This book is set in England. Isla was a journalist and her boyfriend, Declan, was a police officer who worked with Parliament. Isla did stories that sometimes risked her life. One day, Isla got a got a lead through a phone call that she later learned came from a nun, Sister Modestia. The tip was about the fact that a ship was coming in bearing drugs. The day she got the lead she learned that the nun had died. Through investigating, she realized that the sister had been murdered. She wanted to know more about the nun so she called the convent and scheduled to spend the night there. The morning after she spent the night in the convent, she met a man named Cassius who was a count. It turns out that he was Sister Modestia's brother. She also met another nun, Sister Innocenta, who was a good friend of Sister Modestia. Isla wanted to talk to her but could never get her alone because the Mother Superior was always in the way.

Cassius had taken a fancy to Isla. When she was telling Declan about him, Declan became unhinged. He knew Cassius well and knew that he was a crook. He also knew he was a ladies man and he assumed he was after Isla, which he was. Cassius phoned Isla and told her that he had a lead for her. The lead was about the fact that the gentlemen's club that he belonged to forbade women and there was upheaval about the fact that some of the members wanted to include women. He had invited her to dinner at the club and Declan was angry about that.

Cassius had told Isla about a hidden room in the castle that he and his sister used to hide in when their father got drunk. Later, Sister Innocenta phoned Isla and told her about the hidden room in the castle and explained to her how to access it. After the phone call the sister ended up dead. Not more than a day later, Cassius phoned Isla and told her that he had another tip for her. He invited her to dinner but she declined, opting for lunch instead. She decided that when she went there she wanted to explore. She had been to the castle before. He had invited her and a guest to a masked ball and of course she took Declan.. At the ball, she went exploring and found the nursery where the hidden room was supposed to be. But she couldn't find a way to get in because she hadn't yet been told. So on this lunch date, a contractor had burst into the room where they were having lunch and was accusing Cassius of not paying him. The contractor told him that he knew that he had paid. Tim, another contractor, whom Isla knew. Cassius excused himself to go and take care of the situation. That was isla's cue to go to the nursery. She had been told that there was a lever below the angel's feet that would open the wall. When she got it open, she went inside and found several women there who were bagging drugs. She left that room and was heading back downstairs to meet up with Cassius when she passed out. One of the maids found her and took her into the kitchen to have a bowl of soup. But she knew she had to get out of there, so she left.

Declan had a daughter, Sephy, who had been at boarding school. But when Declan learned that there had been a drug raid at the school he went and picked her up. Declan's hope was that she and Isla would become friends. One night at Declan's house, he and Isla had a disagreement and his daughter heard them. The disagreement was about the fact that Isla was going to go to the port where the drug ship was going to be unloading. He didn't want her to go but she was bound and determined. So she called an Uber and left. When she got there, she saw two men and a female at the ship. It turns out the female was Sephy. Isla, fearing for Sephy's life, yelled at her and told her to run back to the front of the port. In the same breath she phoned the police and she told Sephy to phone the police when she got to the front. The two men roughed Isla up but before long the police arrived. The two men got away. They were taken to the police station where a call was made to Declan to come and pick them up. He didn't seem to put out with his daughter but he was upset with Isla. His daughter told him that she went to the port because she heard the fight between her dad and Isla and she thought her dad was angry because Isla was going to meet another man. So she wanted to go and see for herself. When they got home, Declan broke up with Isla. But before she left, Declan told her he was going to call his friend Lisa, who was a nurse, to come and check her out. Lisa told her hat she thought she was pregnant. She told Declan, and together they went to the pharmacy to purchase several pregnancy tests. All the tests came up positive. Isla had decided to keep the baby but she was devastated because she and Declan had broken up.

The next day, Isla phoned Declan and told him about the women she found in Cassius 's castle. They decided they were going to get the police involved, so while Declan was arranging that, Isla phoned Tim to include him. The story was going to be that Tim was going to call Cassius and tell him that he found bubbles in the paint upstairs. He would come in and have Declan and Isla dressed as painters. They would go to the nursery, enter the wall and remove the women. They were wearing bulletproof vests and they each had a recording device and a camera attached. Cassius was supposed to be away on a hunting trip. But low and behold, he showed up. He pulled a gun on Isla and Declan and Declan tackled him trying to get the gun away from him, but the gun went off shooting Declan in the side.

