Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.

I feel like a bit of a wanker for saying this, but I think I was more interested in this book than I ultimately liked it. It might just be because I’m not the biggest contemporary mystery reader (I like classic noir and cosy detective nonsense) so it didn’t have the right genre places to go in my brain. Don’t get me wrong, it intrigued me. But it also frustrated me. And while it definitely positions itself as a kind of modern noir (the heroine incorrectly notes that Philip Marlowe is the best of the private eyes, when it is clearly Sam Spade) its resolution ended up feeling a little … random, almost? Not necessarily the revelation of the culprit but how the heroine got there, even though I recognise that noir detectives aren’t methodologically transparent in the way more cosy or procedural detectives are.

In any case, the book is narrated in deliberately anarchic fashion by its protagonist Sister Holiday, a queer, tattooed, former punk-rock disaster now turned nun. She works for a small—dwindling even—progressive order in New Orleans (the only order that would take her) but the peaceful existence she has carved out amongst her three sisters is brought to an abrupt end up when the school attached the nunnery catches fire and a body plummets from an upstairs window. Sister Holiday immediately cast herself in the role of sleuth and, well, things proceed from there.

Part mystery, part confession, part meditation on the nature of faith and identity, Scorched Grace definitely carried me along. I did kind of figure out whodunnit, long before Sister Holiday, but only by using the rather tawdry tools of meta-narrative i.e. there was no-one else it could be who would feel thematically appropriate and emotionally satisfying. And even then I remained kind of vague on the whys of it: I mean motives are given, both secular and divine, but I failed to see how the undertaken actions (burning shit down and murdering folks) were supposed to address the stated problem or bring about the perpetrator’s intended result. Or maybe the point was, they were just bananas. Except that’s a bit of a meh conclusion to a mystery.

To be fair, though, Scorched Grace is as much a character study than a mystery. And on those grounds it really succeeds – I was as much compelled by the mystery that is Sister Holiday herself and the fascinating contradictions of her character (she’s profane yet devout, hard-bitten yet loving) than whatever was going on with somebody setting schools on fire. The narrative voice, whether it’s talking about faith or love or New Orleans itself is so distinct:

Take this:

“The sky was a vibrant mottle of blue and white, threaded with the inflections of birdsong. Green parrots, robins, and silver mourning doves incanted their secret codes.”

Or this:

“But our bodies are holy and meant to be shared, for a time, at least. Jesus was given to us in the form of a human. During Communion, the wafer transforms into Jesus’s body and blood on our tongues. Transubstantiation. Inking my body was also holy. Sure, the needle hurt sometimes. But it should hurt. Salvation required sacrifice.”

I think this is the first book in what will be a series (it carries the tagline A Sister Holiday Mystery) so it’s probably unfair of me to feel somewhat underserved by some aspects of the book. There are plotlines that don’t seem to go anywhere (what happened with the two queer boys who were sleeping in the school—were they okay?!), characters who seem significant, are there for a scene or two and then seem to be forgotten, and climatic scenes that end up feeling rushed and inconclusive (like when Sister Holiday’s ex shows up at the end). And I honestly can’t tell to what degree these aspects of the story were, uh, bugs or features. Whether it was simply ambition escaping execution, storylines/relationships intended to be continued in future books, or things deliberately left unresolved and uncertain because noir takes place in an inherently disordered universe (even if your concept of that universe has a god in it).

Speaking of god, I would also have appreciated a bit more about Sister Holiday’s faith here and there. I’ve read other reviews which seem to have wanted her to be more radical/iconoclastic but I kind of appreciated the way that she was, uh, really very fucking Catholic. She says herself that “Religion is like art, we all get to make our own interpretations” and there’s a degree to which she does, in fact, live this—her god is a ‘they’, she never says the Our Father, only the Hail Mary—but trauma, suffering and even punishment are inescapably at the core of her faith, even if she also finds peace, purpose and meaning in it too. I think where I slightly came unstuck on a purely personal level is that, at one point, she acknowledges that she belongs to one of the most oppressive organisations in the world. And while it’s not for me to, like, judge either real people or fictional ones for their choices I kind of wanted to know more about how she reconciled that or, for that matter, didn’t reconcile that. Just having the quiet bit said out loud in the actual narration kind of a drew attention to an elephant in the room I would otherwise have politely ignored for the sake of the story.

