Featured Book: Perfect Hatred by Leighton Gage

Title: Perfect Hatred by Leighton Gage
Release date: February 19, 2013; Soho Crime
Genre: police procedural, mystery set in Brazil

About the book: Chief Inspector Mario Silva and his team have a heavy work load with several high-profile cases. First, a suicide bombing that was apparently the work of a militant Islamist group. Then, a gubernatorial candidate is assassinated in broad daylight at a campaign rally. Could the cases be related? To complicate Silva's investigation, a criminal with a very bad grudge against the Chief Inspector has been released from prison and is plotting ugly revenge. (publisher)

This teaser to me shows the focus of this novel set in Brazil:
"I've been explaining that to our Maximum Leader for the last ten minutes, Silva said, "but he isn't having it. It appears Pontes owes the incumbent governor a favor....
"So it's just politics and favoritism," Hector snapped.
"Just politics and favoritism," Silva agreed.

(ch. 4, from an advance uncopyedited edition; final copy may differ)

Local politics in Brazil involving corruption, a complex relationship with the neighboring country of Paraguay, and the possibility of a terrorist threat in Brazil and on its borders fuel the plot of this political mystery. Though I found the many Brazilian names hard to keep track of at the beginning, the novel soon evened out for me into a suspenseful police procedural that ties together the disparate events and people introduced in the first few chapters.

I would recommend the book to those interested in Brazil and South America and to seasoned mystery lovers.

Thanks to the author for sending an advance review copy.

Book Review: A Vine in the Blood by Leighton Gage

Title: A Vine in the Blood: A Chief Inspector Mario Silva Investigation by Leighton Gage
Publisher: Soho Crime (December 27, 2011
Genre: crime fiction
Objective rating: 4.5/5

Brazil has been in the center of international soccer news ever since they won the bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2014. Questions have since abounded: would Brazil be able to pull it off, take care of thousands and thousands of visitors and athletes in various cities, ensure their safety and their comfort in this most picturesque but controversial of locations ?

What better setting for a crime novel that involves both soccer, a country with beautiful cities, and the criminal underworld? In this novel, the mother of the greatest soccer player is kidnapped just before the games begin, and there are any number of reasons this could have happened, and any number of possible suspects, especially during this time, just before the games. What is scary is that this fictional scenario could easily happen.  Chief Inspector Maria Silva is once again on the case, in this novel of international detective fiction.

Publisher's book description: "It is the eve of the FIFA World Cup, the globe’s premier sporting event. The host country is Brazil. A victory for the home team is inextricably linked to the skills of the country’s principal striker, Tico “The Artist” Santos, the greatest player in the history of the sport. All the politicians in Brasilia, from the President of the Republic on down, have their seats squared-away for the finale, when they hope to see Argentina, Brazil’s bitterest rival, humbled by the Brazilian eleven. But then, just three weeks before the first game, Juraci Santos, Tico’s mother, is kidnapped. The star is distraught. The public is appalled. The politicians are outraged. And the pressure is on Chief Inspector Mario Silva to get her back.

Suspects aren’t lacking. Among them, are a cabal of Argentineans, suspected of having spirited the lady away to put Tico off his game, the star’s gold-digging, top-model girlfriend, whom his mother dislikes and has been trying to get out of his life, his principal rival, who wants to play in the World Cup in Tico’s place, and the man whose leg Tico broke during a match, thereby destroying his career. In the end, Silva and his crew discover that the solution to the mystery is less complex - but entirely unexpected." (book description)

About the author: Leighton Gage writes the Chief Inspector Mario Silva series, crime novels set in Brazil. You can visit him at www.leightongage.com

A complimentary ARC of this book was sent to me for possible review.
© Harvee Lau of Book Dilettante. Please do not reprint without permission.

Book review: Every Bitter Thing by Leighton Gage

Every Bitter Thing by Leighton Gage

My objective rating: 4.25 of 5 stars
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published December 1, 2010 by Soho Crime
Mystery series, Chief Inspector Mario Silva #4
Source: Author/Publisher

Enjoyed this very interesting and fast paced police procedural set in Brazil. When people who had flown together on a flight from Miami to Sao Paolo began to be targeted and shot in a bizarre and unusual way, Inspector Silva is called in to investigate. Motive and method are riveting.

The writing is fresh and engaging. The story is told almost entirely from the point of view of the investigators, Inspector Silva and his team. We see the inside workings of the police unit. Their methods and their personalities are revealed and there is humor in the way they relate. We see the story unfold through their interviews with suspects and others in the case, the reader tagging along during police investigations. I found this a very  interesting read. I would however have chosen a different book cover as the picture of someone in chains, though arresting and attention getting, does not really reflect the story.

About the author: Leighton Gage is married to a Brazilian woman and spends much of his year in Santana do Parnaiba, Brazil. His other books include titles such as Blood of the Wicked, Dying Gasp, and Buried Strangers. More information is on his website:  http://www.leightongage.com/Leighton_Gage/HOME.html
Thanks to the author for a review copy of this book.

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