In Blood Mud, Mario & baggage are all there, but with something more this time. Not something new, but old dark currents made manifest, what's been brewing throughout the series finally poured in a glass & plopped on the bar in full view. Things, my friend, are all that they seem and always have been. Mario's fears are not only real, but have the power to bring him down. Now how to cope? His fire for justice burns hottest in his own chest, his own mind, and does its damage there. Injustice is not futility, but survival means a clawing back to the personal, to self-rescue, and Babyak, poor dupe, becomes not only an icon of what's so compelling about what Constantine does, but a metaphor for the historical & ahistorical moment that is the here & now in America. Say, for the bombing of a foreign embassy, or the incrimination of the politically expendable.

Mario has his hands full practicing self-rescue. He's learning hard lessons in the world & in his kitchen. But will Constantine leave it here? Is the retreat to the personal Mario's final response? What can one man do in his world, once he bears the weight of knowing?

As its former police chief, no one knows the failing industrial city of Rocksburg, Pennsylvania better than retired Mario Balzic. The former head cop turns to private sleuthing to relieve himself of the boredom of retirement, to escape the nagging of his spouse, and to supplement his income. Attorney Mo Valcanas hires his old buddy Mario to investigate an insurance claim that someone stole forty guns and 30,000 rounds of related ammunition.

As Mario investigates his town, he finds a myriad of suspects, some of who would not mind retiring the former police chief permanently. However, bullets and threats on his life aside, Mario suddenly suffers heart trouble as the cholesterol muddies his blood. Even as his health and his abilities diminish, Mario still needs to see justice is served before his mortality fails to allow him to finish this case.

The Balzic series is one of the best mystery collections on the market because the star suffers from all the problems of real life even as he conducts his investigations. The current tale, BLOOD MUD, shows how much talent K.C. Constantine possesses as Balzic finds mortality palely looking at him in the mirror. The investigation turns complex because of the number of suspects carving out their piece of a shrinking pie. The secondary cast such as Balzic's spouse and doctor augment the tale with humor and pathos. However, as in all the Balzic books, the lead protagonist makes it very clear that cardiac arrest or not he is the straw that stirs the plot of this entertaining novel.

Harriet Klausner

Rockburg is seeing hard times. Already the Sanitation Department, the city's vehicle mechanics, its plumber, and two carpenters have been replaced by private contractors. It has been eight years since Balzic has hired any new officers for the Police Department or that his men have seen a promotion. Now Mayor Kenny Strohn has told Balzic to layoff five officers, leaving him but twenty-five members to police an economically depressed city of 15,000. As if that was not bad enough, Balzic is stunned to discover a small group of heavily armed, camouflaged commandos rappelling out of a blue-and-white helicopter. The chief cannot get any answers out of these para-military figures, which means he is going to start asking hard questions. When he learns what is going on in his town and discovers that not everybody has the same idea of public service that has been the rock upon which Balzic has built his career, he realizes it is time to reconsider what is left of his life.

The first part of "Cranks and Shadows" was a bit of rough going for me because it seemed that Balzic was no longer raging against the injustice of the world around him but had been reduced to ranting. His conversations, always the strong point of these novels and the way by which he does his job, were becoming decidedly one sided and it was becoming commonplace for people to tell Balzic they were not telling him things he should probably know because they did not want to get into it with him. But then there is a point in the story where everything changes and Balzic does more listening to Ruth and engages in more introspective examinations of his life. Constantine is setting up not only his character for the end of the road, but his readers as well.

The ending to "Cranks and Shadows" is not particularly satisfying, but that presupposes that a "happy" ending is possible in Balzic's world of Rocksburg in the Reagan-Bush eighties where the end of revenue sharing changed everything for local governments. Constantine cannot be faulted for providing a realistic conclusion to Balzic's career and it is difficult not to agree that there is an appropriateness to the way the story ends given the rocky road the character has traveled. After all, to quote my old college professor, nobody promised fair. These eleven Mario Balzic novels, the first half of which are more traditional mystery books, remains a superb character study of irascible hero and the particular region he calls home. I realize this is not Constantine's last novel and I will be interesting to see what it is like to read one his novels that is not about Mario Balzic.

This is a disturbing book in many ways and I take into account that clearly it is Constantine's intent to provoke a response from both his characters and his readers. There was a point reading this book when Balzic is told of something horrible that a cop has done and I literally had to put down the book and walk away from it for a while. Not so much because this was one of the worst atrocities I have ever come across, in fiction or history, but because it was rather unexpected. However, I have to admit this did a marvelous job of creating a strong sense of identification between the reader and the main character as Balzic says and does what we ourselves would probably say and do under those circumstances. Still, the fictional Western Pennsylvania town of Rocksburg seems a much different place to me as I read this book.

