Return to Blood

The riveting follow-up to the acclaimed crime debut Better the Blood. 

Having left Auckland's Central Investigation Branch, Hana Westerman and her daughter Addison have moved to the coast for a fresh start. But Hana is still haunted by her last case on the job, threatening the new life she is trying to build.
 
One morning, she discovers a skeleton in the dunes, the remains of a young Māori woman who went missing a decade before. Her death appears to be related to another killing from that time – a case Hana was instrumental in breaking. But this new discovery forces her to re-address the original conviction. Did she put away the wrong person for that murder? And, if so, why did they plead guilty?
 
No longer part of the CIB, Hana turns to her ex-husband Jaye to assist her reinvestigation. They start to uncover disturbing links between the two historic murders and a series of other disappearances in the intervening years – connections which might lead Hana back to Auckland’s police force and the darkness she has fought so hard to leave behind. And all the while Addison is being drawn into the world of the victim found in the sand dunes . . . and a potentially fatal collision course with her killer.
 
Praise for Better the Blood: 
 
'A compelling, atmospheric page turner with an authentic insight into Māori culture' Val McDermid
'A tensely plotted, gritty crime novel that has the courage to force us all to rethink our relationship with the past' Vaseem Khan
'Stunning . . . a gripping mystery, complex and memorable characters, and timely social and cultural commentary. Don’t miss it' David Heska Wanbli Weiden, author of Winter Counts