Scorched Grace introduces the world to Sister Holiday, a queer nun and former punk rocker sweltering in the unforgiving New Orleans' heat. With a knack for solving mysteries, she's put to the test when an arsonist targets her school and parish.

A debut by author Margot Douaihy and the first ever publication from Gillian Flynn Books, the novel attempts to marry a hard-boiled detective sensibility to a protagonist at her best when allowed to feel. The result is that, rather than sympathize with the sister, readers are left to wonder why she's really gotten herself involved in the arson investigation. Stilted dialogue and sudden flashbacks leave the plot further disjointed, making it hard to see Holiday's perspective as truly unique or groundbreaking in the genre.

Additionally, gritty crime dramas are known (and regularly parodied) for their use of overwrought similes and metaphors. In 2023, a reader might expect the subversion or annihilation of such purple prose. But in Scorched Grace, each description, quip, and takeaway is drowned in blurry comparisons. It becomes difficult to distinguish between individual settings, emotions, and characters. The high-stakes threat against Saint Sebastian's School frequently takes a backseat to repetitive descriptions of the heat and contradictory truisms.

If one began this book hoping that the main character's queerness will make her a more empathetic sister, teacher, and colleague, scenes where she hits a student and excitedly rides along to his arrest will come as a disappointment (or at the very least a shock).

For a modern tale about a queer woman who chooses to become a nun, the book mostly avoids reckoning with the Catholic Church's anti-LGBTQ policies and hate. The reader is only offered brief glimpses of the nuns' former radicalism or progressivism --- which makes the final reveal a bit anticlimactic. However, since this is the first in a series, it's possible that these themes evolve in later installments. Same goes for interactions with the NOPD and the prison system.

I came to Scorched Grace after thoroughly enjoying Lauren Groff's Matrix, a novel about another queer nun who refuses to conform, so I had high expectations. The book's premise and cover intrigued me as someone forever looking for newer, gayer takes on familiar genres, but in this case the novelty burned up as quickly as Saint Sebastian's east wing.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Gillian Flynn Books, and Zando for the ARC of Scorched Grace. I have chosen not to publish this review elsewhere.

This is everything that I've ever wanted in a book without realising that it's everything that I've ever wanted in a book - gay nun solving crime? Sign me up!

Sister Holiday is such an incredible character; I loved that she wasn't *just* a nun but she also wasn't *just* a queer woman. I think often when people write queer characters, they think that religion can't play a role in who they are and whilst that is of course understandable, it's refreshing to see a character be outwardly queer and also pray to the Virgin Mary. ('Holy Mary, Mother of God. Let the afterlife have central air and hot women' is my new favourite quote).

The writing was also beautiful. It was incredibly poetic and I found myself highlighting a lot of passages, which isn't something that I usually find myself doing with ARCs.

I can't wait to read more from Margot Douaihy!

Very interesting concepts that didn't work for me. I love a whodunnit, love a sleuth who isn't in law enforcement, love a mystery suspense, ESPECIALLY one with queer leads. However. This just didn't work. The stream of consciousness made things feel so incoherent and unconnected. The flashbacks were there for trauma porn and instilling the queer pain element. There was so much pain in this. There should be a lot more CWs shared for this book (I've listed as many as I could remember below.)


The arson mystery did not feel high enough stakes, and with the rambling narrative, we would get stuck in the weeds of random storylines and flashbacks. Also why were there so many discussions on sweat? We get it, New Orleans is hot, and people sweat and are moist. There's a potential romantic breadcrumb dropped between a couple potential characters, but everyone in this kind of sucked. The characters were either insufferable or had no depth, and it felt like the author put all effort into sharing their traumas instead of anything about them in the present day. Also, knowing that this book is published by Gillian Flynn made having a character called Flynn cringey, even though I bet it was meant to be kind.


There isn't much explanation into how this nun goes from 0 to "I must solve this mystery since the police are useless" until the ending, which made it very hard to care throughout the story. I didn't enjoy this; the mystery was meh, the characters were both awful and traumatized to the maximum, the romantic interest subplot was weak, the writing was difficult to keep track of with the different nuns and officers. This was tragique. I should have DNFed but was really hoping for some kind of twisted ending. (There isn't.)


I did love the cover, and the narrator was the only thing keeping the book together. To leave this on a slightly positive note.



CWs for this book: death of an animal, multiple teens raping a different teen, slut shaming & victim blaming rape survivor, substance abuse (alcohol, cocaine), self-harm (cutting), addiction (opioids, alcoholism), arson/death by suffocation from fires or burned alive, sexual harassment, police brutality, abuse of power and sexual threat by police officer, drunk driving, homomisia, parental neglect and kicking out queer teen, unhoused teens, father raping daughter and getting her pregnant, cheating (lead has relationship with married woman for eons).

