Cover of A Vine in the Blood

A Vine in the Blood

Chief Inspector Mario Silva seriesbook 5 of 7Next:Perfect Hatred(2012) →

It is the eve of the FIFA World Cup, the globe's premier sporting event. The host country is Brazil. A victory for the home team is inextricably linked to the skills of 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.

Read more

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.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 289 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked A Vine in the Blood? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked A Vine in the Blood. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. December Heat Shares Brazil, mystery, crime
  2. The Silence of the Rain Shares mystery, Brazil, crime
  3. Ways to Disappear Shares mystery, Brazil, fiction
  4. Stolen Lives Shares mystery, crime, fiction

“People who read A Vine in the Blood tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Mr. Kill
  2. The China Gambit
  3. The Detour
  4. The Amazing Adventures of John Smith, Jr. AKA Houdini

“If you want more of the same (mystery about police), start with these.”

  1. Alone in the Crowd
  2. Blackout
  3. No One Lives Forever
  4. Superbia

“If it was the Brazil that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Southwesterly Wind
  2. A Window in Copacabana
  3. Brazil
  4. Brazil on the Rise: The Story of a Country Transformed

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Pelé: The Autobiography
  2. Matchdays: The Hidden Story of the Bundesliga
  3. Berlin Games: How the Nazis Stole the Olympic Dream
  4. Rooster