“Forgive me, Lord, but this shit’s getting old. If there’s a snake in the grass, mow that fucker down.”

It’s really, really hard to follow a battleaxe of a novel like the first in this series, “Scorched Grace” but damnit Douaihy tried! In “Blessed Water” readers are reintroduced to our favorite (possibly only) ex-punk, tatted-up and chain-smoking queer nun, Sister Holiday, and are once again pulled abruptly into a cozy noir mystery. Faster than you can fire off a Hail Mary, someone’s dead and Holiday’s on the case but this time as a moonlighting as a PI (my personal dream.) Similar to its sister novel, “Blessed” is chock full of philosophical, sometimes melodramatic, but always deeply human musings that offer vulnerability and a refreshing spin on classic noir protagonists. Toss in a hell of a storm and some dysfunctional family dynamics and it’s a party!

The plot felt a little hastily put together and rang more flat than the novel prior. I can’t tell if this is because of how quick this read was, with far less locale description and more character ponderings. Regardless, I’m really excited to see where this series goes.

4/5 “Hail Mary, full of grace. Help me check myself before I wreck these fuckfaces.”