Hard Cider Abbey: A Barefoot Monk Mystery

Hard Cider Abbey is a contemporary and faintly irreverent take on monastery murder. Two quirky young monk-sleuths stumble through an investigation into a beloved monk's mysterious death.

The Monastery of the Holy Face, nicknamed "Hard Cider Abbey" for the brew its monks produce from their own orchard, sits on an Appalachian mountaintop in West Virginia, just outside the old mining town of Skerritville. Brother Odo, just 20 years old and mute from childhood trauma, transfers into the abbey from a dissolved monastery in Quebec, and almost immediately comes upon the body of the abbey librarian, Father Lucian. He is soon befriended by Brother Emerick, a native of Skerritville, an Afghanistan combat veteran and former opioid addict. Emerick develops his own way of communicating with Odo, who will play an important role in unravelling Father Lucian's secret life.

The young monks are drawn first beyond the monastery walls, looking for suspects in Skerritville with connections to the abbey - such as a lady horticulturalist with a penchant for religious men, and her jealous husband. But eventually they are forced to turn back within the monastery, and to the odd band of eccentric, troubled men within. The mystery is solved with a unique twist - and a visit to Purgatory!