The fourth installment of the Mas Arai mystery series and the precursor to Strawberry Yellow , Blood Hina is now in paperback for the first time. “Mas Arai is a wholly original sleuth―reluctant, curmudgeonly, and irresistible.” ― Nina Revoyr, author of Lost Canyon , Southland , and Wingshooters Mas Arai's best friend Haruo is getting married, and he has grudgingly agreed to serve as best man. But when the ancient Japanese doll display that belongs to Haruo's fiancée goes missing, the wedding is called off with fingers pointed at Haruo. To save his friend's life, Mas must untangle a web of secrecy, heartbreaking memories, and murder dating all the way back to the Japanese American detention centers of World War II and drug-running of the 1980s. Praise for the Mas Arai mysteries: “Mas Arai is a wholly original sleuth―reluctant, curmudgeonly, and irresistible. In Sayonara Slam , he delves into baseball, World War II, and the complex history between Japan and Korea, all while grappling with that most enduring mystery, love. Hirahara has created a story that’s both meaningful and great fun; you’ll be cheering until the very last play.” ― Nina Revoyr, author of Lost Canyon , Southland , and Wingshooters “Mas is a hyperobservant, methodical sleuth―a blend of Columbo and Hercule Poirot―but what makes this award-winning series shine is the way Hirahara takes readers inside her character’s head. A winner.” ― Booklist “Hirahara has crafted a pitch-perfect blend of mystery with threads of history… a pleasingly multi-layered mystery that is both entertaining and thought-provoking.” ― Craig Sisterson, Crime Watch “In a genre in which unusual amateur sleuths are the norm, Mas Arai is in a class by himself.” ― Oline Cogdill, Florida Sun-Sentinel and many other Tribune newspapers "Hirahara would seem to be telling the quiet story of a coming home, but it’s also a metaphorical ghost story ― the ghost images of the Japan Mas remembers, the atomic bomb and its far-reaching shadow, Mas’s dead friend, and a young boy whose body Mas discovers during his visit. The subsequent investigation launches a compelling plot, but the heart of the book, where it transcends its genre, is Hirahara’s moving exploration of the ways people are haunted.” ― The Los Angeles Daily News , which included Hiroshima Boy in their list of “5 Wonderful New Books for Southern California Readers” “I’ve always admired Naomi Hirahara’s Mas Arai. A brilliant, unique addition to mystery fiction from the very beginning, his character has straddled time, place, and culture, with roots in one of the most terrible acts of violence war has ever inflicted upon humanity....I am sure readers will come to love Mas for years to come―he is one of a kind.” ― Jacqueline Winspear, author of the New York Times –bestselling Maisie Dobbs mysteries DIV>Naomi Hirahara is the Edgar Award-winning and Anthony and Macavity Award-nominated author of the Mas Arai mystery series, including Strawberry Yellow , Snakeskin Shamisen , Gasa-Gasa Girl , and Summer of the Big Bachi . Her books have earned such honors as the Chicago Tribune ’s Ten Best Mysteries and Thrillers and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. The Stanford University alumna was born and raised in Altadena, CA, where her protagonist lives; she now resides in the adjacent town of Pasadena, CA. Blood Hina By Naomi Hirahara Prospect Park Books Copyright © 2013 Naomi Hirahara All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-938849-19-0 CHAPTER 1 And do you, Sutama Hayakawa, take this man to be your husband?" the minister asked, the third time that night. Mas Arai, his hands shaking and wet, wasn't going to miss his cue again. He pulled out the simple gold band from the pocket of his windbreaker and, pressing hard, as if he had captured a sand crab from a California beach, held it toward his best friend, Haruo Mukai. And then, before it could be successfully transferred to the groom, the ring slipped from his sweaty fingers and plopped into the fish pond below them. "Ah, oogoto !" screamed an old Japanese woman holding a clipboard and standing on a concrete walkway on the other side of the pond. "I think that koi is going to swallow it!" Before Mas could take any kind of action, Haruo's grandchildren had jumped into the pond, followed immediately by the grandchildren of Sutama, who was better known as Spoon. Fish tails of milky white and neon orange thrashed through the water in between soaked pant legs. Would Haruo's or Spoon's side of the family take the prize? Spoon, Haruo's pear-shaped bride, whose bulky sweater was no benefit to her ample oshiri, held onto the railing of the bamboo bridge, shell-shocked. Haruo, his skunk hair carefully arranged to cover the keloid scar on the left side of his face, tried to smile. "Howsu one more try, Mas?" * * * The wedding rehearsal was a disaster from the very start. Spoon showed up forty-five minutes late, saying her youngest daughter had taken