Once she was Professor Mary Naughton, investigative reporter, teacher, and free spirit. Now she is Sister Agatha of Our Lady of Hope, a cloistered, financially-struggling monastery in New Mexico. As an extern-a nun who handles her order's dealings with the outside world-she is used to having her faith and newly-acquired patience tested. But when popular chaplain Father Anselm is poisoned to death in the middle of Mass, Sister Agatha has to bring all...

Agatha is an extern-authorized to interact with the outside world-for Our Lady of Hope Monastery, a small community on the cusp of financial ruin. When a drunk driver crashes his SUV into its security gate, the nuns must scramble to find the funds for repairs. Meanwhile, a hacker is disrupting the computer work the community relies upon for much of its income, and the adjacent vineyard may be sold to a developer. Salvation seems at hand when dying...

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...