I really, really enjoyed this book. I liked the way the author wove the tale and it was really easy to follow. I also thought the author did a very good job developing the characters. I found myself hooked, unable to put it down. I gave it five stars.

Martyrs' Convent is a great read. Excellent characters and twists with a bit of romance thrown in. I really enjoyed it. Thank you.

Isla Johnson is looking for a big story and when she receives a call about an impending drug shipment giving her details of time and place, she knows this is a big one. The informant is strange - a nun. The next day the nuns body is fished from the Thames. The convent is a peculiar one, a closed order and no one is willing to shed any light on the death of a much loved nun.

The involvement of an aristocrat who is the nuns brother adds to a strange mix. He appears to Isla as being supportive and distraught over his sisters death, but he has lied over many things that Isla begins to realise he is manipulating her for his own ends.

The whole story right from the start was tense with many loose ends which did not seem to connect at all. Declan who was Isla’s partner was also at times not supportive torn between his need to protect his daughter and the need for his partner. The widely contrasting characters of nuns, gang members, the aristocrat brother, the police were brought together very skillfully in the final telling of the story. The story is emotional but quite dark with a slight gothic twist.

Book Review: Martyrs Convent
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.0/5.0)

Martyrs Convent surprised me in the best way—at least at first. When I picked it up, I wasn’t expecting much. The premise didn’t immediately grab me, and I was worried it might be hard to follow or overly complex. But from the beginning, I found myself genuinely enjoying it. The mystery the journalist is investigating was compelling enough, and her personal life—particularly the dynamics with her boyfriend and his daughter—added depth and interest.

The pacing deserves credit. The story moves quickly—not in a high-octane thriller way, but in a steady, engaging rhythm. It never lingers too long in one place, and that keeps the pages turning. It’s not flashy or filled with twists, but it’s incredibly readable. I couldn’t put my finger on why I was so drawn in, but I was. The writing is accessible, the characters are likable, and the relationships are interesting enough to hold your attention.

That said, the story begins to fizzle as it nears the end. While I was never particularly invested in the outcome of the mystery itself, I still hoped the resolution would feel satisfying. Unfortunately, it fell into the familiar trap of the “villain exposition”—where the bad guy painstakingly explains everything in long monologues. That kind of ending always feels lazy to me. I prefer to see a story unfold through clever reveals, not info dumps.

There were also missed opportunities for surprises or emotional payoffs. A few plot threads hinted at deeper twists that never came. The boyfriend’s “big reveals” turned out to be underwhelming, and the final chapter took a strange and disappointing turn. The main character gives up her lifelong passion for journalism simply because she’s pregnant, a message that felt outdated and frustrating.

In the end, Martyrs Convent is a solid, easy read with strong momentum and a quiet charm—but it stumbles hard in the final stretch. The beginning and middle are enjoyable and well-paced, but the lack of a satisfying conclusion, combined with an off-putting final message, knocks it down a notch. Still, for a book I expected to put down quickly, it held my interest far longer than anticipated.

How far do you go to tell a story? When a nun is found in the river, the main character decides to investigate where the police do not. What follows is an outrageous and wild adventure that takes the reader on a murderous path through the aristocracy. The story was a little outlandish in parts but makes for a good spy story. Not a bad read overall for what it is.

This was a riveting and suspenseful story that kept me glued until the very end! It was an amazing read with all the twists and turns, incredible characters, and intriguing mystery happening. I couldn't put it down. This story is the definition of a page-turner! I loved it!

Well that was a great surprise. This is book 2 in a romantic suspense series that spans between the UK and New Zealand, which is a novel setting for me. I unfortunately was not able to read book 1 of this series (thanks to Amazon geolocation restrictions) but book 2 easily catches up and the details of book are seamlessly written into the plot.

I like Isla and Declan, their relationship was interesting and featured many “grown up” discussions, especially with his teenage daughter entering the picture

The suspense plot was interesting and paced quite well. I am not the biggest fan of “war of drugs” stories but this was easy to follow.

Thank you Jody Brettkelly and Netgalley for the ARC. I am looking forward to future books in this series.

