Novelist publishes book about Samoan detective

“I wanted to use everything I’ve learned about Samoa. I didn’t want to write my memoirs. I wanted to explore the clash between the American culture and the Samoan culture so it seemed like it would be a good idea to use the all-American genre of the procedural detective story. We pretty much invented it” – Author John Enright

Author John Enright recently published his latest novel, “The Dead Don’t Dance.”

The novel is the third in Enright’s “Jungle Beat” series, which follows the exploits of Samoan Detective Sgt. Apelu Soifua. Enright lived and worked in American Samoa for 26 years before moving to Jamestown seven years ago.

In the first two books of the series, “Pago Pago Tango” and “Fire Knife Dancing,” the action was set on the main Samoan island of Tutuila. Enright said he wanted a fresh locale for his character, so he moved the detective to the small island of Ofu. He gave him a personal reason for being there: the death of his young daughter from a disease that would have been curable in the United States, and the subsequent dissolution of his marriage.

“I wanted to use everything I’ve learned about Samoa,” Enright said. “I didn’t want to write my memoirs. I wanted to explore the clash between the American culture and the Samoan culture so it seemed like it would be a good idea to use the all- American genre of the procedural detective story. We pretty much invented it.”

According to Enright, who had never finished a novel before “Pago Pago Tango,” the character of Soifua just “showed up.”

His first name is derived from the Samoan name for the biblical character Abel. Soifua means good health and happiness in the Samoan language, and is used as a farewell and greeting.

“It’s kind of a joke in a way because Abel was killed so he’s obviously not in good health. It’s kind of an ironic twist.”

The backstory of Enright’s central character is that he grew up on Tutuila, and when he was 12 years old he moved with his family to San Francisco, a common voyage for Samoans. He went to Mission High School in San Francisco where he played football, and then became a police officer. After a number of years in America, Soifua returned to Samoa to take care of his dying father. By that time he had a wife and one child. When “Pago Pago Tango” begins, Soifua has been back in Samoa for 10 years, has three more children, and is a detective sergeant for the Samoan police.

“One of the basic concepts of the books is that he’s got one foot in San Francisco, and the other in a flip-flop in Samoa. He knows what Western police work should be like, but he’s in Samoa where those rules don’t apply. So he has to balance between the two cultures. It gives me a chance to comment on Samoan culture.”

While “Pago Pago Tango” chronicled the clash between native Samoans and American expats living in Samoa, and “Fire Knife Dancing” addressed the conflict between the Samoan government and the government of the United States, “The Dead Don’t Dance” looks at conflicts within the Samoan culture. (American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States.)

When Soifua’s daughter dies and his wife leaves him, the detective loses himself in drink, and seeks escape on the island of Ofu.

Trouble finds him when surveyors show up in the island paradise, some of which is a national park. It soon becomes clear that outside developers have plans to build a resort on the edge of the park. Tension arises between the powers of the past and the would-be despoilers of the land, and nasty business ensues.

During his time in Samoa, Ofu was Enright’s favorite place to visit. It’s a volcanic island of only a few square miles, and at the time had only about 300 residents. Enright spent as much time as he could there, learning about the island’s history and its legends, and those legends loom large. Samoans consider the island to be haunted and those who aren’t from there won’t visit.

“Here was all the material I would need for the next book. No need for invention, just description and transcription, with some manipulation.”

Enright has already written the fourth novel in his series. The title is “Blood Jungle Ballet,” and it will be published before the end of the year. All four of the novels were written in Samoa, and further entries in the series are planned. Since he moved to Jamestown, Enright has written four more novels, as yet unpublished. One of the novels is historical fiction set in Samoa in 1920. The other three are part of another series in which the protagonist is a character named Dominick.

“Dominick is a homeless person, but a very wealthy homeless person, and he only stays with very wealthy friends. He gets involved in their problems and since he’s the outsider, he ends up being a suspect.

He’s a total loner who gets sucked into situations and then has to get out of them.”

The new series moves around in terms of locations. The first of the Dominick books is set on an island in Rhode Island that’s across the bay from a town called New Jerusalem. The second book takes place in upstate Hudson, N.Y., and the third in Hawaii, where Enright also lived for a time.