Murder at Cape Three Points

By Kwei Quartey

Accra’s hotshot Detective Inspector Darko Dawson returns to solve a complex mystery that will take him out of the city to the beautiful coasts of Ghana, where a grim double-murder seems to have larger political implications.

A canoe washes up at a Ghanaian off-shore oil rig site. Inside it are the bodies of a prominent, wealthy couple, Charles and Fiona Smith-Aidoo, who have been ritualistically murdered. Pillars in their community, they are mourned by everyone, but especially by their niece Sapphire. She is not happy that months have passed since the murder and the local police have made no headway in figuring out who committed the gruesome crime.

Detective Inspector Darko Dawson of the Accra police force is sent out to Cape Three Points to investigate. The more he learns about the case, the more convoluted it becomes. Three Points has long been occupied by traditional fishing populations, but real estate entrepreneurs and wealthy oil companies have been trying to bribe the indigenous inhabitants to move out. Dawson unearths a host of motives for murder, ranging from personal vendettas to corporate conspiracies.


From the Hardcover edition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Mar 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781616953904

Reviews for Murder at Cape Three Points

[thornton37814 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A woman asks for someone else to look into the deaths of her aunt and uncle when their murder remains unsolved after four months from local investigators. Darko Dawson is called from his son's surgical bed to return to investigate the murder. The woman's uncle and aunt were important in rearing her. Their bodies were found afloat in a boat near an oil platform off Cape Three Points. Both were shot, and her uncle was decapitated. Is it some sort of ritual killing? Is it business-related? Is it politically motivated? Is there a police coverup? All of these questions must be answered before Darko and his partner, the chief inspector's relative, resolve the crime. The Ghana setting makes this a very interesting series. Dawson is a likable, but flawed, detective. I listened to the audiobook read by Dominic Hoffman who does an acceptable but not outstanding job with the narration.

[cathyskye · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Once again author Kwei Quartey takes readers right into the heart of Ghana. As Dawson investigates, we see Ghanian home life, we sample the country's food, and we are shown the gaping divide between those who have money and power and those who do not. Darko Dawson is a complex character who grows with each book. He has a wife and children whom he loves dearly, but life can still throw temptation his way. Marijuana used to be his stress reliever, but he knows he must stay away from it. He's learning how to work well with his politically connected partner, and his partner is learning how to be a better detective by working with Darko. Dawson is walking a path we all must walk: he knows the life he wants to have, and he realizes that he's going to have to work to reach that goal.In this third book, Dawson's investigation takes him out of the city and into the environmental wonderland of the Cape Three Points area. But there is trouble even in this lush paradise. The area has long been inhabited by subsistence fishermen, but oil companies are dictating where they may and may not fish, and real estate entrepreneurs are trying to get the locals moved out as cheaply as possible. It's a situation ripe for a very long list of suspects, and Quartey works it very well. I particularly liked the way he brought locals (like a taxi driver) in as secondary characters to add even more texture to an already spicy tale. Kwei Quartey writes incredibly well about Ghana, about crime, and about the people he has created. If you're an armchair traveling sleuth like I am, I advise you to add him to your list of must-reads.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Murder at Cape Three Points by Kwei Quartey is the third book in his Darko Dawson series of crime investigations. Sent to look into the murders of wealthy Charles and Fiona Smith-Aidoo, who were discovered in a canoe that washed up near an oil rig. Charles Smith-Aidoo was in the oil business and had been in the process of trying to relocate an ecological resort to make room for oil industry workers accommodations. What Dawson has to figure out is whether this is a political murder, a financial murder or if it could possibly be a revenge murder involving family members. Before he’s through he find himself investigating three murders.This was a well thought out and researched story as with it’s pristine white beaches and turquoise ocean, Cape Three Points in Ghana is being slowly developed into a premiere tourist destination with both ecological and luxury resorts, added to this is the discovery of oil located off-shore in the same area making this a very important location both politically and financially. The author weaves his story around these facts and delivers an interesting, yet somewhat dry mystery. What kept the pages turning for me was the descriptions of a world that is perched between the future and the past. Corruption and development seem to go hand-in-hand in these emerging African countries.Although I did not find this book as engrossing as the previous one, I will certainly be picking up the fourth book as this author appears to have his fingers on pulse of Ghana and I enjoy learning about such a different culture.