Thanks to NetGalley and Zando for the opportunity to read Blessed Water by Margot Douaihy. "Sister Holiday isn’t your average nun." Ha! And that's just the beginning. What a great character in a great new series

You know how sometimes, when you're reading a book, the language is just so beautiful that you have to stop, and read the sentence again, and sit with it. Something in the writing just taps into your universal truth of the world at that moment. If I kept a Commonplace Book (where you write down quotes that strike you in the course of your day), mine would be full of Margot Douaihy's writing.

Blessed Water is the second in a series of mysteries featuring the remarkable lead character of Sister Holiday. Former punk, tattooed, lover of the enigma known as Nina, present-day novice in the order of The Sisters of the Sublime Blood, assistant investigator in Redemption Investigations, all round walking disaster. I love this character. She is deeply flawed and utterly compelling.

Blessed Water starts on Good Friday with the unexpected discovery of a corpse in the water, and sends Sister Holiday and her investigative partner Riveaux on an Easter weekend search for answers and redemption through a biblically flooded New Orleans. Douaihy, who is a poet as well as a novelist, makes spectacular use of water imagery and the Easter weekend framework to structure the book.

The regulars from Scorched Grace are back with the addition of Moose, the sister's beloved brother, his own damage adding in to the mix of broken and lost souls trying to find answers.

There's a lot here - family dysfunction, generational trauma, sexual abuse in the church - but the characters, for me, are compelling because they are genuinely trying their best. Sister Holiday is still relying on love as a bedrock, despite the chaos of her existence. She's a mess, but man, she's a beautiful mess, and it's amazing to spend time with her, even though she frustrates the heck out of you.

This is not a quick read. The language is dense, things move slower than the characters want them to, there are always layers upon layers of information to peel back. It's worth it, though. The end of this one is powerful, surprising and, of course, redemptive.

Thanks to NetGalley and Zando Books for the e-arc. 4.5/5, rounded down.

“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐝. 𝐎𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐮𝐬, 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐮𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠.”

The follow-up to Margot Douaihy's Scorched Grace overflows with grit, intelligence, and the search for forgiveness.

Sister Holiday continues to be a total badass; her sarcasm made me laugh out loud a number of times, especially as she made pointed observations about the people around her. Douaihy's writing is poetic in feel, filled with metaphors and similies for the water that beats down constantly in New Orleans. The theme of water literally flows through the story between the torrential downpour that adds to the feeling of claustrophobia, finding a dead priest in the river, and Sister Holiday's overall feeling of drowning, with water as both an antagonist and a blessing. Douaihy balances her delicate words with a narrative that harkens back to the hardboiled Private Investigator genre, including Holiday's foul mouth, flawed and complicated characters, a stay-in-place order that feels like a nod to a locked-room mystery, and a puzzle that involves corruption in the church. Told like a three-act play throughout Easter weekend, the mystery of who murdered Father Reese and kidnapped Father Nathan plays almost in the background, with Sister Holiday's complicated relationship with her brother, Moose, and her faith, taking centre stage, with strong character development. I do wish the mystery was a bit more at the forefront, although the final reveal surprised me, even with the well-placed hints. I'm also anxious to see more of Moose, and to see how that sibling relationship continues to ebb and flow.

Blessed Water is a story of healing, loss, second chances, grief, power, and family. It is a beautiful follow-up to Scorched Grace, and I cannot wait to see where Douaihy takes Sister Holiday next in her quartet of tales. Thank you to Zando and NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance ecopy of this title. This is the second installment of the Sister Holiday series. Sister finds one of the priests from her parish floating in the gulf. In addition, the other priest is missing. She teams up with an ex-cop to try to unravel the mystery. Along the way, her brother shows up, having recently left the army. Sister Holiday discovers some dark secrets about herself, her fellow sisters, the parish, and diocese. She slogs through with her signature acerbic and profane wit. I love how she lives her truth, and look forward to another installment.

I love this series. The main character, Sister Holiday is a fun new take on the detective character and brings her own personality and sense of how to get things done. This continues in this book and I can't wait to see what happens next. Definitely a must read!

