The protagonist of this novel, Sister Agnes, has a complex back story. She was not always involved in religious life. Agnes was married to an abusive man and came to the church some time after this relationship ended.

Agnes now is involved with a homeless shelter. A woman comes there looking for her husband, Jay. He seems like a bad boy. What happened to him?

In further complications, what was the cause and reason for a fire in a church? How will events come together? And, to add to the mayhem, what about that chalice? Find out and follow the somewhat rebellious sister (Agnes) who investigates. Readers are given a complex and thrilling story in these pages.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Meticulously Plotted..
The eighth outing in the Sister Agnes series of mysteries and another nicely crafted and meticulously plotted mystery. Agnes is, of course, no traditional nun but this time will she be able to get to the bottom of a particularly perplexing crime? Steeped in atmosphere, character driven and with a solid mystery at its very heart, this is another wholly worthy addition to this superlative series.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'A Poisoned Chalice' by Alison Joseph

OMG Alison, Where On Earth have you been hiding all of my life?!?! How have I never read any of your books so far when you are this blooming amazing?!! Well, I am just so glad I have resolved that problem, and that now while I am waiting for your next book, which is guaranteed to be amazing even if it is just a quarter as good as this book, I can read your previous books while I am waiting! I mean SERIOUSLY!?!? A KICK BUTT NUN AS A PROTGANIST!! NOT ONLY UNIQUE BUT ABSOLUTELY EPIC!!!

OMG!!! SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!! WHAT HAVE I JUST READ!?!?!? Alison Joseph you lady are an absolute crime writing legend!!!

Wow!!! Well fair play the first thing I must say is congratulations to Alison on an absolutely HUGE success!! Absolutely blooming fantastic!! I never did work out what was happening and that is quite a feat considering it is quite hard to shock me now that I have read so many suspense and thrillers yet I never did see any of those mind blowing twists coming!! Anyway on with my review....

This book is fantastically written with vivid descriptions that absolutely grip the readers attention and puts them right in the middle of it all feeling the hair raise on your arms and feeling the sweat run down your back. The cover is absolutely stunning and if that doesn't make you want to get absorbed into this page turner the synopsis definitely will!!!

I am not usually a fan of reading books out of order but once I seen this I could not help but read it!! There is a positive side to reading books out of order though and that is I can now go back and read the first seven books in this series and get to know Agnes and the rest of the characters from the start!! An absolutely fantastic page turner by this brilliant new author to me and I am so glad I have discovered her so I can get stuck into her previous books!! This book has got to be one of the most heart racing books I've read in a long time!!! It had me hook, line and sinker from the first page and I could not put it down!!! Every time I said one more chapter it ended on a cliff-hanger and I just had to know what was going on!!! If you are going to read this then clear your day because it is truly unputdownable. I started this one afternoon and finished it at approx. 2am in the morning, I read it in one sitting and although I'm knackered today it was 1000000% worth it!!! In this incredible novel we meet Neave who turns up at the hostel for homeless young people where Sister Agnes works. Neave is looking for her partner Jason who had actually murdered Neave's previous partner Reece but he served his time and is now with Neave but he has gone missing. Later Daniella who is Jason's sister and her partner Aiden turn up looking for Jason. Sister Agnes explains that he isn't there and that they could not have taken him anyway but later speaks to Father Julius who she thinks knows Jason. Father Julius denies knowing Jason but later that night the derelict church St Bruno's is found burning and it is the same church where Julius received old artefacts that had been found in the same from. When Jason's body is then pulled out of the burning building and the safe is found to have been prised open Julius starts acting strangely and speaking about the lost Judas Chalice. Sister Agnes is determined to get to the bottom of why Jason was in St Bruno's and who set it on fire. Can she find out before any one else dies? is Sister Agnes putting herself in danger digging around? Grab your copy of this absolutely gripping and addictive page turner and I promise that you will not regret it!! I cannot promise that you will not get hooked and then have to go out and get every other book in this series though!! As that is something I will most definitely be doing soon!! With an addictive storyline ram packed with mystery, crime, tension, suspense, twists, history, uniqueness, secrets and absolutely everything you could ask for in an explosive book and series what on Earth are you waiting for?? With explosive twists that I was not expecting it makes a nice change as after reading hundreds of crime and psychological thrillers it is getting harder and harder to surprise me so a MASSIVE well done Alison!!! Grab your copy of this absolutely epic page turner today!! I can promise that you will NOT regret it!!! A true page turner, this book is absolutely compelling with an addictive storyline that kept me guessing throughout. I was continuously questioning who was doing what!! Alison's vivid and evocative writing talents ensures the reader is sucked deep into the storyline and is left with their heart pounding! I just could not put my kindle down Filled with suspense, explosive bombshells, unique characters and tension this book is one must read psychological thriller!! Congratulations Alison on an absolutely brilliant and unique storyline that I just could not put down!! I cannot wait to get stuck in to your previous and future books!!

