Best of Boston

For character invention alone, Douaihy wins this one. With her 2023 debut novel Scorched Grace, the soon-to-be assistant professor at Emerson College has blessed the world with Sister Holiday, a heavily tattooed, chain-smoking, punk-rock nun who also happens to be a capable amateur detective. In other words, Holiday is practically begging for a streaming series — and she just might get one: The book, the first from Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn’s new Zando Projects imprint, has already been optioned.