My own pet peeves: too many mentions of sweating, bad breath, clipping nails.


I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All views are my own.

Unfortunately this story ended up not being for me. While I like the idea of a unique, badass, tattooed, queer nun, I was having trouble getting attached to the characters and feeling like the story was really coming to life off the page. The premise also didn't hook me - an arson mystery wasn't very compelling to me.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

this type of ‘hard boiled crime’ genre usually isn’t my taste, but after reading the unique synopsis and the fact it’s being published by Gillian Flynn made me interested enough to take a chance on it. I’m glad I did because i really enjoyed the story and the characters! this would make a great miniseries

It took a bit for me to get into this. It could be due to my biases against Christianity caused by my upbringing. I'm also bisexual. I just found it hard to believe that such a queer, "punk" girl would be so religious. I can understand wanting to escape & become a nun after the trauma, but even before that she had a bunch of Christian tattoos & spoke scripture while fooling around with a girl. I found myself rolling my eyes at both her & the nuns.

Thankfully, more of her ideas about God come forth & it's far more believable. The book also picked up pace. I did guess the cuplrit but that's fine. An animal does die, which seemed unecessarry. I did overall enjoy the book. I look forward to reading the next one. If she does decide to take her vows & she doesn't secretly act on her sexuality I might get pissed lol. I really don't think it would be believable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gillian Flynn Books (Zando Projects) for the advanced reader copy.

This week’s headline? Everybody’s got secrets

Why this book? A nun solves crimes - I’m intrigued and that cover is fucking awesome

Which book format? ARC

Primary reading environment? Friday evening reading marathon

Any preconceived notions? I love that this will be a series

Identify most with? “lose your marbles”

Three little words? “study his reactions”

Goes well with? Cigarettes, X-Ray Spex

Recommend this to? People who like mysteries with a unique “detective”

Other cultural accompaniments: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2023-02-17/why-gillian-flynn-launched-her-book-imprint-with-a-debut-noir-about-a-rebel-nun

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60610668

Grade: 4.5/5

I leave you with this: “You never see us seeing you. Nuns are slippery like that.”

📚📚📚

This has two components of my perfect book: a murder mystery/noir novel with a literary spin. All that’s missing is a ghost. But I’m obviously willing to overlook that because this book is pretty damn good. The writing is very lyrical and poetic, which makes sense because Douaighy is also a poet.

In a world where everyone’s a suspect, Sister Holiday is a punk rock queer nun who’s obsessed with hard-boiled detective novels and is itching to figure out this mystery - who set fire to the school she teaches music at? And why does it seem like someone is trying to frame her? While she’s still tough as nails, she was once someone always raring for a fight, she has now found solace in her faith and is learning to become someone perhaps admirable - she probably wouldn’t agree with me on that. 😂

It’s set in one of my favorite cities, in fact I was seriously considering moving there, New Orleans. The way Douaighy describes the city is both magical and real, describing a view that only someone who’s lived there and is in love with it can provide - the insufferable heat (I had to take at least two showers a day), the way the streets felt so alive and constant and alluring in its charm, how music is so present and you can’t walk anywhere without hearing some form of it (I remember a man playing a washboard while my mom and I were wandering around Bourbon Street).

This entire book is very quotable. I had started reading it as an ebook but I went to an event last night at Exile in Bookville where she was promoting this book and I ended up buying a copy. I told myself I wasn’t going to buy anymore books in the meantime (I have soooo many, it’s ridiculous) but the interview, I guess you can call it, with Gillian Flynn (her publisher) convinced me.

I hope that maybe this review can convince you to buy a copy, too. It’s going to be a trilogy and I can’t wait for the next two installments.

Scorched Grace will be available on February 21, 2023.

The concept of this book (a tattooed queer nun solving crimes!) was different, and I thought it was a sure winner because Gillian Flynn (!!!) selected it as the first publication of her new imprint... but it was a DNF at 40% for me. I wanted to love this so much, but it felt disjointed and dragged, so I kept putting it down and reading something else. I think there's something here, for sure, but it didn't work for me, and I couldn't keep trying.

This bold and careening story is outrageous in every way -- not surprising given that the main character is a profane, tattooed, gay, ex-alcoholic punk nun in New Orleans. If you are up for a wild ride, turn the pages.

