Blessed Water - (Sister Holiday Mysteries) by Margot Douaihy (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Sister Holiday is back with a newly minted PI apprentice certificate, a twisty mystery to solve, and something to prove in this fast-paced, blistering follow-up to Scorched Grace. Tattooed from her neck to her toes and sporting a gold tooth as sharp as her wisecracks, Sister Holiday struggles to stay on the righteous path. Never one to make things easy for herself, she's committed to taking her permanent vows with the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and joining former fire inspector Magnolia Riveaux's latest venture, Redemption Detective Agency--both in service of satisfying her eternal quest for answers. When Sister Holiday and Riveaux set out to bust a philandering husband, they instead find the body of a priest floating in the swollen Mississippi River, and with it, Redemption's next case. It's significantly more gruesome than their orig-inal mission, but Sister Holiday feels called on by God to hunt down the murderer and keep her community safe. As a torrential rainstorm drowns New Orleans for three harrowing days over Easter weekend, Sister Holiday and Riveaux follow the clues. With the stakes rising alongside the relentless floodwaters, our favorite punk nun-sleuth throws herself into the deep end yet again." --

Book Synopsis

A New York Times Best Crime Novel of 2024

Sister Holiday is back with a newly minted PI apprentice certificate, a twisty mystery to solve, and something to prove in this fast-paced, blistering follow-up to Scorched Grace.

Tattooed from her neck to her toes and sporting a gold tooth as sharp as her wisecracks, Sister Holiday struggles to stay on the righteous path. Never one to make things easy for herself, she's committed to taking her permanent vows with the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and joining former fire inspector Magnolia Riveaux's latest venture, Redemption Detective Agency--both in service of satisfying her eternal quest for answers.

When Sister Holiday and Riveaux set out to bust a philandering husband, they instead find the body of a priest floating in the swollen Mississippi River, and with it, Redemption's next case. It's significantly more gruesome than their orig-inal mission, but Sister Holiday feels called on by God to hunt down the murderer and keep her community safe.

As a torrential rainstorm drowns New Orleans for three harrowing days over Easter weekend, Sister Holiday and Riveaux follow the clues. With the stakes rising alongside the relentless floodwaters, our favorite punk nun-sleuth throws herself into the deep end yet again.

A lacerating and lyrical plunge into obsession, deception, and the questions that hold us captive, Blessed Water is a lights-out mystery that will leave you breathless.

Review Quotes

A New York Times Best Crime Novel of 2024
An Amazon Editors' Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
An Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, CrimeReads and Book Riot Most Anticipated Book

"Returning to New Orleans with my favorite punk-rock nun is such a thrill. Sister Holiday is the best kind of detective: unafraid of the darkest parts of human nature, and yet constantly seeking the best in others. Douaihy blends edgy counterculture with sincere faith, violence and nihilism with genuine yearning for human connection, and grit with hope, all in one hell of a mystery." --Gillian Flynn, Gillian Flynn Books

"You might think a mystery about an inked-up lesbian Punk musician-turned-nun is a little far-fetched; but New Orleans, the setting of the Sister Holiday series, is the city of far-fetched phenomenon, both sacred and profane. Margot Douaihy's second book in this queer cozy series is called Blessed Water and it finds the 34-year-old Sister Holiday up to her neck in murky flood waters and priests with secrets. Douaihy's writing style--pure hard-boiled Patti Smith--contains all the contradictions that torment Sister Holiday in her bumpy journey of faith." --Fresh Air, NPR

"Readers who first encountered Sister Holiday in Scorched Grace will be eager to ride along on her second adventure. But even series newbies can jump right in, the water is . . . everywhere. . . . The sleuthing begins, made more interesting by the fact that the former punk-rocking, cigarette-sneaking Sister Holiday is not the typical recruit of the Sisters of the Sublime Blood order. She's young, queer, abundantly tattooed, and haunted by a troubled past . . . which makes this hard-boiled nun with secret warm, fuzzy feelings an amateur sleuth with original, fresh appeal." --Booklist

"Douaihy follows up Scorched Grace with another deliriously enjoyable, relentlessly plotted adventure for chain-smoking "punk nun" Sister Holiday Walsh.... This series continues to impress." --Publishers Weekly

"Beautifully constructed with writing like a fine razor, Blessed Water bathed me in the mysteries of faith.... I didn't want to put this book down." -- Renee Powers, Feminist Book Club

