Blessed Water

A Sister Holiday Mystery

By: Margot Douaihy

Narrated by: Mara Wilson

Tattooed from her neck to her toesand 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 orig­inal 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.

Interesting but not a thriller.

Was just an OK listen. Not that intriguing. Predictable. Could have been more of a thriller.

Symbolic sweetness

If you took Armistead Maupin and Anne Patchett and mixed them up with a dash of Lawrence Block and a dollop of The Ramones you’d end up with Margot Douaihy. Her originality blazes a new trail with the characters in this second novel in the series.
Yes the book is short and sweet, like a punk concert. But there is power between the pages, and you are left wanting more. In this case, that’s a good thing. I feel like I discovered a great new band no one knows about yet, before the bloated commercial success ruins them. I know the writer will not let that happen. At least not now in 2024.

Storyline and characters

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.

Continue to enjoy sister holidays quarks and powers of observation and commitment against all odds of the traditional power struggle.

Overall,it was entertaining and I look forward to new adventures

Strange but very good

A bit more philosophical than I like. Usually it adds to the understanding but a free time it looses me.

Not a Fan

I lost interest in this story very quickly. I do not care for the premise. DNF