About
Margot Douaihy lives in Northampton, MA, and is an assistant professor of creative writing with Emerson College. She is the author of the award-winning, nationally bestselling Sister Holiday mystery series, in addition to the poetry collections Bandit/Queen: The Runaway Story of Belle Starr, Scranton Lace, and Girls Like You. Her debut mystery, Scorched Grace, won The Pinckley Prize in Crime Fiction and was named a Best Crime Novel of the Year by The New York Times, The Guardian, Barnes & Noble, BookPage, and others. She is a Founding Member of the Creative Writing Studies Organization and an active member of the Radius of Arab American Writers, Sisters in Crime, and Mystery Writers of America. Her recent scholarship includes the Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) papers “Beat the Clock: Queer Temporality and Disrupting Chrononormativity in Crime Fiction” (2024) and "Cross-Examination: Age, Agency, and Transgender Epistemology in Robyn Gigl's Legal Thrillers," (2025).
Featured Work
Scorched Grace
A USA TODAY Bestseller - A New York Times, Apple Books, and The Guardian Best Crime Novel of the Year - An Indie Next Pick - Winner of the Pinckley Prize for Crime Fiction and the Saints & Sinners LGBTQ+ Festival Emerging Writer Award - Longlisted for the Mass Book Award - A Finalist for the ITW Thrillerfest, New England Book, Left Coast Crime "Lefty", and Anthony Awards - Best Author by Boston Magazine
Sister Holiday, a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed, queer nun, puts her amateur sleuthing skills to the test in this "unique and confident" debut crime novel (Gillian Flynn).
When Saint Sebastian's School becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their surrounding New Orleans community are thrust into chaos.
Patience is a virtue, but punk rocker turned nun Sister Holiday isn't satisfied to just wait around for officials to return her home and sanctuary to its former peace, instead deciding to unveil the mysterious attacker herself. Her investigation leads her down a twisty path of suspicion and secrets, turning her against colleagues, students, and even fellow Sisters along the way. And to piece together the clues of this high-stakes mystery, she must at last reckon with the sins of her own past.
An exciting start to a 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.
Other Works
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Blessed Water
2024
