Return to Blood by Michael Bennett

 

First Line: I'll start with that night.

 

After a case that had Hana Westerman turn in her badge and abandon her career in the Auckland CIB, she's in her hometown of Tātā Bay. Here, she works with her beloved father, Eru, teaching local teenagers how to pass their driving tests.

When Hana's daughter, Addison, finds a young woman's skeletal remains in the sand dunes overlooking the sea, Hana is reminded of a high school classmate who was murdered over twenty years ago and hidden in the very same dunes. In the earlier case, a Māori man was convicted of the crime although Hana's father Eru never believed he was guilty.

Hana also believes the convicted man was innocent, and she and Addison find this newest case compelling. Hana's determination that justice should always be served will be a bit tricky this time because she doesn't have official sanction from the police force to investigate. But this is a woman who refuses to back down, and she'll just have to be inventive... and careful.

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As in the first book, Better the Blood, Michael Bennett continues to immerse readers in Māori culture through his strong mysteries and compelling characters. In Return to Blood, Hana Westerman proves that, although she may have left the Auckland Police Force, she certainly hasn't stopped being a detective dedicated to the pursuit of true justice.

Helping her father teach local youth how to pass their driving tests is an important step to a brighter future for these young people, but it's not enough to keep Hana focused when a body is found on the beach. When the recent discovery is added to an old crime in which a man was unjustly convicted, there's no stopping her. Hana is one of those characters I can't resist cheering for even though her single-mindedness often puts herself and others in dangerous situations.

The occasional chapter in the voice of a young Māori woman named Kiri adds poignancy to the story as she tells us of her life gone wrong. Another thing that I admire about the hardcover edition of Return to Blood is the fact that the Māori words Bennett uses are explained right on the same page. I appreciated not having to flip back and forth to the back of the book to learn what the words meant.

There are many things to learn in Return to Blood. Hana's relationships with her father, daughter, and cousin. Her daughter's relationship with her best friend. Hana's true calling as a police officer. Then there's the mouth-watering mention of Samoan coconut cream doughnuts and Bennett's often lyrical language: "A kilometre further north along the coast the big trees start, their early morning silhouettes like a line of old men marching along in arthritic pain, vertebrae twisted and hunched by the centuries of wind." Story, setting, culture, character... I can't wait for the next book in this series. Whatever you do, don't deny yourself the pleasure of meeting Hana Westerman.

Return to Blood by Michael Bennett

ISBN: 9780802163059

Atlantic Monthly Press © 2024

Hardcover, 336 pages

 

Police Procedural, #2 Hana Westerman

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore.