Blood of the Wicked by Leighton Gage is the first book in the Chief Inspector Mario Silva mystery series set in Brazil. Silva is the Chief Inspector fBlood of the Wicked by Leighton Gage is the first book in the Chief Inspector Mario Silva mystery series set in Brazil. Silva is the Chief Inspector for Criminal Affairs for the Brazilian Federal Police. He is sent to a northern state to investigate the murder of a Bishop. He brings along his nephew, Hector Costa, a federal investigator and Investigator Arnaldo. The trio must deal with a corrupt, vicious state police commander and lawless land owners as they investigates the murder. This is a gritty, violent story and the bodies pile up very quickly as whoever is doing the crime starts getting rid of witnesses. Silva and his team seem to be one step behind what's going on but at the same time, you can see that he has an idea about what is going on. His assistants are both interesting, competent police officers. There are many interesting story lines; the battle between the land owners and the peasants who fight for their own piece of land; the battle between the federal police and the state police, etc. It's an interesting view of a culture that is totally unfamiliar to me and I do look forward to finding out more about Silva and his friends and the country. There are many frustrations in the story as people you like die off but at the same time there is an ultimate satisfaction to the ending. An excellent start to a series (4 stars)...more
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