Martyrs’ Convent is a gem of a book: part thriller, part of on-com, all page-turner. Our heroine, Isla, is an investigative journalist looking for her next big story, and thanks to a phone tip-off, she may just have found it.

Unfortunately her informant is found dead before Isla can come back to her with more questions. Suspicious that this was not an accident, but a murder, Isla starts to look into the nun’s life, along the way encountering her mysterious brother the duke, Cassius.

Isla’s boyfriend, Declan, has his own troubles to deal with while this is all happening, as his teenage daughter, Sephy, has to be withdrawn from her boarding school and come to live with him. But he’s not so distracted as not to notice that Isla’s new acquaintance with Cassius is potentially dangerous. Unsure whether Cassius is really as bad as Declan makes him out to be, or whether a twinge of jealousy is causing him to exaggerate in order to prevent her getting closer, she continues her investigation, almost getting Sephy hurt in the process.

With the backdrops of a swanky family estate in the Cotswolds and chic parts of London, there is plenty of glamour in the book, but it doesn’t truly conceal the seamy unpleasantness Isla uncovers as she moves ever closer to the truth.

Isla is a fun, relatable heroine, while her boyfriend Declan is pleasingly real despite the good looks. Their relationship is one you root for throughout the book, even as the friction between their lifestyles threatens to pull them apart. I don’t know whether there will be a subsequent book featuring Isla and Declan, but I would absolutely read it: there is certainly plenty of scope in his work and hers to provide a juicy plot. For now, though, this is the perfect summer read.

I didn’t realize this was book 2. I don’t think you need to read the first to understand the second. The book describes the characters past so you aren’t lost. Nice quick read. Enjoyed the characters and the storyline.

I read Martyrs’ Convent in one afternoon, gripped by the mystery of how a nun ended up dead in the Thames and journalist Isla Joyson’s blundering attempts to uncover the truth. I was really unsure who Isla should trust and who she should avoid until the end. Though there were some minor plot holes, the writing is engaging and the main characters are relatable, even if the relationship between Isla and her significant other Declan is a little too much at times. Nonetheless, this fast paced read was a good escape on a summer day.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for early access to a digital copy of Martyr’s Convent.

I really enjoyed this book until I got three quarters of the way through where some plot holes became obvious and it tipped into unbelievable territory. Normally when this happens it makes me downgrade my score but as this happened so late in the book combined with how much I was absorbed by most of the story, I have left it at four stars.

I really wanted to like this book, I really really did and to some extent it was ok, hence the 3 stars, but I found the pacing very odd, some story lines way too unbelievable and the stereotypical portral of lying, feeling bad, accidents happens etc... to not be my cup of tea. I like strong female main characters and I felt like our fmc here wasn't that unfortunately. She lied and felt bad and tried t be independant, but came across as just a bit of a airhead to me.

I think this book will sit well with lots of people, but with this being my main genre of choice it makes it incredibly tough to compete with some of the other books I have read which is why it fell abit flat for me I think.

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of Martyrs’ Convent, by Jody Brettkelly, from Jody Brettkelly/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

I found myself singularly unenthused about this book.

Unbelievable/unlikeable characters, and too many characters in general, come to think of it. Convoluted-y storyline/s. Just, meh.

It should’ve clicked with me that when I realized this was a second in a series and I had absolutely zero desire to read the first that I probably just needed to put the book down and go on about my life. The Good Citizen Award Winner deep within me, however, felt compelled to finish so as to hold up my end of the bargain with NetGalley.

Dear Future Kristi: Maybe it’s not such a good idea to read about journalists when you were once one yourself? Because you almost always seem to roll your eyes at the portrayal of such, especially the female ones. Just sayin’.

DESCRIPTION
In London, journalist Isla Joyson races against time to find a connection between a drowned nun, a sinister convent, and a manipulative aristocrat. A perfect beach read for fans of the movie Saltburn and the novels of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley.

One call changes everything.

When Isla Joyson receives a desperate call from a nun about an impending drug shipment, she sees a chance to break the story of the year. The Sister insists she can’t go to the police and begs for Isla’s help … Then the line is cut.

The next day, the nun’s body is pulled from the Thames River.

