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Shop nowA Vine in the Blood
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Learn moreIt is the eve of the FIFA World Cup, the globe's premier sporting event. The host country is Brazil. All eyes are on 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.
Leighton Gage (1942–2013) wrote seven books in the Mario Silva series: Blood of the Wicked, Buried Strangers, 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.
Peter Berkrot, a forty-year veteran of stage and screen, has voiced over 450 audiobook titles, winning Earphones Awards, a 2012 Audie Award nomination, and a 2016 Audie Award.
Reviews
“Hard-hitting, atmospheric…The Silva investigations have all the step-by-step excitement of a world-class procedural series…The books’ greatest appeal, though, is Silva. Even after five books and many glimpses into his past and present, he remains an enigma. The reader never knows what the detective might or might not do in order to balance the scales of justice.”
“This book, like all of the titles in Gage’s Chief Inspector Mario Silva Investigations series, throws a spotlight on the society and politics of contemporary Brazil. A Vine in the Blood attests to that country’s intense involvement with the game of soccer…Gage effectively increases the suspense of his latest work by creating a variety of characters, each with a valid motive for the crime.”
“Gage’s stellar fifth Chief Inspector Mario Silva police procedural centers on the kidnapping of Juraci Santos, the abrasive mother of Brazil’s new Pele, Tico ‘the Artist’ Santos…Rising above Brazilian brutality, corruption, and bribery with uncommon wit and the help of his colorful, appealing colleagues, he scores a winning goal in an enormously complex kidnap payoff scheme.”
“The fifth Chief Inspector Mario Silva investigation takes place on the eve of the World Cup championship between Brazil and bitter rival Argentina…This time he pairs that with an engaging and fast-paced mystery that suggests real-life scenarios, given that Brazil will be hosting the World Cup in 2014.”
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