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A Vine in the Blood: A Chief Inspector Mario Silva Investigation
by Leighton Gage (Goodreads Author)
by Leighton Gage (Goodreads Author)
This is the fifth in the Brazilian-set Chief Inspector Mario Silva series (which starts with Blood of the Wicked), and while I usually devour crime fiction set in other countries, I'd never tried this series before. I suppose the catalyst for my picking this one up was that the jacket indicated soccer was involved in the plot. The book is set in the months before Brazil is to host the World Cup, and when the mother of Brazil's star player is kidnapped, Silva is called upon not only to save her life, but more importantly, save Brazil's prospects at hoisting the trophy. (Note: Although Brazil will be hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the story is not set in the future or anything like that.)
The book is basically a police procedural focused on a kidnapping and murder on a wealthy estate in Sao Paulo. It follows the well-established patterns of a good TV crime procedural, following different members of the investigation as they pursue different leads, all coming back to Silva for analysis, synthesis, and ribald wisecracking. The characters are about as deep as one would find on a television show, each is more or less defined by a particular physical or personality trait. There's the handsome lothario, the wisecracking vet, the sharp woman who secretly has a crush on Silva, the brilliant pathologist, the sequestered judge, and so forth. The investigation proceeds according to the conventions of the genre, with some red herrings, twists and turns, unrelated crimes, etc. all bubbling up.
It's all perfectly entertaining in a passive way, but not particularly memorable. I was continually feeling like I was reading an episode from a BBC/PBS Mystery program, something on the level of Inspector Lewis. That's not a bad thing, but nor is it likely to make me rush out to read the rest of the series. I was hoping for a little more sense of Brazil from the book, but other than a few excellent jokes about Argentines, and a few minor cultural details, the setting didn't really come alive for me. It's the kind of book that's perfect for when you just need something lightweight to pass the commute or curl up with at bedtime.
The book is basically a police procedural focused on a kidnapping and murder on a wealthy estate in Sao Paulo. It follows the well-established patterns of a good TV crime procedural, following different members of the investigation as they pursue different leads, all coming back to Silva for analysis, synthesis, and ribald wisecracking. The characters are about as deep as one would find on a television show, each is more or less defined by a particular physical or personality trait. There's the handsome lothario, the wisecracking vet, the sharp woman who secretly has a crush on Silva, the brilliant pathologist, the sequestered judge, and so forth. The investigation proceeds according to the conventions of the genre, with some red herrings, twists and turns, unrelated crimes, etc. all bubbling up.
It's all perfectly entertaining in a passive way, but not particularly memorable. I was continually feeling like I was reading an episode from a BBC/PBS Mystery program, something on the level of Inspector Lewis. That's not a bad thing, but nor is it likely to make me rush out to read the rest of the series. I was hoping for a little more sense of Brazil from the book, but other than a few excellent jokes about Argentines, and a few minor cultural details, the setting didn't really come alive for me. It's the kind of book that's perfect for when you just need something lightweight to pass the commute or curl up with at bedtime.
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