Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy was published in 2023.
Our Sleuth: Sister Holiday, aka Holiday Walsh, 33, is a heavily tattooed, queer, punk rock musician who fled New York to join the Order of the Sisters of the Sublime Blood after her personal life cartwheeled into catastrophe.
The Setting: We’re in the stifling heat of present-day New Orleans as late summer languishes into early fall.
The Premise: Sister Holiday has found refuge in the convent of her tiny order, taking temporary vows and teaching guitar to students at the adjacent Catholic school. She’s taking a smoke break at dusk on a Sunday when she sees a body fall from the second floor of the school, which has erupted in flames. The victim is a friend of sorts, one of the school’s two janitors, and she’s determined to solve the case as police make little progress.
My Take: Douaihy, a published poet, spins a lyrical tale centered on a troubled protagonist struggling to recover from a series of personal disasters, some of her own making. Sister Holiday’s faith feels profound, but she often seems only one step away from throwing an angry punch or downing a stiff drink as she realizes she’s being set up to take the blame for the growing body count. There’s a shimmering urgency to this gritty story as the author intersperses scenes from Sister Holiday’s violent past with the increasing danger of her present. I loved most everything about this debut but perhaps, best of all, was the company of a punk nun trying fiercely to hang on to a sense of right and wrong in a troubled world.
Opening Lines:
The devil isn’t in the details. Evil thrives in blind spots. In absence, negative space, like the haze of a sleight-of-hand trick. The details are God’s work. My job is keeping those details in order.
Heads Up: A sexual assault occurs mostly off the page, along with some brief but explicit consensual sex and tough family dynamics (to say the least but no spoilers!).
Of Note: The second in the series, Blessed Water, is expected to be released in March 2024. I can’t wait to see what Sister Holiday does next.
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