The Shrunken Head by Robert Fish review

Many years ago I had read a couple of books by Robert Fish, featuring Captain Jose da Silva of Rio de Janiero, Brazil.  When I found this one, I immediately bought it and started reading it.

Captain da Silva is called to the Brazilian Foreign Office and assigned to investigate the killing of an acquaintance of his, John Bailey, an American explorer.  The American had been looking for diamonds in the Amazon interior for appoximately 6 or 7 months, when his shrunken head had been sent to the Brazilian Foreign Office with a note of challenge.

Captain da Silva and his friend (and American agent), Wilson, set off to discover why Bailey had been killed, and more importantly, why his head had been shrunken (by an indigenous group not native to Brazil), and then sent to the Brazilian Foreign Office.

This book was published in 1963, and is a product of it's time.  Wilson and da Silva think about women and wanting to get them into bed, and women are assumed to be weak and incapable of taking care of themselves.

With that in mind, I still enjoyed this book, to the point I finished it in one sitting. Of course, I was snowed in and had nothing else to do but read.  I found it kept my attention throughout the book, and I liked the relationship between da Silva and Wilson.

If I come across anymore Robert Fish novels, I will be sure to read them!



This book meets the qualifications of a couple of the challenges I'm in. 
The 2014 Around the World Challenge--Brazil, South America.
The Vintage Mystery BINGO 2014, Silver-- Under L--Read one book with a "Spooky" Title