Pursuing both justice and the story, Isla’s investigation leads from the cloistered order harboring dark secrets to the highest echelons of British society. When Isla crosses paths with a powerful duke intent on solving this murder without her, the stakes escalate, threatening to destroy both her career and her relationship with the man she loves.

Mystery thriller book 2. featuring investigator journalist Isla Joyson, I was on the edge of my seat reading this novel, very gripping thriller based in London high society with a slow burn romance. I was such a fan of Isla and Declan, and hurt that Isla wouldn't or couldn't trust Declan with her job investigation. He was hurt that his daughter got caught up in the middle. Drugs, Castle, Duke and Nuns hit Convent oh my. Yeah to Isla she got her story you have to read the book to see if she got what she wanted. Great read.

I was hoping for something a little different from Martyrs’ Convent, but I still ended up enjoying this dark and twisty mystery. It’s the second book in the Isla Joyson series, but it worked well enough on its own for me, and now I’m definitely curious about the first.

The premise really grabbed me: a mysterious phone call from a nun, a body pulled from the Thames, and a trail that leads from a sinister convent to the upper levels of British society. I loved the mix of gothic atmosphere and investigative journalism, and the setting was rich and unsettling in the best way.

That said, I did struggle a bit in the middle. The pacing slowed down more than I expected, and while I appreciated the dual timelines and historical layers, some of it felt a little too exposition-heavy. Still, Isla is a strong, relatable lead and the final act definitely pulled me back in.

It’s a dark, thoughtful mystery with a unique voice, and I’m glad I stuck with it. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and especially to author Jody Brettkelly for the ARC!

I have not read the first book I this series, so was not familiar with the characters. This started out well, an intriguing and original premise of a murder involving a nun in a closed convent in London. The main characters Isla, the journalist, and Declan, the budding Parliamentarian, are in a romantic relationship, as they have been since the first book.
Very quickly, the story becomes less and less credible, and more and more improbable. It begins to read like a Girls Own adventure novel, with Isla, who appears to be very scatty and disorganised, determined to solve this monumental crime single handedly. She has no care for her own safety, or anyone else’s in her efforts to ‘save the women’ because ‘only she can save them’ It dipped pacing significant in the middle with Isla telling Declan so many lies, then feeling guilty about it, but not enough to stop her in her tracks for a second. She gets into so many crazy unbelievable scrapes, dangerous situations etc. but always escapes.
The accidental pregnancy had me rolling my eyes - really?!
The denouement of the crime was beyond ridiculous, then the ending was pure Mills and Boon. We never did get to hear what happened to Cassius?
Some glaring errors too, like the nurse with the long, beautifully painted nails, alluded to twice in the story. Nurses are absolutely not allowed to have long painted nails, they would not be able to carry out the many intricate procedures required of them otherwise. Sadly disappointing.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

I loved this fast paced story! I was guessing right up until the end and I didn’t have a clue what would happen. I was satisfied with the journey as well as the destination. Excited to read more of Brettkelly in the future!

Really enjoyed the writing style of this one! Fast paced and easy to get in to. I didn't realise this was the second in the series but now I'm excited for this series to continue!

“Martyrs’ Convent” by Jody Brettkelly is a chilling and atmospheric thriller that pulled me in with its haunting setting and slow-burn suspense. The writing is rich with detail, and the eerie mood of the convent looms over every chapter like a ghost in the shadows.

There’s a quiet intensity to the way the story unfolds, layer by layer, secret by secret, and it kept me curious throughout. The characters felt grounded and real, each with their own secrets and scars. At times, the pacing dipped just a bit for me, but the overall payoff made it worth the wait.

This one is perfect for fans of gothic suspense and stories where the setting becomes a character of its own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Read the first book a while ago and was so hooked, so delving into the immersive story of the second instalment in this series was no challenge.

Jody Brettkelly explores themes of historical secrets, allowing the reader to be hooked by the story since the first page.

The themes of trauma explored felt so incredibly natural and realistic, making the story and the plot far more interesting and engaging.

The lead travels through the story alongside the reader, a character who is compelling as she is strong, yet still holding an element of vulnerability.

The twists and turns of this mystery held me from page 1, causing me to fall deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole that was the plot.