faith that is real, passionate, and anything but saccharine. She is a courageous truth-teller, even when she needs to tell the truth about herself.” –Georgina Clarke, author of THE DAZZLE OF THE LIGHT

“Scorched Grace is a fun and edgy debut mystery. Douaihy’s language carries the book. The poet is on every page, and her depictions of grimy, sweltering, loveable New Orleans are sublime.” –Neil Thompson, Blood & Whiskey

“The book critiqued institutions, foregrounded sexuality and retained some lyricism, without losing the compulsive page-turning playfulness of a breezy read. Its title, ‘Scorched Grace,’ carried a dime-rack luridness, and its prose would set Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade or Robert B. Parker’s Spenser at ease: Douaihy’s suns don’t rise, they appear with a ‘slow simmer,’ like ‘the swollen red of a mosquito bite.’” —Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune

“Scorched Grace marks the ferocious prose debut of Margot Douaihy, who introduces us to perhaps the most unique heroine in the history of the hard-boiled mystery genre.” –Doreen Sheridan, Criminal Element

“Visceral … Scorched Grace is a study in back stories … coalescing into a page-turning whodunnit.” –Leslie Cardé, Times-Picayune / NOLA.com

"I inhaled this book. Margot Douaihy gives Sister Holiday a sharp tongue and a body blessed by ink, and in this story Douaihy’s writing is the fuel, the spark, the oxygen. It is the fire and the ashes." –Elizabeth K Reeder, MacDowell Fellow, author of ARCHIVE OF HAPPINESS and RAMSHACKLE

“Modern-day Marlowe … Fast, cynical and funny” –The Daily Mail

“Provocative and hugely entertaining” –The Times of London

“Punk voltage, kinetic worship, and music as an avenue to salvation.” –Rolling Stone UK

“Rollicking ride” –Marie Claire

“A compelling tale of faith, atonement and desire” –Laura Wilson, The Guardian

“Carnal, sensual, Dionysiac and very very queer.” –Eden Young, Polyester

”Sister Holiday is easily one of the most compelling, and interesting, main characters to come along in crime fiction.” –Greg Herren, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of more than 30 novels

“Quirky, subversive murder mystery … An absolute blast.” –Margaret Kingsbury, BuzzFeed Books

“A funky little whodunit develops in ‘Scorched Grace.’ And as is always the case in the well-done mystery novels, the culprit is not who you might expect. The novel moves quickly and introduces a truly unique character". –Michael Malone, The Examiner News

Click here for SCORCHED GRACE CONTENT NOTES.

BLESSED WATER (Gillian Flynn Books, 2024)

A lacerating and lyrical plunge into deception, the blood oath of siblings, and questions that hold us captive, Blessed Water is a lights-out mystery that will leave you breathless. With an audiobook narrated by MARA WILSON!

💧NPR’s Fresh Air: Crime & Suspense Summer Pick
💧Bookseller Favorite: Barnes & Noble
💧Editors’ Pick & A Best Book of March 2024: Amazon
💧Must-Read Mysteries of the Month: BookBub
💧A Most Anticipated Mystery: Apple Books, Novel Suspects, LGBTQ Reads, BookRiot, BookPage, Barnes & Noble, Criminal Element
💧Best Releases This Week: Tertulia
💧Best New Crime Novels of April 2024: The Herald (Scotland) & The Times (London)

Tattooed from her neck to her toes and sporting a gold tooth as sharp as her wisecracks, Sister Holiday struggles to stay on the righteous path. Never one to make things easy for herself, she’s committed to taking her permanent vows with the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and joining former fire inspector Magnolia Riveaux’s latest venture, Redemption Detective Agency—both in service of satisfying her eternal quest for answers.

When Sister Holiday and Riveaux set out to bust a philandering husband, they instead find the body of a priest floating in the swollen Mississippi river, and with it, Redemption’s next case. It’s significantly more gruesome than their original mission, but Sister Holiday feels called on by God to hunt down the murderer and keep her community safe.

As a torrential rainstorm drowns New Orleans during Easter weekend, Sister Holiday and Riveaux follow the clues, and the mystery becomes a family matter. With the stakes rising alongside the relentless floodwaters, our favorite punk nun-sleuth throws herself into the deep end yet again.

