Review: Murder at Cape Three Points
Jul. 28th, 2017 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI enjoyed the third installment of Kwei Quartey's inspecter Darko Dawson series, Murder at Cape Three Points (2014). This one is set mostly in Takoradi (Ghana's third largest city) rather than Accra. The inspector is called to help another department (who doesn't want his help) to solve a four-month-old double-murder case.
I really like what one murder victim did when he realized his life was in danger. He gave a "pen drive" (aka memory stick) full of relevant information to his trusted housekeeper. She explained "He told me that if he dies, many different detective policemen will come to ask me questions, but only one will really care, and one day--he didn't know when--that one will come to see me and that I should give the pen drive to that one who cares, but to no one else."
I don't like that a certain lawyer keeps blocking his client and talking about how his time is being wasted even when the most terrible evidence appears against him, but just lets him ramble on when he starts confessing. I also don't know why there was a warrantless search. Though the first search with a warrant was interesting--the person getting searched was to be a witness to show that the police didn't plant anything on him. On American TV, I always see them getting rid of the person before searching the premises.
We learn a bit about the recent discovery of oil off the coast of Ghana; there's a fictional company that found oil in the same place and time as a company did in real life. The taxi driver says, "They say one day we will all see benefit, but I think they are telling us lies. Someone like me will never get any oil money. Only the oburonis, the white people, and those big businessmen and the ministers of parliament will get plenty money, buying Benzes and houses for their girlfriends. You watch. Just now when we get to the Raybow [a fancy hotel], you will see them--old men with young, young girls." Too bad--Norway was able to use their offshore oil to improve the whole country for everyone. But googling shows that much less oil was found off Ghana.
(Wikipedia says oburoni is the Twi word for foreigner and literally means person from beyond the horizon. "For most Ghanaians, an oburoni refers to any person with lighter skin or straighter hair than a dark skinned Ghanaian" as well as Americans of Ghanaian descent. And surprisingly the term is not derogatory!)
On oil rig safety: Before Dawson could interview anyone on the oil rig, he had to take a two-day safety course, the second day of which involved escaping from a cage dropped underwater. He was taken by helicopter and then issued a hard hat and steel-toed boots.
On fishing: Wood is getting expensive, so young fishermen often rent canoes. But there aren't as many fish as there used to be. Lights from the oil platforms attract the fish into an area where fishermen are not allowed (because they risk their nets getting caught in the equipment). "[B]y ancient tradition, the sea is a goddess who must rest one day a week. Why it was Tuesday in most fishing communities along Ghana's coast, Dawson did not know." And Monday is usually a big market day. (Why not Tuesday, I don't know.)
On eating: "Akosua brought a towel, soap, and two bowls of water to the table. She waited for the men to wash up before she followed suit. The three ate traditionally with the fingers of the right hand only. Like many, Dawson would tell you he loved fufu, but in fact it was really all about the soup. It provided the heavenly flavor as well as the lubricant."
On health care: It's available to those who can afford it, plus the government covers basic (low-cost) care. But some treatments cost too much even for the middle class.
On rural versus urban living: "To Dawson, born and bred in a frenetic city, village life seemed to move at a snail's pace, or to not move at all. It was peaceful, but how did the residents live without electricity and running water? Not that Accra didn't regularly have power and water failures, he though wryly. that was almost worse, in a way. These villagers didn't worry about electricity cuts because there was no electricity to be had."
On methods of murder (my favorite quote):
Nana [the chief] frowned. "Oh, no," he said firmly, shaking his head and appearing put out by the question. "That's not how we think here. You know, all this type of killing--shooting people and so on--belongs to the ways of the city. I'm not trying to offend you, Mr. Dawson..."
"It's no offense, Nana. What about juju or witchcraft?"
Ackah-Yensu [same chief] stared at the ground for a moment and then looked up to meet Dawson's gaze directly. "That one, I can't say. Since my time in Akwidaa, we have only had two witches. One was driven away to a witches' camp, and the other one was killed."
Ha, ha, no offense!
On rain and umbrellas: A thunderstorm in this area "put Accra's showers to shame, and to the surprise of Dawson and Chikata, everyone seemed to have large, colorful umbrellas at the ready. In Accra, your umbrella was the nearest building you could find." In fact, neither of the main two characters had ever used an umbrella before.
"After hitting a few puddles, the taxi stalled out, and Dawson and Chikata jumped out to push after the ignition failed several times. The car came to life again after a few shudders, and Baah kept the engine revved while the other two men hopped back in." Hah, can you imagine your taxi driver asking you for help in the US? Let alone just jumping out to help without being asked?
On the mbira: This is a musical instrument, sometimes described as a thumb piano but with many, many other names as well, which our detective plays. He made his own; can't find the reference anymore. In one scene he plays "a lively piece with a recurring rhythmic theme." Then one "with a different mood, ... more melodious, the notes blending with less of the traditional mbira discordance." I found one in action on YouTube. Though I like the sound better on Mugara Ndega by Thomas Mapfumo, a musician who increased the popularity of the mbira. Wikipedia (7/27/17) says, "Unlike stringed instruments or air-column instruments like flutes, the overtones of a plucked lamella are inharmonic, giving the mbira a characteristic sound." But also "The note arrangement of most mbira, with the notes in the scale ascending on the tines from the center outward in an alternating right-left fashion, results in chords being made by adjacent tines. When any tine is plucked, the adjacent tines also vibrate, and these harmonizing secondary vibrations serve a similar role to the harmonic overtones of a string instrument - they increase the harmonic complexity of an individual note."
