Blood Hina: A Mas Arai Mystery Novel - Japanese-American Detective Story | Perfect for Mystery Lovers & Book Club Discussions

Reading the Mas Arai series by Naomi Hirahara has been a transforming experience. I have been immersed in the Nissei community of Southern California since the 1980s, and have known so many characters who roughly fit with the characters she brings and develops in this series; there are several common histories present in the group (those that went to internment camps – including how the camps differed, those who answered ‘no-no’, those American citizens who were in Japan during the War, those who fought for the Americans during the War and those who did not, and of course their descendants), of course individual personalities and histories, and characters from Japan. She develops the central characters in the book in very creative ways, and we can follow their lives – the people in the book are “real”. On top of all that, these are page turning crime dramas! It is a cliché, but you really can’t put these down. There is no better way to view a passing culture that so many have never understood, and from which many younger people came from - than this series. And it is phenomenal entertainment besides! One of the best crime narratives of the series...