I don’t think it helped that I couldn’t tell whether I was supposed to think Sister Holiday was a good sleuth or a bad one, somewhere in the middle, or if it mattered at all. She tells us that she’s sleuth and does, indeed, notice a few pieces of evidence the police—who may or may not be useless—miss. But she also tampers with crime scenes and evidence, doesn’t follow up on obvious leads, fails to really put anything together and works out what’s going by what feels like sheer chance (divine intervention?) at the end.

I should also probably mention that is, you know, terribly gritty. Violence, sexual violence, addiction, homophobia, oppression and alienation of all kinds: I honestly got so, no pun intended, burned out on it all that I kind of stopped feeling anything by the halfway point and had become so unshockable that even the final revelation of what led Sister Holiday to become a nun came across as overwrought to the point of absurdity. I mean, it was thematic, yes. But also, wait, what? You did what?

The other thing that occasionally sort of caught me off guard—though it shouldn’t have—was what came across to me as Sister Holiday’s very .. binarist, I suppose, view of men and women. I know her god is a ‘they’ but she speaks of men and women in very absolute terms throughout the book.

"Men fucked like grammar schoolteachers diagramming sentences: This goes here, and now that goes there. I’d rather die than be restrained by a dude. But women were unpredictable, like trying to tame a flame."

Or

"God is perfection, even in devastation. This might be the only thing I’m sure of: God is especially alive in women."

I’m not saying this is wrong or bad. I have queer friends who talk like this too. It’s just—as someone who sort of dwells in the middle of things as fluidly as possible—it is personally confusing to me. On top of which I really hate the fact that the current cultural context has made it impossible to take this kind of discourse at face value. Although let me emphasise that it is not the discourse in itself that is the problem; it is the way TERFism has positioned itself, or been positioned, relative to feminism. In any case, this is very much a your mileage my vary type situation and—given how far out of my lane I am right now—I would like to return to my car.

Oh, and I learned it’s very hot in New Orleans and everybody is sweating constantly.

Anyway: complicated feelings for a complicated book.

This was an interesting read! I enjoyed the ride of twists and turns as our very unique main character tried to solve crimes. The one thing I had a bit of trouble believing is her inner monologue. It doesn’t really come across that she has really changed much since joining the convent. Overall it was a quick read and well written.

Chainsmoking Queer Nun with a past and a penchant for justice was not on my bingo card for this year, but this FMC was one of a kind. Can't wait for the next installment!

The idea of this spoke to me a lot more than the actual execution of it. The writing is kind of dense to me, and I just generally was not a fan of the writing style. I'm also not religious myself, so I don't really relate to that aspect of the story (I didn't think it would play a big part). In any case I had to give up on this, not because it's horrible or anything, I can just tell it is not for me and I will therefore not enjoy it

I, like many others, have been (im)patiently waiting for a new Gillian Flynn book. And while I still want something new from her, new mysteries from her publishing imprint are the next best thing.

Scorched Grace is a mystery about a string of arsons in New Orleans. Sister Holiday, a queer nun with the Sisters of the Sublime Blood, is the unwitting detective who finds herself caught up in the investigation after witnessing several of the fires.

This book is impossible to put down and I actually ended up switching to the audio version halfway through just so I wouldn’t have to stop reading. Margot Douaihy does a great job of connecting Sister Holiday’s personal past to the crimes of the present which almost makes it feel like you’re reading two expertly interwoven books in one volume.

