The Language of Secrets

Finished June 12
The Language of Secrets by Ausma Zehanat Khan

This is the second novel in the series featuring Detective Esa Khattak and his partner Rachel Getty. Here Khattak has been called in by the RCMP's INSET team, the national security team. INSET has been investigating a group they believe to be planning an attack on a number of public targets within the Toronto area, and their inside man has been murdered. Khattak is asked to head the murder investigation in such a way as to not reveal INSET's investigation. The dead man, Mohsin Dar, is an estranged friend of Khattak's, and he is determined to investigate fully while staying within his parameters.
The man he is to report to within INSET, his old team, is a man who resents Khattak's successes, and who makes no secret of his feelings. As Khattak and Getty move forward with the investigation, Getty in an undercover role, they learn that Khattak has been involved in ways they didn't expect. Getty is worried about the civilians that may be hurt if things go badly, and also increasingly aware of the prejudices against Khattak.
As with her first book, The Unquiet Dead, this book explores the diversity of culture within religion, and the ways in which that culture expresses itself, in language such as poetry, and in interpretation of language in ways of peace and of revenge. Khan's experience as a human rights lawyer informs her writing and makes the mystery more complex.
I also enjoy the way personal lives of the characters come into it, with both Getty's and Khattak's families, Getty's love of hockey, and Khattak's of poetry. I look forward to more books in this series.