I've told you a little about the fearsome Fijian warriors of pre-colonial times, but you might not know that their descendants punched well above their weight in the Pacific campaigns of World War 2. After their attack on Pearl Harbour, Japanese forces swept into parts of New Guinea and Solomon Islands, threatening islands further south and east and indeed, Australia and New Zealand. In response, the tiny Fiji Military Forces recruited more than 11,,500 volunteers, eager to a

In the last few weeks, I've been humbled by the generosity of readers who volunteered to read an advance proof of Death by Tradition, the second Fiji Islands Mystery, to be released in August. Eagle-eyed readers have reported misplaced commas, missing quotation marks and other slip-ups which I have now corrected. But it surprised me that several readers questioned my use of the adjective chiefly to describe the possessions, titles or behaviour of Fijian chiefs and their famil

How did a respectable Bostonian lady come to be living in a Fijian village in the 1840s? These were violent years of inter-tribal wars, when sailing ships brought foreigners, kaivalagi, intent on profit, religion or refuge from their own laws. The fate of the shipwrecked, like Inspector Horseman's ancestor, was almost always grim. Kaivalagi added fuel to conflicts which could flare up from the slightest perceived insult. In 1844 the barque Zotoff, out of Salem, Massachusetts