Fire in the Tree

Toh-jay is a crafty, resourceful, and compassionate West African policeman. In Ghana, he was Inspector Toh-jay. The Ghanaians had sent Toh-jay to Japan to become an expert in judo. When they decided that they could do without foreigners in their police, he joined the national police force of his French-speaking home country. Although his new rank was the lesser one of Brigadier, his young colleagues continued to address him as "Inspector" out of deference to his age and respect for his experience. Toh-jay taught judo at the police academy while he was learning French. Finally, he had a modest command in a remote district. In these ten stories, he and his team of three police officers confront African mysteries, epidemics, a charlatan who wreaks havoc on his victims, disappearing children, corrupt and deluded politicos, reptiles that risk causing ethnic strife, a village dispute resolved by the "test of pain," an unwilling exile, a perplexing runaway, a lovers quarrel gone very wrong, and more.