Colonial New Guinea, 1906. A small group of mostly German nudists live an extreme back-to-nature existence on the remote island of Kabakon. Eating only coconuts and bananas, they purport to worship the sun. One of their members, Max Lutzow, has recently died, allegedly from malaria. But an autopsy on his body in the nearby capital of Herbertshöhe raises suspicions about foul play.
Retired British military police officer Will Prior is recruited to investigate the circumstances of Lutzow's death. At first, the eccentric group seems friendly and willing to cooperate with the investigation. They all insist that Lutzow died of malaria. Despite lack of evidence for a murder, Prior is convinced the group is hiding something.
Things come to a head during a late-night feast supposedly given as a send-off for the visitors before they return to Herbertshöhe. Prior fears the intent of the "celebration" is not to fete the visitors-but to make them the latest murder victims.
"McKinty's gift for storytelling is evident as he creates a society that lives entirely on coconuts and bananas and rejects procreation even as their numbers are dwindling. Set in 1906 and based on a true story, his fascinating tale is rich in detail, and there's a most unexpected hero."
"The characters and setting are phantasmagorical.
Prior is one of McKinty's compelling, conflicted heroes: a sane man in an
insane world. Gerard Doyle, whose narration of McKinty's magnificent Troubles trilogy
set the standard for Irish audiobook mysteries, does a good job with the
German, Melanesian, and English people who populate McKinty's departure from
Ireland. Doyle's performance is always clear and well-paced...A good ride in a
memorable location."
"In the early twentieth century, British lieutenant
Will Prior is so traumatized by an inadvertent massacre at a South
African prison camp, an incident for which he is highly decorated, that
he plots his way out of the army and travels to New Guinea. Here, his
military police service behind him, he lives contentedly with his
servant girl. Then, in 1906, he's asked to investigate a curious death
on the nearby island of Kabakon, populated by the Cocoivores, a small
group of Western followers of August Engelhardt, who worships the sun by
going naked and eating only coconuts...That the story of
the Cocoivores is true makes it all the more fascinating and an
intriguing frame for this entertaining and unusual historical mystery."
