Return to Blood

From the author of Better the Blood, the gripping second novel in a crime series starring Maori detective Hana Westerman, in which the discovery of human bones in the dunes of New Zealand upends a long-ago murder conviction.

After the perils of a case that landed much too close to home, Hana Westerman turned in her badge and abandoned her career as a detective in the Auckland CIB. Hoping that civilian life will offer her the opportunity to rest and recalibrate, she returns to her hometown of Tata Bay, where she moves back in with her beloved father Eru. Yet the memories of the past are everywhere, and as she goes for her daily run on the beach, Hana passes a local monument to Grace, an old classmate, who was murdered more than twenty years ago and hidden in the dunes overlooking the sea. A Maori man with a previous record was convicted of the crime, although Eru never believed he was guilty.

When another young woman's skeleton is found in the sands, Hana soon finds herself in over her head again. Investigators suspect that this is Kiri Thomas, a young Maori woman who disappeared four years ago, after battling years of drug addiction. Hana and her daughter Addison are increasingly captivated by the story behind this unsolved crime, but without the official police force behind her, Hana must risk compromising her own peace and freedom if justice is to be served.

Full of vivid characters and startling revelations, Return to Blood is a winning continuation of the story of Hana Westerman.