This image is the cover for the book Ways of Evil Men, A Chief Inspector Mario Silva Investigation

Ways of Evil Men, A Chief Inspector Mario Silva Investigation

A Brazilian detective hunts a killer in the rain forest: “The Silva investigations have all the step-by-step excitement of a world-class procedural series” (The Wall Street Journal).

As Chief Inspector Mario Silva has learned, justice is hard to come by in Brazil, so when his niece tells him about a possible genocide deep in the jungle, he agrees to round up his team and charter a plane to Pará to check it out.

Thirty-nine natives have recently dropped dead of mysterious causes. Given the tense relationship between the Awana tribe and the white townsfolk nearby, Pará’s sole government-sponsored advocate for the native population, Jade Calmon, immediately suspects foul play and takes the two remaining Awana—a father and his eight-year-old son—into her custody. But when the father is discovered holding a bloody machete next to the body of a village big shot, just before Silva’s arrival, the plot thickens. Why would a peaceful man who doesn’t believe in alcohol turn into a drunken killer?

Leighton Gage

Leighton Gage (1942–2013) wrote six other books in the Chief Inspector Mario Silva series: Blood of the Wicked, Dying Gasp, Every Bitter Thing, A Vine in the Blood, Perfect Hatred, and The Ways of Evil Men. Since 1973, he spent part of each year in Santana do Parnaiba, Brazil, where he met his wife, Eide. His books have been translated into French, Italian, Finnish, and Dutch.

Soho Crime