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The Ways of Evil Men: Chief Inspector Mario Silva    by Leighton Gage Amazon.com order for
Ways of Evil Men
by Leighton Gage
Order:  USA  Can
Soho, 2014 (2014)
Hardcover, CD, e-Book
* * *   Reviewed by Bob Walch

A shocking case of genocide sends Chief Inspector Mario Silva of the Brazilian Federal Police and his team of detectives into the hinterlands to investigate the near eradication of the native Awana tribe. All but two of the small tribe were poisoned at a communal feast. And of the two survivors, one is lynched by the inhabitants of the local town for a murder he did not commit.

Encountering not only the hostility of the locals, who have no time for their tribal neighbors, but also harsh conditions in the isolated town of Azevedo, Silva soon realizes that there's much more going on here than just a mass killing. The large landowners have created a united front to stonewall the inspector but it is all too obvious that some of them will benefit from the native land which may now be turned over to the public.

Although they try to present a united front, it is obvious that the residents of Azevedo are hiding a lot of secrets and the recent violence indicates passions are boiling over. In fact, instead of investigating one crime, Inspector Silva is looking at a couple of ugly situations that need to be addressed.

In his usual, no nonsense, pragmatic manner, Silva sifts through the situation with a little assistance from a female journalist who nearly gets herself killed. There will be some surprises along the way as the inspector not only eventually apprehends all the guilty parties but, in one instance, also acts as both judge and jury thus handing out his own form of justice.

This marks the end of one of Brazil's most popular procedural crime series. Leighton Gage passed away last year and he will be sorely missed by his many fans around the world.

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