A Shipwreck in Fiji by Nilima Rao continues the saga of Akal Singh, an East Indian police officer sent to Fiji in 1915. When he is sent to the neighboring island of Ovalau to escort two white ladies and also to see if there is any truth to the rumors of Germans hiding in the jungle. Rao writes a very good story while teaching about Fijian history and her characters make one really care about what happens next. I hope there are many more books to come.

In her second book in the Akal Singh series, Nilima Rao has matched or exceeded the excellent impression of her first mystery, Disappearance in Fiji. In A Shipwreck in Fiji, Akal Singh is sent to the island of Ovalou to accompany two British ladies, Mary and Katherine in order to help them clear the house of an uncle who has died. They have also assigned themselves to look for the grave of the uncle's wife who died from an early childbirth. Mary, and Katherine, in particular, seem unruffled by the small community of Ovalau. Katherine is full of curiosity and excitement about being on the island since they are residents of Suva, the capitol, and the environment of a small village, once the capitol of Fiji, presents an antidote to the bigger and busier town. Eventually, Dr. Holmes travels from Suva to examine the Indian victims of two brutal murders as Akal and Taviti try to identify the culprit.

The story, which takes place at the beginning of WWI, has a rich cast of characters, and Rao does an excellent job of including cultural and cross-cultural locations in the village of Levuka. Taviti, a native of the village and the nephew of the chief, shows Akal and the ladies local places of interest. Rao also explains the process of indentured servitude that eventually brought tens of thousands of Indians to work in the cane fields for five years or more. Other, more educated Indians also come to teach children or assist in other ways.

Most of the characters in the book are fictional, but two, Apolosi Nawai, a political prisoner, and Count von Luckner, a German who is masquerading as a friendly Norwegian. The friendship between Akal and Taviti mirrors the present day mix of Indians and Melanesians in Fiji, and it presages the somewhat complicated history of Fiji.

The environment of Fiji, the landscape of the island of Ovalau, and the geography of the various islands in the country is finely drawn. The mystery of the deaths that take place is cleverly explained, and the reader is kept engaged by the plot and secrets of the various characters. The book is fast-paced and compelling. I look forward to the next book featuring Akal Singh.

I was so excited when I was able to request a prepublication eARC through NetGalley. I enjoyed the first book about Sergeant Akal Singh, and in my opinion, this second series entry, set in Fiji during World War I, was even better, in part because the focus was more on the mystery and less on Rao's backstory, although needed details were effortlessly woven into the story, as were historical and cultural details. I am already waiting for the next series entry.

After thoroughly enjoying "A Disappearance in Fiji," I was extremely pleased to find that Nilima Rao is expanding into a full series. And "A Shipwreck in Fiji" immediately proved to be an absolutely wonderful follow-up that possesses the exact same charm of its predecessor. Simply put, I found it to be a wonderful blend of cozy mystery, and my personal favorite kind of historical fiction - one that takes me to a particular time and more specifically, a place that I've yet to travel to before, and allows me to experience it at a depth I never would have previously imagined. I'm already greatly looking forward to the third book in the series (and hopefully, more in the wake after that).