The Prodigal Nun

"Thief in Retreat is a thoroughly absorbing, sharply drawn story with a protagonist who is courageous, intelligent, and endearing. Sister Agatha, with her restored Harley Davidson motorcycle and ex-police dog, Pax are a dynamite team that's hard to beat… I eagerly await Sister Agatha's next adventure." – Earlene Fowler, author of Delectable Mountains

"Aimee and David Thurlo's nimble plotting leaves readers turning pages while Our Lady of Hope Monastery's compelling characters draw you into their richly textured world. Sister Agatha is a blessing and you'll believe in Prey for a Miracle!" --Julia Spencer-Fleming, Edgar finalist and author of To Darkness and to Death


Our Lady of Hope is an aging monastery run by a cloistered order in rural New Mexico. Perennially cash-strapped for needed repairs and maintenance, when the local diocese offers to pay for a new water well it is, well, a godsend. But there's a catch – in return, they want the monastery to house a novice nun from a different order who needs a place to stay locally while she teaches at the Catholic school and an order to take responsibility for her while she's there. And Sister Josephine – Sister Jo as she likes to be called – is a handful. Loud, boisterous, free with her opinions, inappropriate, impulsive and snores loud enough to wake the dead, the young nun doesn't fit in well with the contemplative order and the older nuns of Our Lady of Hope.

If the teeth-grinding of the older nuns and the repetitive deep sighs of the Reverand Mother weren't enough, there's also the increasingly dangerous sounding threats that arrive at the monestary. Since Sister Agatha has been involved in her fair share of investigations, there's no lack of people who might harbor a grudge against her. But is she really the target? And is Sister Jo – who arrived right before the threats began – somehow entangled in this increasingly dangerous web?