Soho
Published June 10, 2025
Reviewed by Barbara Fister
Sergeant Akal Singh, a Sikh policeman assigned to Fiji in 1915, is back after 2023’s series debut, A Disappearance in Fiji. Still assigned to the sleepy capital city of Suva, he’s amused when wet-behind-the-ears Constable Kumar reports from Levuka Station that rumors are flying about Germans approaching shopkeepers at the remote outpost. This seems highly unlikely, as Germans at war with the British in Europe would have little interest in such a minor colony on the other side of the world. But when his unpleasant English boss assigns him to escort the sister and niece of the local newspaper editor to Levuka, he also orders him to look for suspicious Germans – an insultingly pointless wild goose chase.
This all seems like a waste of time, but once Akal sets out with his trusted Fijian friend and colleague Taviti, he’s goaded by the extremely attractive niece, Katherine, who wants to become a reporter, to take her with him as he looks for German spies. Of course, that’s impossible: It would be against the social code for a young Englishwoman to spend time in the company of an Indian (as Akal knows all too well from his own scandalous past). She’s bitterly disappointed and pouts, but Akal is glad she’s not with them when he goes to interview the shopkeeper who first raised the alarm and find the shop has been ransacked and its owner has been murdered.
Though the most exciting (but unlikely) suspects would be the invading Germans, Akal soon learns the shopkeeper had plenty of local enemies. As he investigates, he has his hands full. He discovers that Katherine and her aunt have a mystery of their own to investigate. A second man, one who had given the police assistance, is found murdered. And a diplomatic crisis erupts when some Fijian warriors capture a group of Europeans who claim to be Norwegian. They are in trouble with the local chief, Taviti’s uncle. The seamen unwittingly killed and ate a turtle, violating a taboo. Only the chief is allowed to eat turtles. Though the British authorities would like to take the suspicious Europeans into their custody, the chief is unwilling to give them up – unless a Fijian held in prison for opposing colonial rule could be freed in exchange.
These plot threads are expertly woven together, adding in some humor, a dash of critique of British colonialism and English disparagement of their non-white subjects, a deepening of Akal’s personal background, and a fascinating cultural struggle as Taviti, who has mostly been a cheerful provider of local color and comic relief, wrestles with his divided loyalties. He is a police constable working for the British, but his people – led by the uncle who raised him – chafe under their rule.
Perhaps the most surprising plot twist is in the author’s note. A swashbuckling German captain who sank British ships in the Pacific during World War I did actually land in Fiji after a shipwreck, and claimed to be Norwegian when he and his men were apprehended. With that spark of history, and a respectful exploration of both the stories of indentured Indian laborers and an immersion in local Fijian culture, Rao has fulfilled the promise of her debut with a fascinating second act. Let’s hope there will be more.