Next up for intrepid gumshoe Darko Dawson — big oil and intrigue in Ghana

All is not as pleasant as it seems beside the teal green ocean and plunging cliffs of Ghana's third city, Takoradi. 

Big oil has arrived and along with it a gruesome killing. 

That's the setting for Murder at Cape Three Points, the third installment in the series by Ghanaian American author Kwei Quartey. 

Once again we're rooting for gallant detective Darko Dawson as he confronts petroleum profits, real estate moguls and unsolved crimes.

"One of the things I tackle in my novel is what happens when people want to make use of this area for real estate development, and luxury hotels and the like," Quartey says. 

And no one can accuse Quartey of not doing his homework. To prep for one of the scenes involving a trip out to an offshore oil rig, Quartey endured the rigors of Helicopter Underwater Escape Training — or HUET — as it's known in the biz. 

"Darko goes through it in the novel and I felt like it was only fair that I go through it myself," Quartey says. " The final stage is to immerse the cabin completely in water and then flip it over 180 degrees.  And then you have to get out by pushing your window out and escaping to the surface."

Apparently it's not that easy. 

"I just totally got so disoriented and freaked that I completely lost my bearings," Quartey says. "Darko did a lot better than I did."

Asked if his fictional police detective can single-handily keep Ghana from going down the tubes, Quartey is opaque. "If that does happen, we know there'll be a murder there somewhere, and Darko will be there to solve it."

For hardcore Darko fans, and newcomers as well, this is a page-turner.