Would recommend for fans of…
⛪️ Gillian Flynn
⛪️ S.A. Cosby
⛪️ An updated take on classic noir

Scorched Grace was one of my favorite mysteries of 2023 and I was ecstatic to learn that Sister Holiday would be back again, this time working as a private eye to investigate the death of a local priest.

Blessed Water was very similar to its predecessor in a number of ways – the mystery starts quick, and blends well with the glimpses we get into Sister Holiday’s work and background. There are also a few appearances from fan favorite characters. As a note, you probably need to read Scorched Grace before this one, as there are several callbacks to plot points from that book.

Overall, these books are so short, but manage to pack a serious punch with lots of character development and a tight mystery. This series is a great one for anyone who’s looking for a noir with a bit of grit and a detective with a lot of heart.

Blessed Water is out now. Thanks to Zando and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I tore through Margot Douaihy's first book, and I was so excited to be able to read the sequel in her Sister Holiday series. I always find Douaihy's sense of place in her writing to be strong, and I love the diversity of character. My only critique is that she consistently overuses similes and metaphor as way of expressing feeling to the point that I think it becomes overdone and weakens them, but that's a relatively small complaint. I continue find myself invested in Riveaux and Holiday, their adventures, and I'm excited at the growth that they went through in this book as characters overall. Can't wait for the next one!

Another fun mystery with Sister Holiday. I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as the first, but it was still a quick read and I loved Sister Holiday as a character just as much as in the first book.

Sister Holiday is a tattooed, chain-smoking, queer nun and has quickly become one of my favorite amateur sleuths. The way that water plays into this book washing away sins and moving the story forward.

I loved this sequel to Scorched Grace and I cannot wait for the Sister Holiday's next mystery.

Please give me more Sister Holiday stories so I can gobble them up like a greedy little pig. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Blessed Water by Margot Douaihy is the perfect way to progress the Sister Holiday Mystery series!

Sequels can be hit or miss for me - I need information to be repeated from the previous book(s) for a reminder, but I don't want redundancy - and this one was the perfect blend. Sister Holiday was portrayed the way readers are already familiar with, but without the need for her personality to be overly described within this book as well. I love how once a character is already established, they can exist in the world without over explanation as the series continues.

Once again, I was blessed to discover just how poetic Douaihy's writing is. It's elaborate and expressive, with a clear rhythm present in her words, a true cadence throughout. (Douaihy has a background in poetry, so of course this comes across in her writing!)

I'm not sure if I've ever read a book taking place over the Easter weekend before and this was the perfect religious timeframe for Sister Holiday to sleuth out another murder! (I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Sister Holiday's brother Moose shares an (ever-moving) Easter Sunday birthday with me!)

As this is published by Gillian Flynn Books, an imprint of Zando Projects, (and as a huge Gillian Flynn fan), I appreciated the nods in Flynn's direction within this book.

There is a subtleness to the sardonic way that Mara Wilson (of Matilda fame) narrates this audiobook; a lilt to her voice adding the slightest touch of humour. Wilson's voice is perfect in this way to embody Sister Holiday as it adds more depth to her already satirical demeanor. I’m so happy it is Wilson who is once again narrating this noir little story!

I'm already hoping for yet another book in this dark, tongue-in-cheek mystery series to publish soon!

Thank you NetGalley, Zando, Gillian Flynn Books and Dreamscape Select for the complimentary copies to read and review.

Content Warnings: Rape/Sexual Assault, Graphic Violence (Torture, Gun Shot), Drowning

Additional Note: This is the second book in a series, but it can be read as a stand-alone work. Events and characters needed to understand plot points are reintroduced.

Sister Holiday as a character, a punk, lesbian nun acting as noir-esque narrator, remains interesting to me, conceptually, and I like her voice. These are the positives of the book. However, as with the first book, I found the action and mystery weak. Events happen too fast to resonate much. For example, potentially poignant moments (like a car full of people drowning) happen with little set up or lasting impression. The “mystery” has few clues and tension isn’t held well, especially when Sister Holiday’s mind wanders to her past relationship or inner monologues. Likewise, characterization feels superficial and inconsistent. People’s levels of friendliness and trust turn on a dime, with honestly very little reason.

If you enjoyed the first book in this series, you will probably like this one as well. However, if you didn’t enjoy the first one, then I wouldn’t pick this one up, as it delivers the same vibe. If a third one comes out, I probably won’t review it, as I feel I’ve read enough to determine this series isn’t for me.

