Blood Betrayal: A Detective Inaya Rahman Novel -- Ausma Zehanat Khan, Hardcover

A complex and timely mystery, Blood Betrayal proves once again that Ausma Zehanat Khan is a writer at the peak of her powers.

"Inaya is a fabulous character."--New York Times Book Review, "Editor's Choice" on Blackwater Falls

In Blackwater Falls, Colorado, veteran police officer Harry Cooper is hot on the heels of some local vandals when the situation turns deadly: believing one of them has a gun, Harry opens fire and Duante Reed, a young Black man, is killed. The "gun" in his hands was a bottle of spray paint. Meanwhile, in nearby Denver, a drug raid goes south and a Latino teen, Mateo Ruiz, is also killed.

Detective Inaya Rahman is all too familiar with the name of the young cop who has seemingly killed Mateo: Kelly Broda. Kelly is the son of the police officer John Broda, who led a violent attack on her when they were both in Denver. No one is more surprised than Inaya when John turns up on her doorstep, pleading for her help in proving the innocence of his son.

With the Denver Police force spread thin between the two cases, protests on both sides of the cases begin. Inaya and her boss Lieutenant Waqas Seif have their work cut out for them to consider the guilt of the perpetrators and their victims. Harry was by all accounts an officer dedicated to the communities he served: was this shooting truly a terrible mistake? Duante was, to some, a street artist with no prior record, but to others, he was a vandal. Mateo was either in the wrong place at the wrong time, or a dangerous drug dealer. In either case, was lethal force truly necessary?

Forced to reckon with her own prejudices and work through those of her colleagues around her, Inaya must discover the truth of what really happened on one fateful night in Blackwater Falls.

Author: Ausma Zehanat Khan
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 11/07/2023
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.80h x 6.30w x 1.60d
ISBN: 9781250822406

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 06/01/2023 pg. 3
Publishers Weekly 09/25/2023
Kirkus Reviews 10/15/2023
Booklist 10/15/2023 pg. 25
Library Journal 10/23/2023 pg. 1