This new series from Khan (A Deadly Divide) features Inaya Rahman, a member of Denver's Community Response Unit, a reform effort in response to police misconduct. Rahman is called in to a murder investigation in Blackwater Falls, at her own mosque, where the body of Razan Elkader, a teenage Syrian refugee, is found nailed to the door in the manner of a crucifixion. Rahman contends with traumatic memories of anti-Islam bigotry from her previous job, murky small-town politics that include a crooked local sheriff, a biker gang of white supremacists, and a xenophobic megachurch. The approach of exploring post-reform policing feels fresh, but the members of the Community Response Unit fall into traditional habits of fictionalized hero cops, making the idea feel a bit like a missed opportunity. The complexities Rahman grapples with—balancing her identity as a Muslim woman alongside her role as a police officer—give the book added texture; that depth may carry readers when some of the plot development and character relationships feel clunky. VERDICT Readers who enjoy a meatier mystery that grapples with contemporary themes, along the lines of a James Lee Burke thriller, will find much to admire.—Jon Jeffryes

Though immigrant girls have long been disappearing in Blackwater Falls, CO, frantic calls to investigate are ignored until the bloodied body of star Syrian student Razan Elkader is found laid out ceremoniously at the mosque. Now Det. Inaya Rahman and Lt. Waqas Seif of the Denver Police are in charge, launching a new series from the author who gave us Det. Esa Khattak. With a 60,000-copy first printing.

Though immigrant girls have long been disappearing in Blackwater Falls, CO, frantic calls to investigate are ignored until the bloodied body of star Syrian student Razan Elkader is found laid out ceremoniously at the mosque. Now Det. Inaya Rahman and Lt. Waqas Seif of the Denver Police are in charge, launching a new series from the author who gave us Det. Esa Khattak. With a 60,000-copy first printing.

At the start of this stunning series launch from Khan (the Esa Khattak series), the corpse of high school student and Syrian refugee Razan Elkader is found nailed to the door of a mosque in Blackwater Falls, Colo. Lt. Waqas Seif of the Community Response Unit, a small team assigned to cases involving vulnerable and minority groups, selects detective Inaya Rahman for the investigation, her first hands-on case since moving to Blackwater six months earlier. Rahman discovers that two Somali girls who were friends of Razan's disappeared months before, but were dismissed as runaways by Blackwater's powerful sheriff, who's known to mistreat minorities. Though the girls' bodies haven't been found, Rahman fears they too may be dead. Activist-attorney Areesha Adams and criminal psychologist Catalina Hernandez offer Rahman both support and assistance as the investigation leads to the aerospace company at which Razan had interned, the meatpacking plant that employs the three girls' fathers, and an anti-Muslim evangelical church. When Seif unexpectedly starts to oppose Rahman's efforts, she wonders whether he has an agenda other than solving the crime. Khan brilliantly depicts the complexities of her characters and the tensions of a multicultural American community struggling with bias, fear, and corruption. At once suspenseful, moving, and thought-provoking, this is not to be missed. Agent: Danielle Burby, Nelson Literary. (Nov.)