The Ways of Evil Men

Starred review from December 2, 2013
Chief Insp. Mario Silva investigates the suspicious deaths of 39 members of an indigenous tribe in the remote Brazilian state of Pará, in Gage’s riveting seventh and final police procedural (after 2013’s Perfect Hatred). When Jade Calmon, an agent with the FUNAI (the federal government’s National Indian Foundation), discovers that all but two—Amati and his eight-year-old son, Raoni—of the fast-dwindling members of the native Awana tribe have died, she immediately suspects foul play. Jade runs into myriad roadblocks trying to get local law enforcement to care about the tribal genocide. The unspoken opinion around town is “good riddance,” while squabbles begin over who can lay claim to the valuable reservation land. Jade’s calling in of a favor from a childhood friend brings in Silva and his team, who must contend not only with uncooperative and openly hostile townspeople but also another murder, this one of a prominent white citizen. The late Gage (1942–2013) weaves an engaging plot and psychologically complex characters together with a sharp-edged social commentary on the Brazilian class system; his voice will be greatly missed in the crime fiction community. Agent: Jacques de Spoelberch, J de S Associates.

January 15, 2014
Sensitive cultural issues are engaged when dozens of members of an Amazon tribe are apparently poisoned. In the Brazilian rain forests of Para, Raoni, a child warrior from the Awana tribe, rages at the inexplicable deaths of countless fellow tribesmen, including his grandfather and his best friend, Tinga. Jade Calmon, who works for FUNAI, the federal government's National Indian Foundation, discovers the boy and other survivors, including Father Carlo Castori, a former missionary now serving as a parish priest in Azevedo, the closest town. This duo, along with Amati, a surviving Indian, runs through the list of possible causes and culprits and concludes that the tribe was poisoned. They bring their suspicions to Azevedo, where a septet of local honchos confers, fueled by alcohol. The next morning, the corpse of local womanizer Omar Torres is discovered as Amati stands nearby, machete in hand. Jade heatedly argues for Amati's innocence. Thus does the matter (and the murder) arrive on the desk of Chief Inspector Mario Silva of the Brazilian Federal Police (Perfect Hatred, 2013, etc.). The disreputable Torres, it happens, had countless enemies; except for Father Castori, every bigwig in Azevedo had a motive for killing Torres. With the prickly Jade breathing down his neck, Mario and his quirky team work to unravel the poisoning and solve the murder. Mario's seventh is a solid procedural with a huge cast of economically drawn characters, sharp dialogue, a vigorous pace, and a welcome twist or two.

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December 1, 2013

When 39 of the 41 members of an Indian tribe living in the Brazilian rainforest die by poisoning, Jade Cameron, a National Indian Foundation worker, rescues the remaining man, Amati, and his young son. Then a white rancher is murdered in the nearby village, and Amati is framed for the death. The villagers lynch him in the hopes of destroying the tribe and opening the reservation to development. CI Mario Silva of the federal police is sent to investigate. As on his home turf in Sao Paulo, Silva finds corrupt officials, political connections, greed, racism--and more murders. The possibility of a major gold strike ups the machinations as well. VERDICT This is the seventh and final Silva investigation (the author died in July 2013). Gage knew the Brazilian locale intimately. He passionately displays the ecological problems and pervasive corruption at all levels. By contrast, Silva and his team appear abnormally honest. The solutions they find, however, are quite melodramatically portrayed, but fans of the series certainly will want to read Gage's last work.--Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014
The seventh Mario Silva mystery from the late Gage, who died in July 2013, finds the chief inspector of the Brazilian federal police investigating what could be his most tragic and complex case. Apparently, someone has murdered almost the entire population of a small native tribe living in the Amazon rain forest. Thirty-nine of the tribe's 41 members appear to have been poisoned, and the prime suspect, based on circumstantial evidence, is one of the two surviving tribe members. In addition, a white man is also found dead. The author hits the theme of racism hard, but he makes it clear that prejudice can run both ways (a shop clerk calls Amati, the native man, a savage, but Amati also says that only a white man would be evil enough to kill an entire tribe). It turns out, too, there are plenty of people who might have wanted to see the white man dead, but can Silva penetrate the fog of racial hatred to find the truth? If this truly is the last Silva novel, it's a fine send-off for a compelling character.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)