Leighton Gage Books In Order

Publication Order of Chief Inspector Mario Silva Books

Leighton Gage was one of the renowned novelists from America who liked to write his books based on the mystery, suspense, and thriller genres. He was particularly well known for writing books about the police procedural, which he has shown in the Mario Silva series. Author Gage has lived in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Argentina, Germany, and Australia. Finally, he had gone on to settle down in Brazil. The Mario Silva series consists of several issues which are not found in the United States, but easily available in Brazil. Author Gage had started his writing career in the year 2008 with the release of his debut book titled Blood of the Wicked. He was born on May 13, 1942, in Rahway, New Jersey, U.S. In one of his interviews, he had said that he was inspired to write the Mario Silva books after living for more than 20 years in Sao Paulo, Brazil. His immersion into the Brazilian culture had also played an important role in developing the novel series. In his books, Gage has frequently included the problems which were existing in Brazil at that time. Such problems were considered foreign to the culture of America. Prior to the beginning of his literary career, author Gage used to work as a creative designer at the international level. He was working in a major advertising agency having its branches all over the world. In his advertising career, Gage has won more than 120 awards for excellence in advertising. He has even served as a jury of the Lions Festival held in Cannes. The other events in which he was included as a jury include the Clio Awards, the Association of Writers and Art Directors of Australia, and the Club of Art Directors of New York.

Other than his own series of mystery books, author Gage has collaborated in writing a Portuguese nonfiction work titled O Filme Publicitrio. This book was sold widely in Portugal, Brazil, and Portuguese speaking African countries. It was also adopted by numerous universities in these countries as a textbook in their curriculum. As author Gage lived in different countries for extended periods, he got the chance to learn multiple languages. As a result, he can fluently speak Dutch, Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, and German. He lived in South Africa during the apartheid, Spain during Franco’s time, Argentina during the junta’s time, Portugal during the time of Salazar, Chile during Pinochet’s time, and Yugoslovakia and East Germany at the time of the Soviet Union’s sway. When Gage started living in Brazil, he witnessed the rule of the military government. Author Gage’s wife is a Brazilian. The two used to spend much of their time living in a small town close to Sao Paulo. During other times, they used to visit their children and grandchildren in the other countries. The books written by author Gage have been translated into multiple foreign languages. His collection of books is called as ‘The Chief Inspector Mario Silva Investigations’. The books in this collection cover a wide array of subjects such as organ theft, underage prostitution, snuff videos, and other such things. In his first novel, author Gage has described the killing of a bishop. The death of Leighton Gage occurred on July 26, 2013, at his house in Miami, Florida, due to pancreatic cancer.

The Mario Silva series written by Leighton Gage is comprised of a total of 7 books, which were released between the years 2008 and 2014. In the series, Maria Silva is introduced as a Chief Inspector in the Brazilian Federal Police’s Criminal Matters. The first book of the series is titled as Blood of the Wicked’. It was released by the Soho Crime publication in the year 2008. At he start of the plot, author Gage has shown that in a remote town of Brazil known as Cascatas do Pontal, the landless peasants confront the owners of the big estates. When the bishop arrives at the scene with his helicopter to lay the foundation of a new church, he gets assassinated. When the news of this matter reaches the Brazilian police, they dispatch the criminal matters’ chief inspector, Maria Silva. He is tasked to find the killer of the bishop. After Silva learns that the pope has talked to the president of Brazil about this matter, the pressure rises on him to perform. He gets helped by his nephew named Hector Costa, who also works from the federal police. In order to catch the killer, Mario and Hector are required to battle against the state police, a corrupt judicial system, and deadly criminals preying on the kids on the streets. They also face the Landless League, the rich landowners, as well as the church factions. During the course of the investigation, a few other murders take place, which are linked to the initial murder. Seeing the justice is very hard to come by, Mario resorts to desperate measures and gets determined to find the murderer at any cost. He decides to close the case once and for all by making the killer pay for his crime.

The next book published in this series is titled as ‘Buried Strangers’. The Soho Crime once again released the book in the year 2009. Author Gage once again depicted Mario Silva and Hector Costa as the central characters, who are assisted by another character named Arnaldo Nunes. At the beginning of the book, a dog is shown playing with a bone in Sao Paulo. When the police come to know about this suspicious bone, they send Mario Silva and investigating team of Arnaldo Nunes and Hector Costa to look into the matter. They find that the bone was of a human and soon they come across a clandestine cemetery. The investigators discover that someone has disposed of the dead bodies of several unknown human beings secretly. It is later learned that a number of patrons who consulted a local travel agency never returned to their homes in North America. Mario Silva finally establishes the fact that the tourists were murdered. The motive for the mass murders seems completely contemporary and appalling. But, Mario, Hector, and Arnaldo seem pretty determined not to rest until they find and catch the person responsible for the mass murders.