Buried Strangers is the second book in Leighton Gage's Chief Inspector Mario Silva series. The lead character, Silva, is Chief Inspector for Criminal Matters of the Federal Police of Brazil, based in Brasilia.
In Buried Strangers, police investigate a field of anonymous buried bodies, including some graves holding entire family groups, found in the rain forest outside Sao Paulo. Investigation of this grizzly crime is taken on by the local police, led by Delegado Yoshiro Tanaka, with Silva's federal team also looking into the matter. How these two teams proceed to investigate the crime is the means by which author Leighton Gage shows off what is fresh, lively and really interesting in this book: Brazil. As the mystery is unraveled, Gage expertly weaves in an enormous amount of information about the country, its politics and culture. Corruption, poverty, and desperation propel the plot forward.
I enjoyed this book a great deal and will definitely seek out Gage's first book in this series, Blood of the Wicked.
Buried Strangers is recommended reading.