I believe this is the first book in a planned series and I am totally on board with reading more about Sister Holiday. I can’t wait to see where her story goes!

Scorched Grace is out now. Thanks to Gillian Flynn Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Such a fun read! Knocked off 2 stars for 2 main reasons: 1) I didn't appreciate how this book handled SA as both a shock factor and point of transformation (good and evil) for two of the characters and 2) I just don't think hardboiled detective narration is for me, it feels cheesy and melodramatic, like an indie film bro narrating a Tarantino movie.

Scorched Grace didn't quite work for me, and I unfortunately only made it about halfway through. The characters were diverse and sometimes humorous, but the plot didn't suck me in.

<i>Scorched Grace</i> was quite an exciting read. A queer nun turns into an amateur detective when arson breaks out. Her relationship with God was quite interesting whenever it turned up. The case makes her look back into her own past all along investigating who set her up.

first of the series, the book sets up a good starting point for Sister Holiday.

<i>Thank you to Netgalley, Zando Projects and Gillian Flynn Books for providing me with a free copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Enjoyable, great pacing, exciting settings kept me hooked. Fun novel that will be the perfect to lose yourself in. Thank you Net Galley for ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

Such a fun romp of a crime novel! Our main character is a queer, chain-smoking nun who investigates a serial arsonist... What more could you want?
I think the book delivers on the premise's promise of being weird, fun and twisted. Excited for the next book in the series!

Scorched Grace carries a great hook in Sister Holiday. A chain-smoking, swearing, lesbian nun who is looking for a fresh start when a family tragedy strikes, Holiday brings a new vibe to a story mostly set in a Catholic church. It takes most of the book to gather enough information about Holiday and her past to understand early actions, but it was an interesting trip. The mystery itself kept me guessing, and the scenery was well described. The side-characters, however, often felt flat and quickly thrown together. It has a debut feel as you read it, which is nothing against Douaihy. I think future books by this author will be a solid addition to mystery collections that want to spice things up. A fun read, perhaps a beach read, but not entirely memorable.

The best part of this book is the protagonist and narrator, Sister Holiday. Her observations are engaging, as was uncovering her past as a punk rocker lesbian, her family tribulations, and how that led her to becoming a nun. The descriptions and critiques of different types of authorities (from the fire investigator to the police to the Dioceses) were also well done. However, the pacing of the action, especially the overly quick resolution, weakened the novel.

3.5/5 stars

Trigger warnings for: gang rape, homophobia, religious trauma, death, burning alive, arson, cheating, violence, incest, victim blaming and rape.

A book about a queer liberal nun? Yeah, sign me in.

No, but really. Whilst following the "same" formula as any thriller, Scorched Grace is in itself original enough just with the characters that are presented within the book. It was, in fact, what drew me in (plus the fact that Gillian Flynn was mentioned).

Scorched Grace follows a newly appointed nun after witnessing both a fire and the death of one of their Convent staff. Sister Holiday must now prove she isn't guilty, as her past life tends to be stereotyped and thrown in the way of the investigation. At its core, it's supposed to be a thriller, a mystery. However, I would say this book is much more than that.

Growing up both queer and Catholic (and within a Catholic society) is something I had in common with Sister Holiday and thus, it was very easy for me to latch on to some of the things experienced by the sister. One of the things I found incredibly interesting, though, is the supposed identity dichotomy of belonging and never stopping to belong in both queer and religious spaces. It's something that is talked briefly throughout the book through different perspectives, and it's something I would have loved to read more about in detail. However, one of the other main focuses was the crime (which took a great opportunity to delve into this identity conflict). Sadly, while it started off strong, it simmered down after a while. Most of the inner monologue was about "solving the case", whilst this being more of a tell rather than show type of situation, as really, the characters find out almost by mistake. A bit anticlimactic, if you ask me.

