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 the neighbouring island of Ovalau on a series of fool’s errands. First: investigate strange reports of lurking Germans, thousands of miles from the front lines of World War I. Second: chaperone two strong-willed European ladies, Mary and Katherine, on a sightseeing tour. And third: supervise the only police officer currently on Ovalau, a teenage recruit with a penchant for hysterics. Accompanied by his friend Constable Taviti Tukana, who has come to visit his uncle, a powerful chief Akal sets out to deal with these seemingly straightforward tasks. Instead, the two police officers become embroiled in a growing number of local controversies, among them the gruesome death of an unpopular shopkeeper and the imprisonment of a group of European sailors in Taviti’s uncle’s village. To add to Akal’s woes, Katherine, an aspiring journalist, harbours an agenda of her own. As tensions mount, will Akal be able to keep her and himself out of trouble?
