Detective Sergeant Apelu Soifua spent seven years in the San Francisco Police Department, where the job was just a job and solving crimes required cool detachment. But back home on American Samoa, life is personal—especially for a cop. Because on a small island where no one is a stranger and secrets are widely known but never discussed, solving crimes requires a certain…finesse. Here, Apelu must walk the line between two cultures: Samoan versus American, native versus new. And that gulf never yawns wider than when a white family’s home in Pago Pago is burglarized. And what appears to be a simple, open-and-shut case turns out to anything but. As the evidence piles up, Apelu follows a tangled trail between cultures, dead bodies, hidden codes, and a string of lies on his hunt for the ugly truth buried at the heart of paradise. Set against the steamy backdrop of the Samoan jungle, this thoughtful whodunit introduces a memorable new gumshoe to the ranks of detective fiction.

Samoan detective Apelu Soifua lives on the knife edge of two disparate cultures, navigating a perilous dance between native and new that, over the years, has landed him in his fair share of trouble. So when a routine patrol on a remote jungle estate uncovers an inter-island smuggling ring, it doesn’t take long for Apelu to realize there’s more than just cigarettes and bootleg CDs at stake. Someone in Apelu’s corner of paradise is trafficking humans—and they won’t think twice about setting up a cop to take the fall. Now Apelu stands accused of murder, and his only shot at proving his innocence is to go AWOL from his job and his wife until he can unearth the truth. Hunted by the police, his only ally is a young American widow whom he quickly discovers is anything but what she seems. Apelu knows he’s playing with fire—but can he unmask a killer before he gets burned?

A haunted island brings American Samoan culture to life—and interlopers to their deaths—in this mystery from the author of Fire Knife Dancing . After the devastating loss of a loved one, Det. Sgt. Apelu Soifua retreats to the island of Ofu. The isolation of his father’s land—and drinking—bring a temporary peace to his shattered soul. His only friends are two national park workers and the local outcast who has lived in the bush for nearly twenty years—and who has to scared some palangi (Caucasian) surveyors away. But not for long . . . Attempting to heal at least part of his family—and himself—Apelu brings his oldest son, Sanele, to live with him. But their reunion is marred by the news that a company intends to build a resort hotel on the pristine To’aga beach. The locals know the island spirits have driven people away before—and they will again. When one of the developers is decapitated and his head goes missing, Apelu has a feeling that something has been awakened. And either human or supernatural, it won’t stop until it gets what it wants . . . “A skillful, suspenseful novel.” — The Providence Journal “The author’s lyrical and factual evocation of Samoa enriches every part of the book it touches. Story, writing style, character, and culture all combine in John Enright’s Jungle Beat mysteries to form a series that I just can’t recommend highly enough.” — Books

A disquieting string of murders terrorizes the remote, lush island of Samoa. Detective Sergeant Apelu Soifua has seen a lot in his time with the police force, but even he is unsettled by the bodies that have started piling up. At first, the murders don’t seem connected—a local transvestite found castrated and brutalized, a visiting politician who drops dead on the dance floor, a prison guard and an inmate who kill each other—but as Apelu works with the hospital’s new medical examiner to find out who is behind the killings, a disturbing pattern emerges. And the closer they get to the killer, the more destructive he becomes. Can they put the pieces together before Apelu becomes the next victim?