IPPY Gold Medal Winner: Best Mystery.

The nun has no memory. The hooker has no filter. The killer has no chance.

For a year, Dymphna has tried to remember who she was before she arrived at the convent of Sacred Heart of the Woods: a woman with an unexplained fortune in her pockets, no memory of her past, and not one answer the doctors could give her. She's finally made peace with the unknown and is ready to take her vows to become a nun. But someone won't let her. It's becoming horribly clear that whoever Dymphna used to be, a person has followed her to the convent and wants her gone for good.

Enter Sheila. As Pooka's leading lady of scandal, she's the last woman on earth you'd expect to befriend a nun and move into a convent, but the only one stubborn enough to keep this nun alive. Together they make an improbable team: the sister who can't remember her sins, and the woman who knows everyone else's. While Sheila chases the threads of Dymphna's forgotten life, the rest of the Pooka Women's Club turns to the secrets sealed inside an old crypt that was never meant to be opened.

Faith and felony don't usually mix. But in Pooka, they may be all that stands between these two and an early grave. Can Sheila uncover the truth before Dymphna's past catches up with her?

A Cryptic Death is the second installment in The Pooka Women's Club Mysteries, a cozy mystery series celebrating sharp-witted women, unlikely friendships, and small-town intrigue. Perfect for readers who enjoy character-driven mysteries, layered secrets, and amateur sleuths navigating life's second acts, this novel blends suspense with warmth and dry humor.

Featuring classic cozy mystery elements (an eccentric town, a puzzling cold case, a mysterious outsider, and a tight-knit group of determined women), A Cryptic Death is ideal for fans of thoughtful, clean whodunits and mature protagonists who know that it's never too late to uncover the truth.