Blackwater Falls

Inaya Rahman is stuck between two worlds. She’s a detective with the Community Response Unit of the Denver police department, which was created after 2020’s protests against police brutality. When she’s called to a horrific scene —a little girl, Razan Elkader, has been murdered and nailed to the door of the mosque where Rahman worships—she knows she can help, but she’s facing her usual problem: “too brown for the badge, too blue for her co-religionists.” She forges on, in private dealing with her family’s worries that the police force is too dangerous and her mother’s fretting that Inaya isn’t married yet. Outside forces are far less gentle: a biker gang affiliated with a local Evangelical church is far from happy that Syrian refugees have settled in the town and none too worried about bringing Razan’s murderer to light. Khan’s (Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty Mysteries, Khoran Archives Fantasy Novels) fast-moving but thoughtful series debut goes far beyond newcomers-vs.-racists tropes to look at real life in a changing town. Rahman is a tough, lovable and often funny protagonist who will appeal to fans of Joanna Schaffhausen’s Annalisa Vega.