Sister Holiday has been accepted provisionally into probably the only religious order in the world that would want her -- the Sisters of Sublime Blood. They run a school in the dwindling arena of parochial education, having to do battle with the church powers that be at every turn. Sister Holiday teaches music and is not beloved by her sisterhood with a few exceptions. These characters are pretty raw, and none of them are immensely lovable.

Faith, redemption, salvation and sin are heavy themes and Sister personifies every one of them. She is carrying a burden she will never forgive herself for but her faith is strong, even if her daily life is a hot mess. Into this setting comes an arsonist -- and people are dying. Sister is disgusted with the police department, and having no filters, doesn't endear herself to them either as she pries into their investigation.

This book gets high grades for originality, grit, characterization and setting and it's dark path. Is it credible? Well, you can decide for yourself. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book blew me away. You can tell that Margot Douaihy came to writing via poetry; every sentence is a perfectly crafted gem, and she knows how to bring words together in a way that maximizes their emotional impact as well as their acoustic aesthetics. I was constantly writing down phrases and thoughts I loved and luxuriating in their meaning and sound. And Sister Holiday is a tiny miracle of a character. She is complex, prickly but principled, brave and vulnerable in all the best ways. I want to read dozens of books about her and be her best friend. I cannot wait to return to this character, this world, this writer. What a delight!

When I first saw this book advertised on NetGalley, the words Queer, Punk and Nun all used in one sentence really stood out to me (are we surprised?) and I knew I had to read this. And then the word arson was thrown in the mix (the coolest crime) and that really solidified my need to read this.

I am not generally a mystery fan, in fact this is probably the first adult mystery I have read, but surprisingly (at least to me) I found myself enjoying this one. Frankly, I'm not sure if the mystery was the part that did it for me, but I though Sister Holiday was a very interesting character, and I will definitely read more of these books.

I found the pacing for this well done, although a bit fast towards the end. I loved Sister Holiday, loved reading about her life before joining the convent and how that changed some of her relationships. The side cast of characters was fairly well fleshed out, although I do wish that there was a tiny bit more information on some of the characters. I also quite enjoyed the religious aspect of the book. I myself am not religious in any way, but I love reading about it and I love hearing about people's experience with religion, especially Sister Holiday's.

Looking forward to seeing what's next for Sister Holiday.

*Spoiler

I went into this book with very high hopes - I loved the cover, and the description of a queer nun covered in tattoos who is into solving mysteries had me sold. However, I did find myself trudging through this book at times. I feel as though many of the characters were not completely fleshed out, and I was confused a few times because there were so many people to keep track of. If this is to be a series I hope there is a deeper dive on Sister Holiday. I really loved the idea of her as a main character. and I found myself wanting more of her and her background story. Another thing I enjoyed was the thorough description of where Sister Holiday lived. This book is extremely atmospheric, and definitely had me imagining New Orleans very vividly.

*I also feel as though the book needed another once over - especially pages 232-234. Prince is described as having a hypoglycemic episode, or an episode of low blood sugar. They then gave him insulin, which would have just lowered his blood sugar even more, and he most likely wouldn’t have aroused after that.

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy
#eighthbookof2023 #arc

CW: death, murder, arson, drug use, alcoholism, suicide

Sister Holiday is the newest member of Saint Sebastian’s convent and school, a music teacher who has yet to take her permanent vows. She’s also a queer, tatted up, former musician who smokes, doesn’t particularly like her students, and doesn’t take no for an answer. When there is a fire at the school and someone is killed, she decides to solve the mystery before the incompetent police can do so. Her questionable morals for a nun make her methods very enjoyable.

The story discusses faith and forgiveness in interesting ways that I enjoyed, but the book ends a little abruptly for my taste. It’s the first book in a planned series, so I imagine that’s why it ends how it does, and it’s still a complete story. I would have liked an extra page or two with a few more details, but that’s just me.

Since this takes place in New Orleans, I will absolutely be following this series, and I hope that a plan discussed by Holiday and another character comes to fruition in the next book.

Thank you to @netgalley and @zandoprojects for the advance copy. (Pub date 2/21/23)

#scorchedgrace #sisterholiday #nundetective #neworleansbooks

I was very attracted to idea of what I now see is a series: unusual protagonist, Queer and a nun with tough background ... and we wonder from the start why she elected to go this route and as it slowly unwinds, and our trust in her is slowly confirmed, it makes sense. But it's the sleuthing part that does not quite hang together .. sort of intuition rather than real event and enacted motivations. I see there are other novels in series, and I hope they'll be more convincing.

A rare case of judging a book by its cover and being disappointed. Scorched Grace has the potential to be a lot of fun - a tattoo-covered former punk turned nun decides to take up sleuthing when her convent is attacked by a serial arsonist and murderer. Unfortunately, it's all a bit of a mess.

