"1914, Fiji: 25-year-old police sergeant Akal Singh would rather be anywhere but this tropical paradise. After a promising start to his career in his native India and in Hong Kong, he got sent to work in Fiji as punishment for a professional mistake he's too embarrassed to talk about. Lonely and humiliated, Akal longs for the day he can finally solve a big case and win the inspector-general's favor, thereby redeeming himself and being permitted to...

As the mistress of her brother's Missouri plantation, Miss Elizabeth Blair has learned to play her part as the perfect hostess - and to not ask questions about her brother Walker's business affairs. When Walker's political aspirations lead him to organize the Wildwood Guard in support of the Confederacy - and to offer his plantation as the center of operations - Libbie must gracefully manage a house with officers in residence and soldiers camped on...