Asak Singh, who is a Sikh and from Punjab, India, has been sent to work as a police officer on the South Pacific island of Fiji. Asak was a rising star in Hong Kong, but got into some trouble that led to his less-than-desirable new posting.
Fiji in 1914 is a hot, rainy place. Conditions are primitive.
Asak has his work cut out for him. He has to prove himself to his Australian and English bosses once again.
At first, it looks like Asak will have to try to do that by nabbing the so-called “Night Prowler,” who is scaring the women of the town of Suva, where he’s based. It’s a thankless job.
But then, an indentured servant, a woman named Kunti, goes missing from one of the island’s sugar cane plantations, and Asak is assigned to the case.
Fiji at the time was a colony of Britain. India was also part of the British Empire, and Indians on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder came to the island to indenture themselves as workers—“coolies”—on the plantations.
Life on the plantations is brutal. Maybe Kunti has simply left her husband and daughter behind in their forlorn “home,” in search of a better life. It looks like she’s run away with the overseer, who is rumored to have shipped out to Europe to join the British army. World War I has just begun. But Kunti’s husband says she’d never abandon her little girl, Divya.
Asak teams up with the genial and compassionate Dr. Holmes to trek out to the plantation. There he sees the workers’ horrible living and working situations, and even helps the physician with their medical care. Meanwhile, Asak confronts the plantation owner, Henry Parkins, and his haughty wife. With the help of some locals and his own solid detective work, he uncovers the truth about Kunti’s disappearance.
This debut novel features an interesting and likable detective with a compelling back story, as well as an intriguing setting. I was rooting for the turban-wearing, cricket-playing Asak throughout, and I’m looking forward to his next case.
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