Sister Holiday of the Sisters of the Sublime Blood teaches music at St. Sebastian’s in New Orleans, and she’s so not what you’d expect. Tatted from the neck down with a gold incisor, this chain-smoking, punk rock Sister is back in BLESSED WATER, and she’s still badass, even as she struggles with her vows and her slips of tongue—even as she still mourns the end of her relationship with Nina.

Many characters in the first book of the series, SCORCHED GRACE, return. Now, she’s partnering with PI and former fire inspector Magnolia Riveaux at the Redemption Detective Agency. Riveaux is almost as quirky as Sister Holiday (she can “out-nose the swankiest perfumier in Paris”), and they make a hell of a team. It’s a good thing, too. On Easter weekend, Sister Holiday finds her parish priest floating in the water at the end of Pier 11. This cuts her to the core. He was one of the good guys…uh, good priests.

Being the topnotch detail-observant sleuth that she is, Sister Holiday jumps into the investigation with Reveaux to find who killed Father Reese. The Sister doesn’t trust the police, even when the police let them help with the investigation. Plus, there’s the patriarchal, untrustworthy Diocese who are not her fans.

Trouble is never singular. There’s the overindulged, unloved, misfit student Prince Dempsey, who terrorizes everyone, and Sister Holiday might be the only one who understands him. Add to the chaos and suspense her “anxious time bomb” of a brother who suddenly shows up, having left the army. Now she’s worried about him, as he’s hiding something. Let’s not forget the rain. The Biblical downpour that’s flooding the streets.

Sister Holiday has not taken her full vows yet and is determined that she will. When more people die and another priest goes missing, it tests her faith and her ability to solve the case. Her anger and determination rise when her nemesis, Detective Grogan of the NOPD, announces he no longer wants their PI services. Is he involved somehow? Now she has to find a way to solve the case on her own with her partner with no police resources.

Author Margot Douaihy gives us a Catholic sister who maintains empathy for the less fortunate and believes in God as love and kindness while recognizing how brutal both people and the deity can be. We identify with her because she questions everything, especially those in power. The author’s diverse characters, even the villains, are well-rounded and likable, and her ability to use details to engage our senses rivals that of some of the best authors. Add humor and plenty of plot twists to that, and you have a mind-bending, page-turner that is both fun and irreverent while taking on serious subjects and themes.

Douaihy’s writing stings and soothes, echoing Sister Holiday’s so-human contradictions. The author uses water as her main natural force and metaphor, just as she used fire in SCORCHED GRACE. I’ve always been a fan of rebels with a heart and anyone ready to take on the power elite, and what’s more powerful and untouchable than the Catholic church? Like a Trojan Horse entering Troy, so too does Sister Holiday enter the Catholic order to save herself and conquer its patriarchal stranglehold. Heaven help them and bring on more heroes like Sister Holiday. She might be my favorite character of all time.


Thanks to Zando Books, Gillian Flynn’s imprint, Margot Douaihy, and NetGalley for the advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very exciting and well plotted series. I'm enjoying it and loved this second installment.
Well done, gripping and entertaining.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

After the traumatic events chronicled in Margot Douaihy’s debut novel Scorched Grace, our heroine Sister Holiday is settling back into her life as the youngest servant with the Sisters of the Sublime Blood in New Orleans. Only six months away from taking permanent vows, she and Sister Honor – the only other nun in her convent and by default the Acting Mother Superior – rattle around Saint Sebastian’s, getting on each other’s nerves. Sister Holiday, at least, has plenty of things to keep her busy:

QUOTE
Besides being a nun, I was a music teacher at Saint Sebastian’s, a part-time private eye, and a full-time pain in the ass for PI Magnolia Riveaux, the hellcat who ran Redemption Detective Agency[.] She could have been my blood sister with the ways we protected and irritated and appreciated and disappointed each other. Riveaux was the brains, I was the bear trap. Metal teeth and all. One I latched on, you’d have to gnaw off your own leg to get rid of me. But we understood each other. Not that we were always sunshine and unicorns. More like hailstorms and cobras.
END QUOTE

Sister Holiday might be lukewarm about getting along with other people, but she’s wholly enthusiastic about apprenticing as a PI under Riveaux’s tutelage. When they’re contacted by a vengeful wife looking for dirt on her cheating spouse, they’re thrilled to go out on their very first case, meeting their new client at Pier 11 on the waterfront. They’re thus shocked to find, instead of an unhappy spouse, the mutilated corpse of the priest who tends to St Sebastian’s.

