Fiji, 1915: when a purported sighting of Germans on the run from the Great War turns deadly, Sergeant Akal Singh reluctantly investigates in this vibrant follow-up to A Disappearance in Fiji. Sergeant Akal Singh, an unwilling transplant to Fiji, is just starting to settle into his life in the capital city of Suva when he is sent to Ovalau, a neighboring island, on a series of fool's errands. First, investigate reports of German soldiers in the area, thousands of miles from the front in Europe. Second, chaperone two strong-willed European ladies, Mary and Katherine, on a sightseeing tour. And third, supervise the only police officer currently there, an eighteen-year-old constable with a penchant for hysterics. Accompanied by his friend Taviti, who is visiting his uncle, the local chief, Akal sets off on these seemingly straightforward tasks. But he soon becomes embroiled in local issues: the gruesome death of an unpopular local and the imprisonment of a group of Norwegian sailors in Taviti's uncle's village. To add to Akal's woes, Katherine, the charming aspiring journalist, harbors an agenda of her own. Will Akal be able to keep her--and himself--out of trouble before anybody else gets killed? Nilima Rao's debut, A Disappearance in Fiji, was a critical darling and award-winner, ending up on multiple best-of-year roundups. This next installment in the Sergeant Akal Singh series has all the charm and sparkle of the first book, with even more fascinating historical insight into the realities of life on Fiji at the start of the twentieth century.
