Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes

by K.C. Constantine

Book Overview

K.C. Constantine's Mario Balzic is one of those police chiefs so close to his people that nothing moves or even sits still in his town without his knowing how and why. His town is Rocksburg, a small coal mining town in western Pennsylvania where most of the coal has run out.
Tomatoes curiously ripening out of season are the key. It begins at Muscotti's Bar, Balzic's refuge, when Jimmy Romanelli sells several baskets of tomatoes to Vinnie, Muscotti's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567921922
• ISBN13: 9781567921922
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

The Best of the Best

Constantine is one of the finest writers in America. Period. He has a stunning gift to bring basically ordinary people and bring them to full humanity. You can see their faces. You know what their houses and furniture are like. You have had a beer next to them at a neighborhood bar. Their lives matter to you. They are imperfect and struggling towards being better people, better fathers and mothers, better neighbors, better friends. And they often fail. His books have the smell and feel of life. And this is the best of this amazing lot. He gets weaker later in the series. All series authors do. But even at his worst he is brilliant. Je is the Richard Russo of mysteries, bringing the small town to life. As to the negative reviews, well all I can is they must have had specific expectations that were incorrect. You simply cannot fault this book.

An Original Right Off the Vine

K.C. Constantine's 'The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes' came highly recommeded by one of the best crime writer's to grace the genre, James Crumley. He lists this book as a classic and I can confirm that it doesn't disappoint. Constantine weaves a tapestry of small town crime in PA. where local politics, family affairs, and ex-coal miner petty hoods grate on the nerves of boozy, hard nosed fireplug detective, Mario Balzic. Like the slow tomatoes that remain at the thematic heart of the book, the charaters here take their sweet time in revealing their intent, developing at a pace which allows the reader to get a full taste of what they're all about. Balzic ain't no Marla Maples cozy, but he also isn't Sam Spade lurking in noir shadows with a tommy gun about chatter at any minute. More like he is the penulitmate small town detective, relying on a few smooth moves, a hangover cure, and a knowledge of his environment and its PA. locals to win the day.

Among the best of modern mysteries

K.C. Constantine is a mystery writer wrapped in a mystery. Writing for 20 years or more, no one knows who he really is and, at his best, he is the best mystery writer in America. The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes is his best work. The characters, ordinary people living ordinary lives, come alive across the pages. You understand their strengths and sympathize with their weaknesses. Plot is secondary to character in Constantine's Rockburg mysteries, but the plot here will not disappoint. His recent works have had some ups and downs, but he seems back on track now. This book is the best introduction you can get to a master of the trade