A Fair Cop

Louise Curragh slyly sees herself as the Queen of Munda. Leader of the local police, the 32-year-old New Zealand constable can exercise great authority. As the only person who carries a pistol in this part of the New Georgia Islands, once known for its marauding head-hunters, in theory Curragh has power in the way Mao envisaged it. She is usually flanked by two handsome Tongan colleagues and is greeted as Luisa or Madam wherever she goes. But the reason for Curragh's secret contentment is this: 6,000 km from her home in the Bay of Plenty, she has, to her surprise,...