Published March 2024. Buy today💧🙏☔️

PRAISE FOR BLESSED WATER

“Returning to New Orleans with my favorite punk-rock nun is such a thrill. Douaihy blends edgy counterculture with sincere faith, violence and nihilism with genuine yearning for human connection, all in one hell of a mystery.” –Gillian Flynn

“Pure pure hard-boiled Patti Smith” –Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air

“Douaihy follows up Scorched Grace with another deliriously enjoyable, relentlessly plotted adventure for chain-smoking ‘punk nun’ Sister Holiday Walsh … the mystery itself is even more gripping this time out. This series continues to impress.” —Publishers Weekly

“Featuring larger-than-life characters…Blessed Water is a fast-paced tornado of unpredictability that will further endear you to Margot Douaihy and the unique brand of mystery she’s built.” –Barnes & Noble Editors

“A literary treat.” –The Center for Fiction

“This delightfully irreverent sleuthing adventure. This fresh, tongue-in-cheek mystery abounds with snark, heart-pounding thrills, vibrant characters, and the sweetness of found family … outstanding series.” —Library Journal

“Douaihy’s writing stings and soothes, echoing Sister Holiday’s so-human contradictions. The author uses water as her main natural force and metaphor, just as she used fire in Scorched Grace. I’ve always been a fan of rebels with a heart and anyone ready to take on the power elite, and what’s more powerful and untouchable than the Catholic Church? Like a Trojan Horse entering Troy, so too does Sister Holiday enter the Catholic order to save herself and conquer its patriarchal stranglehold. Heaven help them and bring on more heroes like Sister Holiday. She might be my favorite character of all time.” –Valerie J. Brooks, Mystery & Suspense

“Beautifully constructed with writing like a fine razor, Blessed Water bathed me in the mysteries of faith. Sister Holiday is slowly healing my deep religious trauma, one page at a time. As much as I loved Scorched Grace, the quick pace and increased character development in Blessed Water made this book even better than the first. I didn’t want to put this book down and ended up powering through it in less than 48 hours.” –Renee Powers, Feminist Book Club

"Powerful … plumbs the depth of human cruelty" –The Times

“It’s very difficult to think of a similar series; quite an achievement in a genre as popular as crime fiction. The waters in this novel run deep, but I would urge every reader to dip a toe in. Just have a little faith. 5 Stars.” –Crime Fiction Lover

“Fans of smart hardboiled thrillers will love it.” –Peterborough Telegraph

“Brutal and poetic” –Maxim Jakubowski, CrimeTime

“Uniquely riveting” –Isabel Montero, Murder & Mayhem

“My favorite PI series transport you to a setting unlike any other and feature unforgettable, flawed, and diverse characters in central roles. Margot Douaihy’s latest, Blessed Water, is all these things and more, bringing readers deeper into Sister Holiday’s complicated world with confidence and lyricism. A potent blend of dark noir and the travails of a tainted knight detective, Blessed Water is a one-way ticket to a New Orleans you could only imagine. A poised and unique novel.” -Alex Segura, Bestselling Author of Secret Identity

“Water weeps from the clouds, streaks the faces of the grieving, and revives a fragile faith. The writing in Blessed Water is utterly delightful. By the time the flood receded, and the case was solved, I’d already begun yearning for the next Sister Holiday Mystery.” -Cheryl A. Head, LA Times Book Award-nominated Time’s Undoing

"Margot Douaihy follows up an extraordinary debut with an even more exceptional sophomore novel! She combines a poet’s soul and an artist’s eye with a powerful and strong authorial voice to create layered, complex characters involved in a story so well paced you cannot put it down. I am already hungry for her next book!” -Greg Herren, Lambda Award–Winning Author of Death Drop and The Scotty Bradley Mysteries

“Having taken provisional vows, she’s reinventing herself in search of redemption and rebuilding her life in the convent at St. Sebastian Parish, which has truly never seen the likes of her. Mystery readers haven’t either, which makes this hard-boiled nun with secret warm, fuzzy feelings an amateur sleuth with original, fresh appeal.” –Booklist

“Margot Douaihy is fast becoming one of the biggest names in genre writing. The writing is incisive and lyrical, and the mysteries at the heart of these books are always filled with incredibly surprising twists and turns. It’s no wonder that Gillian Flynn herself is the publisher. These books are seriously that good.” –The Lineup

"Rollicking sequel … (Sister Holiday) is the quintessential hardboiled detective… But her interior dialogue reveals the brilliance of Douaihy’s enterprise in this series: to put a queer religious woman into a literary role that is traditionally occupied by men, and to show that she can thrive there. Blessed Water is itself a revelation.” –The Christian Century

"Douaihy does another exceptional job of examining the meaning of faith in the life of perhaps the world’s unlikeliest nun. The author’s background as a poet is readily apparent not only in the occasional exquisite turn of phrase, but also in the oft-repeated imagery of water as both cleanser and curse. … These books are certainly a necessary critique of entrenched power, as well as a reminder of the power of love and faith even when up against overwhelming odds.” –Criminal Intent