A Vine in the Blood [by] Leighton Gage
[New York] Soho Crime [2011]
978-1-61695-004-0; $24.00
Chief Inspector Mario Silva and his team of detectives are really up against it. The opening of the World Cup is less than two weeks away and the star of the Brazilian team, Tico “The Artist” Santos, is upset. His mother has been kidnapped. Suspects are many. Clues are few. And the fate of Brazil is at stake. It was hoped that Argentina would be brought to its knees by the heroic playing of The Artist, but this is not to be, if his mother is not returned. Already, members of the Argentine Club are boasting about their expected victory.
The kidnappers had certainly meant business, for the door was splintered, 2 maids were cut up and shot up, and a little toy poodle’s back is broken. A photo has appeared in the morning paper, and the kidnappers have demanded a ransom to be paid for in diamonds.
The detectives put in the normal legwork, asking questions of neighbors and shopkeepers who know Juraci Santos. There are those who liked her, and those who didn’t. She had loud squawking macaws and a little yappy dog, she had loud parties on the lawn, with music blaring at all hours. Her hens wander around. She is not a classy lady – she swears, and is too low class for the neighborhood. She even missed sessions with her hairdresser, surely a faux pas of the highest degree.
The detectives also interview Juraci’s famous son and his equally famous girlfriend, who is a model. They genuinely like Tico, but Cintia is rude and bitchy. Radiating out from them, they interview people in soccer clubs, gambling, the fashion and beauty world, and various underworld people. Their profiler gives them clues, and they even interview a famous kidnapper, now in prison. But things are not going well. They have a lot of information, but it doesn’t add up to a lot of clues. And does the fact that The Artist was sold to Spain make a difference?
A big clue is that Juraci was given Ketamine to knock her out when she was kidnapped, which takes them to a Vet Tech, who is lovers with one of the people they have been tracking. He sends them to a pharmacy, where they talk to the woman there.
The ransom demand finally comes in. They are to take the diamonds to a tourist attraction by train. When they get off, they learn they have a hike to one of the caves, which is not so important. They have to put the diamonds in bags tied to a flock of pigeons, and let them go. They try to track the pigeons, but the one they are tracking is taken abruptly out of the sky by a hawk. Making calculations, they end up finding a place that had been rented.
They go back to their inquiries, and ask about people who have homing pigeons. They also question some new people, and they get all the clues they need. They rescue The Artist’s mother, who, in turn, shoots one of the kidnappers. The kidnappers were right in the middle of the mix of people they’d questioned all along. When the director comes to find out how they are doing, they had him a nicely wrapped-up case.
The characters on the police team are nicely drawn. You get a glimpse of life in another country, including its legal system, some of its underworld, and some of its celebrity world. It’s a fun series, with a lot of humor, and a lot of insight into human nature. A good police procedural, too. Highly recommended. ~ lss-r
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This is a library book.
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