Father Reese had not been Sister Holiday’s favorite person, but even he deserved better than to be murdered and dumped into the Mississippi River’s rising waters. Things get murkier when Sister Holiday returns to the convent and discovers that their newest priest, Father Nathan, has also disappeared. Was he taken and harmed as well, or is something even more sinister afoot?

QUOTE
Could he have been the victim of a hate crime? Bigots despise progress. And those bastards would be especially offended by Father Nathan, a leader, a Black man rising through the ranks, maybe steering an old ship in a new direction. I was getting ahead of myself. A workplace hazard as a PI apprentice nun.

He didn’t seem upset yesterday. But everyone was masking something–what was his secret?

Did our new priest murder the old priest, then flee? It was as far-fetched as any grainy mystery on PBS, but it’s a stunning miracle we can trust anyone. We don’t tell ourselves core truths, let alone one another. People we are closest to will tell the biggest lies. Trust is the greatest suspension of disbelief. I should know.
END QUOTE

As the rains pour down on the city, Sister Holiday and Riveaux will have to navigate flooded streets and a tangled web of deceit in order to figure out what happened to St Sebastian’s priests, in a desperate race to save the lives of the innocent. But what will they do when their own lives are on the line, in the face of massive institutional wrongdoing?

Ms Douaihy does another exceptional job of examining the meaning of faith in the life of perhaps the world’s unlikeliest nun. Sister Holiday struggles not only with the concept of justice, both earthly and divine, but also with her own personal desires as a lesbian and addict. Her difficult relationships with her family and loved ones certainly don’t help, as a figure from her past unexpectedly shows up to force her to reckon with it.

The author’s background as a poet is readily apparent not only in the occasional exquisite turn of phrase but also in the oft-repeated imagery of water as both cleanser and curse. I do feel that the prose does occasionally stagger from one set piece to the next with little interest in the connective tissue of other people’s observed reactions, but this is of a piece with the narrator’s general absorption in her own thoughts and feelings. Perhaps Sister Holiday’s powers of observation will improve with her detecting skills as the series progresses. These books are certainly a necessary critique of entrenched power, as well as a reminder of the power of love and faith even when up against overwhelming odds.

I LOVED Scorched Grace, so when I was approved for the arc of Blessed Water I was ecstatic. I’m obsessed with Sister Holiday- a bad ass nun. Margot Douaihy’s writing is so descriptive and filled with dark humor which I absolutely enjoy. If you like mysteries, this is a refreshingly unique story that will keep you guessing and you’ll love the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review! Pub date 3-11-2024

Wow! When they say this book has a ticking clock element, they are not kidding -- and boy, does it work here!

I loved being back with Sister Holiday, even if I only read the first book a few weeks ago. She's just so freaking funny and real and easy to love and root for. Not that she's without her faults, mind you, but it's just written in such a way that I want to be friends with her and help her out. It's an experience I don't often have with a character, and it's such a treat when it happens.

Sister Holiday aside, I was completely invested in this mystery, in getting to meet her brother and figuring out what was going on with him, in the dynamic between Sister Holiday and Riveaux. It's such a fun read while still having a lot to say that I definitely vibe with. I especially recommend it to folks who like mysteries but not the copaganda elements, because those can be hard to come by and this does it in a great way.

So excited for the next installment! And it definitely helps to know that it's officially ending at 4 books. I just can't do a seemingly never-ending series, you know?

A very different sort of cozy (or is it a cozy) featuring a very different sort of nun. I missed the first book so this was my introduction to Sister Holiday who has styled herself as a nun who solves crimes alongside her partner Maggie Riveaux. A priest has been found killed, another is missing, and it's raining. The New Orleans setting and atmospherics amp up the feels. Sister Holiday says what she thinks and doesn't hold back on the words as some nuns might. The mystery is not so complex but the characters are. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Blessed Water by Margot Douaihy #nineteenthbookof2024 #arc

CW: death, murder, discussion of rape and previous sexual abuse

Sister Holiday is back! Our favorite nontraditional nun is now a PI apprentice (in addition to her teacher responsibilities) and happens finds a body in the river while on her way to meet a new client. Unfortunately it’s the body of a colleague and her discovery sets off a series of events that rock the convent over Easter weekend.