Regardless, and as I said, I wasn't here for the crime case (and I think that if you look past that, the book makes "some" good statements/questionings about the current state of all forms of institutions and authorities-Church, police-as well as "some" but not all identities*-queerness, religion, gender) and so it didn't really matter to me whether it was solved in a satisfactory way. In fact, I believe that the resolution and identity of the perpetrator is rather ironic, and it makes a very bold statement. The writing, I might add, was easy to follow but also fabulously done, giving it its own unique atmospheric style.

In short, I believe this book might be your cup of tea if you're in for any of the aspects I mentioned above. If you want to read it because of the mystery case, I would recommend you to read something else. Alas, I very much enjoyed my time with it.

*Biphobia is present within the book

Thank you Zando Projects and Gillian Flynn Books for providing me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an advance copy of this title in exchange for honest feedback. Recommend for mystery/thriller fans.

I struggled to connect with this story and characters. It's told in my favorite format with dual timelines, which usually really builds the excitement in a story. But unfortunately this one was just not for me.
This cover though - I'll purchase for my bookshelf just for how gorgeous it is!

I adored the protagonist and learning how she found herself as an almost-nun music teacher. However, the plot didn’t come together for me and the relationships between the characters felt fake. I loved the idea of this more than what it ultimately is.

Sister Holiday is a chain-smoking, sex positive, heavily tattooed punk lesbian. She is also, among other things, a nun devoted to her religion and a teacher at the prestigious St. Sebastian's School, an elite Catholic institution in the heart of sultry, vibrant New Orleans.
To her, the school represents a sacred space where she has cultivated community, faith and been offered a chance at redemption from her bleak past. Thus, when a series of violent fires breaks out over campus, causing deaths and terrible damage, Holiday takes it upon herself- because fuck the cops and the govt- to solve the case and protect her home from the whims of the mysterious, sociopathic arsonist.
This was bad in a way that really let me down because come on, a lesbian nun detective? Inspired by Riot Grrrls and queer punk aesthetics?!? I was so ready for this to be amazing but everything about this book was just poorly done.
The writing style was very overtly descriptive 2013 grunge Tumblr: at one point a medic at the scene asks Holiday if her x-ray revealed damage and she thinks in reply "You have no idea how damaged I am" like???
Every character, be it student, family, faculty or the police on the case, is flat. They only have an assigned set of traumas which are frankly written in gratuitous detail. The stakes didn't feel high; I felt nothing for the casualities because they were not even real people to me, just names. (As for the grand reveal, it was so laughingly obvious from page 1 lmao.)
But the biggest weakness of this book is unfortunately Holiday herself, who is no Gillian Flynn heroine (despite the glowing blurb). She is arrogant, pompous and self righteous in the name of being a punk feminist. She physically and verbally assaults a disabled student, passes snide judgements on colleagues and strangers, pries into people's lives and tampers with evidence in the name of playing detective. She sees an interracial couple and immediately assumes the white husband is racist. She calls her bisexual partner confused (oh yeah, there is a cheating bisexual in the book).
Bad book, bad vibes and bad portrayal of punk feminism.

This book was okay, I didn't particularly connect to the main character, and the side characters were very underdeveloped, as someone who has to really be invested in the characters (I don't care if I like or hate them, but I have to feel something) this book fell a bit short for me.

This story was told both from the character's past and present. I personally found these changes to be jarring and difficult to understand at times.

I loved following Sister Holiday, the amateur sleuth. It brought me through the story in a way that was fresh and engaging. Definitely recommend this book!

Scorched Grace is the perfect mix of crime fiction and dark comedy. I just loved Sister Holiday, she is the most unique character I have come across recently and she really was a breath of fresh air - confident, sassy, brash and uncompromising but at the same time troubled, lonely and struggling to deal with her rocky history with both her family and her girlfriend. The mystery/crime kind of faded into the background for me compared to Sister Holiday and her personal storylines but it was still a really enjoyable read.