A Shipwreck in Fiji (A Sergeant Akal Singh Mystery)
Twenty-six-year-old Akal Singh is an Indian police sergeant in the British colony of Fiji. In May 1915, he is ordered to travel from Fiji’s main island to the nearby island of Ovalau. There, he must investigate vague reports of Germans on the run. He will also escort two Australian female tourists who have undisclosed reasons for sightseeing in Ovalau. A native Fijian policeman, Taviti, goes along. Taviti’s close relative rules the main indigenous tribe on Ovalau. The routine tasks quickly turn deadly. Bodies of two locals brutally murdered turn up days apart. Taviti’s tribe captures European sailors with Norwegian papers. They might really be stranded Germans at war with the Brits and are also implicated in one of the murders. Taviti’s tribe won’t release the captured sailors to the Brits because they violated tribal law by killing and eating a sea turtle. Inter-island messages must travel by ship or carrier pigeon and thereby hamper communications with Singh’s superiors in Fiji’s capital. A mutual attraction develops between Singh and the younger Australian, Katherine. Beautiful Katherine yearns for a journalism career, and her curiosity helps find key clues in the murder investigations.
Singh, a humble and friendly Sikh, chafes against Europeans who mistreat all brown-skinned people. Imperious British superiors don’t appreciate his keen ability to make sense out of complicated and conflicting clues. Rao’s detailed portrayal of Singh’s and the Fijian people’s struggles against race and class prejudices laced with multiple murder mysteries makes for an engaging read. Her prose and dialogue are uncluttered by cumbersome or literary language and easy to follow. Author Notes explain the actual historical background from local tribal customs to European sailors stranded in Fiji. Highly recommended.