Clear your schedules and get ready to get sucked into an intriguing, page turning psychological thriller by an extremely talented author!!!


Although this is the eighth book in the series I would had absolutely no problems reading it without the others. Any details or events that have previously happened are mentioned in just the right amount of detail to let a new reader know what has happened and yet not too much to bore a previous reader.

The characters were very realistic, multi layered and well rounded and again their personalities reflected the storyline and how they would act, etc perfectly. I mean the fact that our protagonist is a nun is just brilliant and the first time I have ever come across a book with a nun as the main character!! The best thing is though that Sister Agnes is definitely NOT your every day run of the mill nun though!! She became a nun after escaping a violent marriage, wears everyday clothes and likes to enjoy a glass or more of Prosecco with her best and wealthy friend Athena. Alison's exceptional descriptions gave a really good in depth view of how the characters were feeling and what they were thinking. Several of the characters were complex and each seemed to be hiding their own secrets which leaves you questioning who is telling the truth and who can be trusted. Every character had their own unique personalities with individual flaws, quirks, secrets, strengths and weaknesses!! They were all very well developed, unique and thanks to Alison's fantastic evocative writing skills they all came to life before my eyes. That is all I will say as I don't want to run the risk of dropping any hints or spoilers. However, whether you love or hate these characters, they all have their own strong unique personalities and they all bring the story to life playing their roles perfectly.

An absolutely HUGE SUCCESS by this extremely talented author. This is EXACTLY why I would like to welcome you to my favourite authors club Alison Joseph and here is to your next guaranteed success 🥂!!

Overall a page turning addictive thriller that will have your heart racing and keep you hooked throughout!

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Neave turns up at the young people’s homeless hostel where Sister Agnes works, looking for Jason Sorrell, her partner who has gone missing. It transpires he has served time for murdering Neave’s former partner Reece, something she says she was very grateful for. The police have already asked Agnes about the missing man. Then Reece’s sister Daniella and her partner Aiden also come looking for Jay. There’s certainly no love lost between Daniella and Neave. Agnes can’t understand why everyone thinks Jay would have come to the shelter, after all they couldn’t have taken him in. She mentions it to Father Julius, her old and trusted friend from St. Simeons and suspects he knows Jay, something he denies. That night, the old church of St Bruno’s, now derelict and where some old artifacts were found in the safe and given to Julias recently, goes up in smoke and shockingly, Jay’s body is pulled from the ashes. Julius is acting very strangely and when Agnes probes him, he mentions the lost Judas chalice, said to offer absolution from sin to anyone who drank from it on Maundy Thursday. The safe had been prised open. Was someone still searching for it when an arsonist struck? Why was Jay sleeping in the crypt? Why was he killed? Are all these recent events purely random or is there another challenging mystery for Agnes to solve? She learns about old families and former priests but with so many ghosts returning from the past, there seem to be so many more dark buried secrets to be revealed if she is to save an innocent man.
There’s a lot to like in this cosy murder mystery story which features a modern day and very practical nun as the lead character. It’s book eight but works fine as a standalone as very little knowledge of any back history is needed to enjoy the intriguing and clever plot that mixes present crimes with those of the past. Agnes has a superb best friend in Athena with whom she shares her thoughts and some much needed downtime and DS Rob Coombes not only proves a great ally but also has the sense to realise the importance of Agnes, someone people open up to when they won’t deal with the police. Altogether this is a great and engrossing story and I do hope Agnes will be back soon.

Alison Joseph was able to create a unique mystery novel, it had that feel that I was looking for and enjoyed the mystery of this book. I thought the characters were well done in this universe and was engaged with the mystery going on. I enjoyed the twists going on and left me wanting to read more.