I really like what one murder victim did when he realized his life was in danger. He gave a "pen drive" (aka memory stick) full of relevant information to his trusted housekeeper. She explained "He told me that if he dies, many different detective policemen will come to ask me questions, but only one will really care, and one day--he didn't know when--that one will come to see me and that I should give the pen drive to that one who cares, but to no one else."
I don't like that a certain lawyer keeps blocking his client and talking about how his time is being wasted even when the most terrible evidence appears against him, but just lets him ramble on when he starts confessing. I also don't know why there was a warrantless search. Though the first search with a warrant was interesting--the person getting searched was to be a witness to show that the police didn't plant anything on him. On American TV, I always see them getting rid of the person before searching the premises.
We learn a bit about the recent discovery of oil off the coast of Ghana; there's a fictional company that found oil in the same place and time as a company did in real life. The taxi driver says, "They say one day we will all see benefit, but I think they are telling us lies. Someone like me will never get any oil money. Only the oburonis, the white people, and those big businessmen and the ministers of parliament will get plenty money, buying Benzes and houses for their girlfriends. You watch. Just now when we get to the Raybow [a fancy hotel], you will see them--old men with young, young girls." Too bad--Norway was able to use their offshore oil to improve the whole country for everyone. But googling shows that much less oil was found off Ghana.
(Wikipedia says oburoni is the Twi word for foreigner and literally means person from beyond the horizon. "For most Ghanaians, an oburoni refers to any person with lighter skin or straighter hair than a dark skinned Ghanaian" as well as Americans of Ghanaian descent. And surprisingly the term is not derogatory!)
On oil rig safety: Before Dawson could interview anyone on the oil rig, he had to take a two-day safety course, the second day of which involved escaping from a cage dropped underwater. He was taken by helicopter and then issued a hard hat and steel-toed boots.
On fishing: Wood is getting expensive, so young fishermen often rent canoes. But there aren't as many fish as there used to be. Lights from the oil platforms attract the fish into an area where fishermen are not allowed (because they risk their nets getting caught in the equipment). "[B]y ancient tradition, the sea is a goddess who must rest one day a week. Why it was Tuesday in most fishing communities along Ghana's coast, Dawson did not know." And Monday is usually a big market day. (Why not Tuesday, I don't know.)
On eating: "Akosua brought a towel, soap, and two bowls of water to the table. She waited for the men to wash up before she followed suit. The three ate traditionally with the fingers of the right hand only. Like many, Dawson would tell you he loved fufu, but in fact it was really all about the soup. It provided the heavenly flavor as well as the lubricant."
On health care: It's available to those who can afford it, plus the government covers basic (low-cost) care. But some treatments cost too much even for the middle class.
On rural versus urban living: "To Dawson, born and bred in a frenetic city, village life seemed to move at a snail's pace, or to not move at all. It was peaceful, but how did the residents live without electricity and running water? Not that Accra didn't regularly have power and water failures, he though wryly. that was almost worse, in a way. These villagers didn't worry about electricity cuts because there was no electricity to be had."
On methods of murder (my favorite quote):
Nana [the chief] frowned. "Oh, no," he said firmly, shaking his head and appearing put out by the question. "That's not how we think here. You know, all this type of killing--shooting people and so on--belongs to the ways of the city. I'm not trying to offend you, Mr. Dawson..."
"It's no offense, Nana. What about juju or witchcraft?"
Ackah-Yensu [same chief] stared at the ground for a moment and then looked up to meet Dawson's gaze directly. "That one, I can't say. Since my time in Akwidaa, we have only had two witches. One was driven away to a witches' camp, and the other one was killed."
Ha, ha, no offense!
On rain and umbrellas: A thunderstorm in this area "put Accra's showers to shame, and to the surprise of Dawson and Chikata, everyone seemed to have large, colorful umbrellas at the ready. In Accra, your umbrella was the nearest building you could find." In fact, neither of the main two characters had ever used an umbrella before.
"After hitting a few puddles, the taxi stalled out, and Dawson and Chikata jumped out to push after the ignition failed several times. The car came to life again after a few shudders, and Baah kept the engine revved while the other two men hopped back in." Hah, can you imagine your taxi driver asking you for help in the US? Let alone just jumping out to help without being asked?
On the mbira: This is a musical instrument, sometimes described as a thumb piano but with many, many other names as well, which our detective plays. He made his own; can't find the reference anymore. In one scene he plays "a lively piece with a recurring rhythmic theme." Then one "with a different mood, ... more melodious, the notes blending with less of the traditional mbira discordance." I found one in action on YouTube. Though I like the sound better on Mugara Ndega by Thomas Mapfumo, a musician who increased the popularity of the mbira. Wikipedia (7/27/17) says, "Unlike stringed instruments or air-column instruments like flutes, the overtones of a plucked lamella are inharmonic, giving the mbira a characteristic sound." But also "The note arrangement of most mbira, with the notes in the scale ascending on the tines from the center outward in an alternating right-left fashion, results in chords being made by adjacent tines. When any tine is plucked, the adjacent tines also vibrate, and these harmonizing secondary vibrations serve a similar role to the harmonic overtones of a string instrument - they increase the harmonic complexity of an individual note."