Hazel LeSage didn’t want to help the Augusts try to find out who killed their daughter Nell. Hazel’s worked hard all her life. She’s got no time for self-destructive, self-pitying victims like the Augusts. But Hazel saw Nell on the last night of her life and something in Nell’s eyes haunts her. She’s got to try. One night, in a dream, her Anishinaabe grandmother tells Hazel to go steal Spider, the big black dog she’ll find at the Humane shelter. So she does. Meanwhile, Hazel’s nephew Devin finds claw marks on an alley wall, one for each of three recent deaths. Devin’s discovery brings Hazel more questions. Who’s the hunter? Who are the hunted? Who is the mysterious girl called Rabbit? Why is Maengan Nolan suddenly in Amiskwaciy, too, getting cosy with Hazel’s firebrand eldest daughter Missy? Who’s watching Little Frankie, Hazel’s beautiful and brilliant younger daughter? What do a tiger and a lawyer have to do with it all? And what is that song on the wind? Part murder mystery, part ode to family, and entirely off the leash, Humane asks us all to consider, carefully, what it means to be human, and what it matters to be humane. “Like its métis characters, Humane straddles two worlds, following the contours of Western-based novel but infusing it with Indigenous storytelling and allegory. It’s a wonderful read, a significant addition to the canon of authentic Indigenous crime novel.” — Wayne Arthurson, author of the award-winning Leo Desroches novels Anna Marie Sewell, a member of Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation, is also Polish and Anishinaabe. Edmonton’s 4th Poet Laureate, she writes and performs in various genres and languages, and works in cross-cultural arts education; find out more about her work via prairiepomes.com