Margot Douaihy

Margot Douaihy is an American writer whose works include Scorched Grace (Gillian Flynn Books, 2023), Scranton Lace (Clemson University Press), Girls Like You (Clemson University Press), a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Bandit / Queen: The Runaway Story of Belle Starr, and the chapbook i would ruby if i could (Factory Hollow Press). The sequel to Scorched Grace, titled Blessed Water, published with Gillian Flynn Books in March 2024.

The Western phonetic pronunciation of the surname Douaihy الدويهي is Dew-why-hee.

Career
Douaihy received the 2023 F. Lammot Belin Foundation Arts Scholarship and the 2019 Sisters in Crime Academic Research Grant. She was a 2020 Aesthetica Magazine Creative Writing Prize, 2020 Palette Poetry Sappho Prize, a 2016 Lambda Literary Award. Her writing has been featured in PBS NewsHour, The Wisconsin Review, Colorado Review, The South Carolina Review, Diode Editions, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, The Tahoma Literary Review, The Madison Review, The Florida Review, Portland Review, The Petigru Review, Petrichor, and The Adirondack Review.

Douaihy's debut novel, Scorched Grace: A Sister Holiday Mystery, was published by Gillian Flynn Books in 2023. It is a crime mystery novel that follows "Sister Holiday, a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed, queer nun, puts her amateur sleuthing skills to the test." Gillian Flynn called the novel "a sneaky, dark thriller and a character study in a freight train of a murder mystery." Scorched Grace was published in French with HarperCollins France and in the UK with Pushkin Vertigo. The audiobook was narrated by Mara Wilson.

Scorched Grace received numerous accolades, including a starred review by Publishers Weekly: "Stunning fiction debut ... briskly plotted master class in character development." Scorched Grace was twice recognized by the New York Times—the book was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and was later named as a New York Times Best Crime Novel of the Year for 2023. The Guardian twice recognized Scorched Grace as one of the best crime and thriller novels of 2023. CrimeReads.com included Scorched Grace on their list of Best Noir Fiction of 2023, as well as their list of the Best Debut Novels of 2023. Hachette Book Group's Novel Suspects featured Scorched Grace on their list of Favorite Crime Fiction Books of 2023. BookPage ranked Scorched Grace on both their list of the Best Debut Novels of 2023, as well as a readers' choice poll of the best books of 2023, which described Scorched Grace as a "remarkable debut." The book was also named an Indie Next pick and IndieBound Favorite of March 2023 by the American Booksellers Association, an Amazon Editors’ Choice, and was included in Marie Claire 's Best Books of 2023. Scorched Grace was a finalist for the 2023 New England Book Awards.

The sequel to Scorched Grace, titled Blessed Water: A Sister Holiday Mystery (Gillian Flynn Books, 2024), follows Sister Holiday on a second investigation in New Orleans beginning with the discovery of the body of a priest floating in the Mississippi River. Following its release in March 2024, Blessed Water received praise from several media outlets and writers organizations. The Center for Fiction described the book as "a literary treat". The Times described the book as "powerful," noting that it "plumbs the depth of human cruelty." Publishers Weekly described Blessed Water as a "deliriously enjoyable, relentlessly plotted adventure" noting that the Sister Holiday series "continues to impress".

Douaihy's Bandit/Queen: The Runaway Story of Belle Starr (2022) and Scranton Lace (2018) are documentary poetry projects centering themes of queerness, abandoned structures and institutions, feminist becoming, and class tensions.

Douaihy is a Co-Editor of the Cambridge University Press Elements in Crime Narratives series.

Awards and Recognition
Douaihy's debut novel, Scorched Grace: A Sister Holiday Mystery (Gillian Flynn Books, 2023), was a USA Today bestseller and was named a "Best Crime Novel of 2023" by The New York Times, The Guardian, Apple Books, and Barnes & Noble. Scorched Grace was also awarded the Pinckley Prize for Crime Fiction in 2023, was long-listed for the Massachusetts Book Award and the Crime Writer's Association New Blood Dagger Award, and was a finalist for the New England Book Award, Anthony Award for Best First Novel, International Thriller Writers Best First Novel Award, Left Coast Crime Award for Best Debut Mystery, and the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery.

Personal Life
Margot Douaihy was born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and is of Lebanese ancestry. Douaihy is a queer woman and a longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion and visibility and antiracist education.