Rites of Passage by Cindy L. Hull

A Claire Aguila Novel

Mystery in Mérida: A Missing American Widow, A Marriage, and a Journey of Discovery

Traverse City, Michigan—Mission Point Press announces the release of Rites of Passage, the final novel in Cindy L. Hull’s Claire Aguila mystery series.

A 75-year-old widow from a wealthy American family arrives in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, where she rents a house, makes new friends, and then disappears. When Ruth Keelen’s daughter and granddaughter arrive in Mérida searching for her, semi-retired anthropologist Claire Aguila and the friends and former colleagues gathered for Claire’s upcoming wedding become involved in the search.

Claire is now living in Mérida and preparing to marry Detective Roberto Salinas. As Claire and her friends cross the Yucatán Peninsula searching for Ruth, Claire faces a transition of her own. Marriage will bring new identities as a detective’s wife, a middle-aged daughter-in-law, and a stepmother in a Mexican household, leading her to consider how she will navigate family, culture, and belonging in this next stage of her life.

A Story of Reinvention Across Generations

Set in Mérida and across the Yucatán Peninsula, Rites of Passage examines identity, cultural tensions, shared values, and family relationships. Hull draws on her experience conducting fieldwork in Mexico and raising a family in rural Michigan and Micronesia, bringing an anthropologist’s perspective to the cross-cultural questions at the heart of the novel.

Readers interested in female-led mysteries, anthropology, cross-cultural relationships, mother-and-daughter dynamics, and family reconciliation may find particular resonance in the novel’s intersection of mystery and personal transition. Although Rites of Passage concludes the Claire Aguila series, the novel can also be read as a standalone story, as can its predecessors, Human Sacrifice and Culture Shock.

As the search for Ruth unfolds, Rites of Passage considers more than one kind of passage: the changes that come with aging, marriage, family, and crossing cultural boundaries, as well as the ways one person’s choices can continue to shape the lives of those who follow.

Advance Praise

“The final installment in the Claire Aguila trilogy follows Claire and her cohorts across the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, as they solve a puzzling mystery, all while Claire is planning her upcoming nuptials to Roberto Salinas. Laced with historically accurate nuances of Mayan culture, Rites of Passage will delight and educate readers as it weaves a spectacular tale of intrigue through its supporting cast of formidable female characters. A page-turner from start to finish!”

— Tricia Frey, author of River Love

The Author

Dr. Cindy L. Hull is an anthropologist and Professor Emeritus from Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Her research interests have taken her and her family to Mexico, Micronesia, and rural Michigan. She has published two ethnographies: Katun: A Twenty-Year Journey with the Maya; and Chippewa Lake: A Community in Search of an Identity.

Rites of Passage is the third novel in the Claire Aguila trilogy: The first novel, Human Sacrifice, took place in Mexico and introduced Dr. Claire Aguila, Detective Roberto Salinas, and Claire’s university colleagues; Culture Shock took Claire and her family to the mysterious world of the Florida retirement community; Rites of Passage takes Claire, her friends and family back to Yucatán, Mexico, where the search for Claire’s new friend brings Claire’s family and friends together, and where Claire faces a personal reckoning.

Alas, Cindy has not succumbed to the allure of life in a Florida retirement community, nor in the Mérida Santiago neighborhood. Instead, she happily resides with her husband in Traverse City, Michigan.

The Book

Rites of Passage: A Claire Aguila Novel

Cindy L. Hull

456 pages, 6” x 9”, B/W

Women’s Fiction / Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths / Cultural Heritage / Cross-Cultural Fiction / Family Life / Domestic Fiction

Hardcover: ISBN: 978-1-968761-99-8, $27.95

Softcover: ISBN: 979-8-950817-00-7, $19.95 

Publication Date: 9/22/2026

Mission Point Press

Copies are available for preorder at Bookshop.org, Amazon.com, and other online retailers. On its publication date, it will be available for purchase wherever books are sold.