A DARK NIGHT OFFSHORE: A DEIRDRE O'HARA FILE. Gagnon, Maurice. London (Eng.), Collins, c1986. 189pp. cloth, $18.95, ISBN 0-00-231933-0. Distributed by Collins Canada. CIP Grades 9 and up Reviewed by Ted Monkhouse Volume 15 Number 1 1987 January After Gagnon's The Inner Ring (Collins, 1985), comes this next whodunit, which takes place on the waters in and around Newfoundland. "Twenty-five innocent seamen's lives are sacrificed" in "a nearly perfect crime" on an oil tanker, supposedly fully loaded. After the tanker is mysteriously scuttled by the captain and some crew members, an empty lifeboat is found and, along with a private log, leads to the undoing of the guilty by the insurance broker's female lawyer. These bad guys seem less intelligent than the norm. Although a person should never take such recreational reading seriously, the reader regrets never satisfactorily meeting the bad guys. Presumption of guilt is seldom questioned, leaving no mystery for the reader. Aside from an attempted escape into the fog-bound ocean, everything is preordained, the guilty are found, stand trial, and goodness triumphs. This slim, rainy-Sunday read is faintly tinged with travel, romance, and glamour for escapist readers, light and non-taxing, but fun. Crime Club fans and other whodunit lovers from age fourteen up will quickly polish this off, a little more knowledgeable about Canada's eastern seaboard and ships, but deprived of the guesswork necessary in a mystery novel. Ted Monkhouse, Wellington County Board of Education, Guelph. Ont.