Sister Holiday’s main mode of detective work is to angrily accuse people to judge their reactions and every bit of “evidence” she finds is purely by luck or because someone decides to confess. Every single character is awful in their own way, including our protagonist who does something completely unforgivable that, narratively, did not have to be half as horrific to make the same point.

Every character founds the same and the plot completely falls apart under the slightest thought. Suffice to say, it was not for me.

I really want to love this book!!! The premise is so interesting, especially having had gone to Catholic school my entire youth, but this felt very clunky and definitely needed some more review

This mystery novel follows Sister Holiday, a punk, tattooed, queer, sleuthing nun helping the police investigate a series of crimes at their convent and school. Sister Holiday's faith is tested while she works to get to the truth and wade through her traumatic past.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The premise, the characters, the story, the location - all of it are unique and perfect set up for a mystery/thriller. Where I ran into trouble is how often Sister Holiday mentions that she's queer. I get that without a main love interest, her queerness is hard to represent without constantly restating it, but the constant reminders seemed unnecessary.

I also had troubles getting through the flow of the book. There are pages of stream of consciousness backstory thrown into scenes where I forget what the character was actually doing while we're off on a tangent about the past. This kind of set up would happen repeatedly in the same scene and got tiresome trying to remember what was currently happening.

All together, I did enjoy this book. I wish I could give star portions - this would be a 3.75/5 stars.

If anything is going to draw me to a book, it has to be a smoking, queer nun on a stained-glass-style cover. Douaihy brings a character to life who has to solve a crime a little too close to home and it is intriguing and beautifully written however, sometimes not enough to the point to really keep me engaged.

The gorgeous writing style is already apparent in the opening lines and continues throughout the rest of the book. At times, nearly every paragraph ends with some type of wisdom or at least quote-worthy text and there are detailed descriptions. This is great for anyone who enjoys very wordy books however, it does take away from the action a bit.

The action happens a little too late as well, making me wonder halfway through when it will get exciting. Luckily, the eventual climax did end up being pretty good. Again, very well written and it shows a lot of cinematic potential. The thing that really intrigued me, however, is Sister Holiday’s past which slowly but surely gets revealed as the story progresses. It ties in well with the present conflict and the parallels add a lot to the story’s quality. I think if the overall mystery had been as intriguing as the backstory, I would have loved it a lot more.

Through the backstory, Sister Holiday’s motivations and character become a lot more clear. Her ideas of God and religion as a whole make her both complex and relatable, which her queerness definitely adds to. Having “a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed, queer nun” as the main character is an automatic win but with her cleverness and again, her backstory, she ends up being an incredibly interesting and refreshing mystery lead. I would read more novels with her, or even a prequel about pre-nun Holiday. With the other characters, I feel like some were almost equally interesting while others faded into the background a bit too much, but overall, I liked a lot of them as well.

Note that Scorched Grace may have a queer character to root for, but not quite a queer relationship, as it isn’t giving space for a present romance, which definitely favours the tone of the book. There are a lot of homophobic scenes and flashbacks but the queerness is overall very relatable which I appreciate. Aside from that, many dark themes are explored, which definitely makes this an adult book. Think a dark, queer, religious crime novel is right up your alley? Absolutely check out this Sister Holiday book and get ready to be drawn in by its linguistic beauty and thematic gruesomeness.



Thank you to NetGalley and Zando Projects for a chance to read an ARC of this book for free, in exchange for an honest review.

SCORCHED GRACE by Margot Douaihy is the first installment of the Sister Holiday Mystery series. This is a hard-boiled crime series featuring amateur sleuth, Sister Holiday. Sister Holiday is an ex-punk-rocker-foul-mouthed-tattooed-cigarette-smoking queer nun that I guarantee you will love! She’s a dark, vibrant, hilarious, and unique narrator who kept me on my toes. This is a brilliantly plotted, murder mystery set in one of my favorite places, New Orleans! I guarantee you will be as enamored by Sister Holiday and SCORCHED GRACE as I am.

New Orleans in the sweltering summer, a convent, seared by deliberate fires. Who is targeting the Sisters of the Sublime Blood? The cops think it could be Sister Holiday, after all she doesn't exactly fit the religious mould of the others sisters, heavily tattooed, a cigarette dangling from her lips, a shady past, she ticks all the boxes, except one ,guilty. Holliday knows the real culprit is out there and she knows she'll stop at nothing to protect her home, after all the sisters gave her a chance when no one else would. Douaihy has created a singular heroine in Sister Holiday, certainly a character to keep an eye on after this unique book.