'A compelling tale of faith, atonement and desire' - Guardian

'Douaihy brings the sights, sounds and smells of New Orleans alive, with twists and turns aplenty' - Marie Claire

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 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.

Sister Holiday is more faithful than most, but she's no saint. To piece together the clues of this high-stakes mystery, she must first reckon with the sins of her chequered past - and neither task will be easy.

An exciting start to Margot Douaihy's bold series that breathes new life into the hard-boiled genre, Scorched Grace is a fast-paced and punchy whodunnit that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

'[A] striking debut... Sister Holiday becomes ever more determined to discover who is targeting the order and its school, and turns to her knowledge from her former life, becoming a modern-day Marlowe in the process' - Daily Mail

'[Sister Holiday] is a terrific character.' - Literary Review

'Margot Douaihy has written a provocative and hugely entertaining mystery, the first of a series, in which the soupy atmosphere of the Big Sleazy is almost a character in itself. Fans of dark academia and neon-noir are guaranteed to get the Holiday feeling. Her second coming can't come too soon' - Mark Sanderson, The Times

'If you're looking for a queer edgy Agatha Christie-type read, then this is one for you' - Gay Times roundup

About the Author

Margot Douaihy is a Lebanese American originally from Scranton, PA, now living in Northampton, MA. She received her PhD in creative writing from the University of Lancaster. She is the author of poetry collections and is a founding member of the Creative Writing Studies Organization and an active member of Sisters in Crime and the Radius of Arab American Writers. A recipient of the Mass Cultural Council's Artist Fellowship, she was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award, Aesthetica Magazine's Creative Writing Award, and the Ernest Hemingway Foundation's Hemingway Shorts.

Margot teaches creative writing at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, NH, where she also serves as the editor of the Northern New England Review. As a coeditor of the Elements in Crime Narrative Series with Cambridge University Press, she strives to reshape crime writing scholarship, with a focus on the contemporary, the future, inclusivity, and decoloniality.