The Xavier Affair

Captain Jose Da Silva Mystery #8

by Robert L. Fish

A quartet of kidnappers make the mistake of hiring Da Silva as their driver

Chico Xavier needs cash. His father has cut off his allowance, and for a university student with expensive taste—and an even more expensive girlfriend—this is a death sentence. And so he and his friends arrange to kidnap one of their school chums: a fellow dilettante who lets himself be taken in exchange for a cut of the ransom. Two days of criminal behavior, Chico thinks, and they’ll all live happily ever after—or die in the Rio sand.

To store the victim of their faked kidnapping, Chico’s girlfriend pays a taxi driver for the use of his house. But the driver is no ordinary cabbie—he is Captain José Da Silva of Interpol. He can’t tell if Chico’s scheme will turn out to be tragedy or farce, and so he plays along, hoping to save the kidnappers from themselves.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Robert Lloyd Fish was an American writer of crime fiction. His first novel, The Fugitive, gained him the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award for best first novel in 1962, and his short story "Moonlight Gardener" was awarded the Edgar for best short story in 1972. His 1963 novel Mute Witness, written under the pseudonym Robert L. Pike, was filmed in 1968 as Bullitt, starring Steve McQueen.

Reviews

[Paul]

I read this book because a friend of mine in high school in Darien, Connecticut (much the same setting for the characters who designed the plot of the story) wanted to make a punk band with the name of this book as our name. He thought it sounded cool. He thought the Xavier Affair sounded new wave and punk, and he thought the story would reflect our upbringing being surrounded by the ultrarich who need to kidnap themselves to make money and how everything might go wrong. His name was Xtopher and our band was very cool. He was very cool. The book’s OK

[Marg Corjay]

Solid mystery, rather refreshing change in its pure adherence to the genre. Did not seem dated although it was written in sixties.