This is not to say that the world of crime in Rocksburg has been anything approaching the relative clean environment of the Agatha Christie type "polite mystery," but rather than Balzic has not wallowed in it as much as he does in this book. The Balzic mysteries are always built around a series of conversations between the chief and various people, which bring him closer and closer to solving the crime. Often these are casual conversations that made lead to more serious ones down the road. But this time around there are direct interrogations of suspects, delicate negotiations with a local crime boss, and repeated efforts to education the mayor on the ways of the world. There are unpleasant topics talked about in the most unpleasant terms. Equally important to the uneasiness "Always A Body to Trade" provokes is that Balzic's family and friends have receded into the background. Balzic keeps saying he is a family man, but I think the only time his girls talk to him in this book is to tell him the pesky mayor has called again. Maybe this sense of isolation from his loved ones is why Balzic has been stomping through these last couple of novels in such a foul mood. Add to this the dirty and filth he has to wallow in with this particular case and no wonder he seems more unpleasant than he was when we first met him. For this character to lose his humanity would be a fatal error.

This is a disturbing book in many ways and I take into account that clearly it is Constantine's intent to provoke a response from both his characters and his readers. There was a point reading this book when Balzic is told of something horrible that a cop has done and I literally had to put down the book and walk away from it for a while. Not so much because this was one of the worst atrocities I have ever come across, in fiction or history, but because it was rather unexpected. However, I have to admit this did a marvelous job of creating a strong sense of identification between the reader and the main character as Balzic says and does what we ourselves would probably say and do under those circumstances. Still, the fictional Western Pennsylvania town of Rocksburg seems a much different place to me as I read this book.

This is not to say that the world of crime in Rocksburg has been anything approaching the relative clean environment of the Agatha Christie type "polite mystery," but rather than Balzic has not wallowed in it as much as he does in this book. The Balzic mysteries are always built around a series of conversations between the chief and various people, which bring him closer and closer to solving the crime. Often these are casual conversations that made lead to more serious ones down the road. But this time around there are direct interrogations of suspects, delicate negotiations with a local crime boss, and repeated efforts to education the mayor on the ways of the world. There are unpleasant topics talked about in the most unpleasant terms. Equally important to the uneasiness "Always A Body to Trade" provokes is that Balzic's family and friends have receded into the background. Balzic keeps saying he is a family man, but I think the only time his girls talk to him in this book is to tell him the pesky mayor has called again. Maybe this sense of isolation from his loved ones is why Balzic has been stomping through these last couple of novels in such a foul mood. Add to this the dirty and filth he has to wallow in with this particular case and no wonder he seems more unpleasant than he was when we first met him. For this character to lose his humanity would be a fatal error.

For "The Blank Page," the third novel in the Mario Balzic series, author K. C. Constantine has apparently settled on a specific literary modus operandi. Lt. Harry Minyon, the blundering blowhard who was in charge of the local State Police barracks in the previous mystery "The Man Who Like to Look at Himself" has been temporarily replaced by Lt. Walker Johnson, who is more in the mold of Lt. Phil Moyer from "The Rocksburg Railroad Murders" in terms of providing support for Balzic rather than an constant impediment in the search for the murderer. By removing the set of stereotypical clowns getting in the way of Balzic's investigation, Constantine is able to keep the story's focus on the chief's interrogative skills. In the current dichotomy represented by television's "Law & Order" and "C.S.I." franchises, Constantine's Balzic is clearly in the camp of the former. The focus here is not on forensic science or the ability to beat and/or shoot up bad guys, but rather on asking the right questions in order to gather the necessary information. Reading these books is waiting for the key piece of the puzzle to show up so that everything can fall into place, at which point Balzic can go bring in the murderer. These novels are not so much about police procedure as they are the lost art of interrogation. Of course, in Constantine's hands these interrogations rarely take place in a special room at the police station.

"The Blank Page" is the best of the first three Mario Balzic novels, although readers who are captivated by some of the more colorful characters in Rocksburg may well wish Father Mazzo and Mo Vulcanas were more involved in the story as they were respectively in the first two books. Personally, I would like to see a bit more of Balzic's family, since they tend to provide nice counterpoints to the crime being investigated. But the most important other character in these novels to this point in the series clearly ends up being the murderer. I would not go so far a to say Balzic shows compassion for the murderers he catches (with the exception being what happened in the second novel), but there is certainly a strong sense of empathy and understanding towards the story they have to tell. But then, it is that ability to look at things from the perspective of others that is Balzic's greatest asset when it comes to solving crimes.

Comments on recurring concerns: "The Blank Page" was originally published in 1974, which helps to explain the original art on the hardcover edition with is a photograph of a woman's naked torso reproduced four times in pop art style with an empty rectangle representing the titular item on her stomach. Besides any concerns about having a picture of a naked breast reproduced four times on a book cover, there is the problem that it suggests the crime in this novel involves some sort of lurid sex act. However, I tend to think this is more an attempt at titillation by the marketing department for the Saturday Review Press rather than a red herring intended to throw readers off the track of the mystery. The other thing to be pointed out is that Constantine does not believe in chapters, so if you are in the read "x" number of chapter before bedtime school of reading, be forewarned. Constantine's books are ideal for those of us living the commuter lifestyle.

However, the most important development in these last couple of novels has been the return of Balzic's family to prominence. Of course, now that family is reduce to Ruth, but that is more than enough. It seems she has unilaterally dissolved the marriage "in search of a better, more mutually satisfying relationship which I want to call a partnership." In the wake of Marie Balzic's death it turns out that not only did Mario lose his mother and Ruth her best friend, but also the couple lost the person that kept them connected to each other.