"Blessed Water oozes with atmosphere. The tension is high from the story's first moments through its final twists.... Don't worry if you haven't read the first book in the Sister Holiday series. You'll still fall for this wonderfully imperfect heroine." --Apple Books Review

"Douaihy's writing stings and soothes, echoing Sister Holiday's so-human contradictions.... 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? Heaven help them and bring on more heroes like Sister Holiday. She might be my favorite character of all time." --Mystery & Suspense Magazine

"[A] picaresque yet powerful tale that plumbs the depths of human cruelty: 'the ultimate riddle of God.'" --The Times (UK)

"A dizzying pace combined with the God-fearing Sister's determination makes this mystery a literary treat." --Center for Fiction

"This uniquely riveting follow-up to Scorched Grace won't disappoint those looking for an engaging mystery and a complex, witty protagonist they won't soon forget." --Murder & Mayhem

"Douaihy does another exceptional job of examining the meaning of faith in the life of perhaps the world's unlikeliest nun. . . . 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." --Criminal Element

"This fresh, tongue-in-cheek mystery abounds with snark, heart-pounding thrills, vibrant characters, and the sweetness of found family." --Library Journal

"Water weeps from the clouds, streaks the faces of the grieving, and revives a fragile faith. The writing in Blessed Water is utterly delightful. By the time the flood receded, and the case was solved, I'd already begun yearning for the next Sister Holiday Mystery." --Cheryl A. Head, author of Time's Undoing and the Anthony-nominated Charlie Mack Motown Mystery series

"Margot Douaihy follows up an extraordinary debut with an even more exceptional sophomore novel! She combines a poet's soul and an artist's eye with a powerful and strong authorial voice to create layered, complex characters involved in a story so well paced you cannot put it down. I am already hungry for her next book!" --Greg Herren, Lambda Award-winning author of Death Drop and the Scotty Bradley Mysteries

"My favorite PI series transport you to a setting unlike any other and feature unforgettable, flawed, and diverse characters in central roles. Margot Douaihy's latest, Blessed Water, is all these things and more, bringing readers deeper into Sister Holiday's complicated world with confidence and lyricism. A potent blend of dark noir and the travails of a tainted knight detective, Blessed Water is a one-way ticket to a New Orleans you could only imagine. A poised and unique novel." --Alex Segura, bestselling author of Secret Identity

More Praise for the Sister Holiday Series

"With her first two novels, Margot Douaihy has created one of the most memorable characters in contemporary crime fiction. In Scorched Grace and Blessed Water, her tattooed, punk rock nun/private investigator, Sister Holiday, solves crimes while following her vocation in the troubled, magnolia-scented streets of New Orleans. One of the things I love most about her novels is the way they draw on the tropes of classic crime fiction while creating something that is inarguably new." --CrimeReads

"Sister Holiday, the protagonist of Margot Douaihy's showstopper of a series debut Scorched Grace isn't what you'd imagine a nun to be like, even in laissez-faire New Orleans." --Sarah Weinman, New York Times

"Vibrant, crackling and deliciously insubordinate, it's a mystery full of trapdoors and surprises but with a keen emotional force that leaves you shaken, hooked." --Megan Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of The Turnout

"Margot Douaihy's bold entry into the hard-boiled genre revitalizes it for our times. [...] one of the best crime fiction debuts I've come across in a long while." --Don Winslow, #1 internationally bestselling author of The Power of the Dog and City on Fire

About the Author

Margot Douaihy is a Lebanese American originally from Scranton, PA, now living in Northampton, MA. She received her PhD in creative writing from the University of Lancaster in the UK. She is the author of the poetry collections Bandit/Queen: The Runaway Story of Belle Starr, Scranton Lace, and Girls Like You. She is a founding member of the Creative Writing Studies Organization and an active member of Sisters in Crime and the Radius of Arab American Writers. A recipient of the Mass Cultural Council's Artist Fellowship, she was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award, Aesthetica Magazine's Creative Writing Award, and the Ernest Hemingway Foundation's Hemingway Shorts. Her writing has been featured in Queer Life, Queer Love; Colorado Review; Diode Editions; The Florida Review; North American Review; PBS NewsHour; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Portland Review; Wisconsin Review; and elsewhere. Margot is an Assistant Professor in Popular Fiction Writing & Literature with Emerson College in Boston. As a coeditor of the Elements in Crime Narrative Series with Cambridge University Press, she strives to reshape crime writing scholarship, with a focus on the contemporary, the future, inclusivity, and decoloniality.