While I enjoyed this novel, I’d forgotten a lot of the nuances of the first book. You don’t need them, but it might have aided my enjoyment if I’d remembered more of the specifics. As in the first book, there is a lot of self reflection and discussion of faith.

There wasn’t as much setting description as in the first book, but the pace was quick. A lot of action happened in three days. I am always up for more Prince and BonTon antics and I hope they continue to appear in future installments. Plus, the cover is a ton of fun.

Thank you to @netgalley and @zandoprojects for the advance copy. (Pub date 3/12/24)

#sisterholiday #nundetective #blessedwater #booktwo #neworleansbooks

For first-time readers, I include some information from my review of Scorched Grace about Sister Holiday, a unique apprentice private detective with a strong religious faith.

The former Holiday Walsh (no relation) from NY is now Sister Holiday of the Sisters of Sublime Blood in sweltery New Orleans, where she teaches music in the adjacent Catholic school, St. Sebastian. In her past, she lived a riotous life of sex, drugs and rock and roll. She identifies as a lesbian, and the great love of her life is a woman who is now married. She has had past hookups with a male bartender and other men. She was a member of a punk band. As Sister Holiday dresses from head to foot in black to cover her many tattoos, her bleached blond hair shows its dark roots, and she has a gold tooth that resulted from a bar fight. Her conversations are littered with curse words, and even her prayers include swearing. Others on the staff tolerate and encourage Sister Holiday in her quest for grace and salvation. She maintains her chain-smoking habit by confiscating cigarettes and occasional liquor from unruly students and smoking in a nearby alleyway. She is devout in her own way, refers to God as They, and mentions she only prays to female saints.

I have been hoping to learn how she reconciled her feminist and religious beliefs with the Roman Catholic religion and the misogynist members of the Diocese who run the school.

The author, Margot Duoaihy, is a poet, and her lovely, lyrical language comes through in this gritty novel with a clever choice of words and unique and captivating expressions.

Blessed Water is set in New Orleans during a torrential rain storm with flooding over a Good Friday and into Easter Sunday. The vivid description of the watery atmosphere transports the reader, immersing them in the place. The blessed water also refers to the rites of baptism and holy water used in ceremonies.
Sister Holiday has a curious and rebellious nature. In the previous book, she fancied herself a detective from watching TV crime shows and reading a Raymond Chandler book. Now, she is well on her way to becoming a full-fledged private investigator, being trained at the Redemption Detective Agency by former fire inspector Riveaux. She works diligently and with determination to solve any mystery she encounters. She is also committed to taking permanent vows with the Sisters of Sublime Blood.

The dark, complex, and disturbing mystery begins when Sister Holiday pulls a dead man out of the river. It is learned that he did not drown but was stabbed to death. The body is identified as Father Reese. On the same day, Father Nathan disappears. He was a young priest whom Sister Holiday admired and considered a friend. He is now among the murder suspects, along with one of her troubled students who rarely attends school and walks around with his pit bull. Her brother Moose has returned from the army, where he was a medic. He is mysterious and reluctant to explain why he was discharged from the military and came to New Orleans. Is he somehow involved in the murder?

During the investigation, Sister Holiday keys the car belonging to the bishop and members of the Diocese. She is alarmed as some unknown person leaves photos of Father Nathan, showing him captured and under threat to his life. This adds to the urgency of solving the mystery of Father Reese's murder and saving the priest. There are twists and turns in the plot with secrets and coverups of abuse within the church. Her investigation into the crimes interferes with the ongoing police case and displeases them.

The narrative is told from Sister Holiday's point of view in the form of an inner monologue and a stream of consciousness and, of course, peppered with profanity. Most of the characters are well-rounded and sympathetic.
I was delighted to receive the ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. I definitely want to read the third book in the series. Blessed Water is due to be published on March 12th.