But our hero has other problems. The Rocksburg police force is woefully undermanned, the weather is unbearably hot, a strange woman tells a bizarre story about her violent husband going after a truck driver, and there is a crazy writer named Myushkin who pontificates without end at Balzic's favorite watering hole. To top this all off, the 64-year-old Balzic keeps flashing back to being a young Marine on the beaches of Iwo Jima.

"Bottom Liner Blues" is the 10th novel in this series by K. C. Constantine. The charm has always been the characters and the dialogue more than the mysteries or police procedure. Constantine has an excellent ear for the working-class dialect of Middle America and I can just picture the author working them out aloud rather than merely typing them on the page. Constantine also does not play favorites, more often than not giving the best lines and the most profound insights to characters other than Mario Balzic himself. In this one there is much more of a sense of all the pieces coming together than we have seen previously in these wonderful looks at the human comedy.

Armand "Fat Manny" Manditti has been stabbed repeatedly and is brought into the emergency room by his brother Tullio the Tub. Only his obesity saved Fat Manny from joining the choir of angels, but he refuses to tell Balzic what happened. The chief is suspicious and convinced that Tullio is going to take care of this himself. The Mandittis both work for Dom Muscotti, Manny as a runner and gofer, while Tullio runs Muscotti's dump. Just to make things even worse on the other side of the law in Rocksburg, Dom has been seeing a younger woman on the side and Balzic fears the worst should Mrs. Muscotti learn about what is going on. Meanwhile, Father Marrazo has received some very upsetting news about his good friend Father Sabatine.

Usually while Balzic is having his conversations around town he is trying to figure out who murdered the town's latest victim. But this time around he is trying to prevent at least one murder, probably more depending on whether he can get a break. What makes "A Fix Like This" the best of Constantine's mysteries to date (1975 in this case) is that clear thinking, good intentions, and quick action are not always enough to make things come out right. Fortunately Balzic has some people to talk to, not just when he is trying to find things out but also when he need to talk aloud to figure out how everything fits together.

My only real complaint about the Mario Balzic mysteries is that the title and/or the cover art tend to give too much away. Fortunately I have trained myself to avoid them when I read the book and that one I do not start thinking two far ahead wondering when the second murder will happen at the Rocksburg railroad or when the x-rated film is going to be discovered. But if you started reading this stories because of Stephen King's recommendation at the end of "From a Buick 8" and you have gotten this far, you know there is not reason to stop now. I have been devouring these mysteries at the rate of almost one a day so far this week and will only stop when I find a hole in the local library's collection.

"Joey's Case," the eighth mystery in this series, is the most unique for two reasons. First, Balzic is on the outside of this case looking in and nothing is going to change that over the course of this investigation. He might have the indulgence of the state police, but he knows full well going into this one that nothing is going to change, no matter who he engages in his inquisitive conversations. Second, Balzic has, for lack of a better word, "mellowed" a bit. The chief has been wound exceedingly tight in the most recent novels and I have been expecting him to snap in some way. While I expected something to shake the chief's foundation to get him turned in the right direction, I did not expect it to be a question of sexual dysfunction. Yet this hits the mark for Balzic has suddenly stopped drinking and there is even a chance, miracle of miracles, that he will listen to what his wife Ruth is trying to tell him (Hey, it could happen).

This novel offers an additional difference because this time around I definitely got the feeling that I was actually picking up on some of the clues. I might not have figured out how all the pieces were going to fit together, but Balzic was not doing that much better. The chief charm of these books remains the art of conversation as Balzic circles around the truth of this matter. I also liked the fact that the chief actually engaged in a pit more of cat and mouse in some of his unofficial interviews, which may be why one of the book's last conversations, where Ruth turns the tables on her husband, impressed me so much. Still, my chief contentment is that Constantine has started to reign his creation in a bit, because Balzic has been threatening to go off the deep end for quite some time and I have become rather concerned about the old boy. Then again, I was rather surprised to see from the cover art for "Joey's Case" that our hero has a head of hair.

Working the Flats this evening are the Rocksburg Police Department's only African-American William Rayford, giant Robert "BooBoo" Canoza, and Nam vet James Reseta. Each has personal problems they bring to the job, but all three dedicated men know they must not allow their troubles to interfere with the beat if they want to live another day. Quickly the three officers are going to learn first hand how the Flats is different from any other neighborhood in town because the incident seems trivial, but the aftermath explosion proves dangerous and life threatening.

Once series fans understand that Mario is not making a comeback and Rugs is not the headliner, the readers will quickly comprehend that SAVING ROOM FOR DESSERT is a gourmet feast for the police procedural crowd. The story line follows the three officers on routine patrols that turns nasty. The story line focuses more on the trio than on what they face as each has their moment of introspection involving their personal woes as much as their professional troubles. K.C. Constantine changes direction with this tale in which the crime activity is interesting, but the up front look at the three stars is fascinating and fabulous.

Harriet Klausner