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Rating: 
Summary: An Original Right Off the Vine
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Chief Balzic in a bad mood that only gets worse and worse
Review: Mario Balzic is in a foul mood pretty much from start to finish in "The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes," K. C. Constantine's fifth mystery novel revolving around the world of the police chief of the fictional West Pennsylvania town of Rocksburg. The original reason for why Balzic is snapping at everybody is because labor negotiations between the police union and the city are going nowhere. So the threat of a strike is looming larger and larger with Mario caught in the middle and not looking forward to be the only cop in town. When he walks into Muscotti's bar to get a drink one afternoon Vinnie the bartender offers him some fresh tomatoes even though it is only the middle of June. The tomatoes were grown by Jimmy Romaneli, an unemployed miner, who, in the small world that is Rocksburg, is married to the daughter of one of Balzic's father's best friends, Mike Fiori. When Frances Romaneli calls up worried that her husband Jimmy is missing, Balzic takes the matter personally. But what he starts to uncover makes his disposition even worse than it already is because of the city politics.
A Mario Balzic Mystery is essentially a series of conversations between the chief and everybody with whom he comes into contact, although there is actually some traditional "action" in "The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes" (which comes relatively early and the story and has little to do with the case at hand, although Balzic does enjoy showing why he does not need a gun to do his job). But this time around several of the conversations became increasingly frustrating and, with a bit of intentional irony on the part of the author, the more a conversation seems to be going nowhere in this novel the more vital information it ends up containing. No one Balzic is on edge by the end of this one. Once again, this is Balzic on his own, dare I say it, because this time it is personal. Not even his family is really allowed in as he tumbles on to what is happening regarding this trio of very unhappy people. All the while the memories of his father become more and more potent. It is one thing to confront the demons to haunt you, but another to discover that they have been doing it for quite some time. This is Constantine's darkest novel in the series so far, a tragic tale that envelops an entire family by the time it is played out and which constantly exposes the worst side of Chief Balzic. And to think, it all began with the growing of tomatoes.
Rating: 
Summary: Thank Goodness it was cheap
Review: Thank goodness it is a small book. Thank goodness I found it at half price day at the local booksale. Thank goodness I didn't bother to buy the rest of the series if they are like this one.
Lots of dull un-insightful talk. VERY dull un-insightful talk while the chief chews everything over. Now I am not one who turns down a good book with insightful characterizations and conversations. Action is not needful for a mystery. I am one who turns down pointless conversations and poor characterizations.
Avoid city contract problems, find missing husband, find out about major dealers. None of which develop into anything but proceed to bounce off and around each other almost pointlessly while a loose interconnection of the missing but NOT missing[??? or is he missing?] husband wanders thru it. Then a rapid here's what happened in the end shoved into a few pages. Yeah and why should I care? The author didn't if he took something that could have been expanded and gave me a slap dash summary of a few pages.
Characterizations leave a lot to be desired. I never got a full image of anyone even from the chief's view and we won't go into the image of the chief I did get. 177 pages of boredom in one small package. Too bad I didn't get it on bag day for about a penny.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-crafted, but dreary
Review: The writing here is good, very good, and the characters are
subtly and richly drawn. The setting and dialog are
convincing, and the emotions will stay with you. Which
is perhaps the problem!There is no redemption here. The mood and events are
dark, the deaths pointless. There is no brain-teasing
mystery, no real lesson about human nature beyond that
it can be ugly and destructive. I don't normally wonder
about the point of books, but I have to admit that after
this one I did. What was the point of all that? Did I
need to be reminded that life can be painful? Maybe
I did. In retrospect I think it was worth the time
to read, but I can't say I _enjoyed_ it. There are a very few technical flaws (the drug-dealer
side-plot seemed entirely unnecessary, and the sudden
solving of the "mystery" at the end was abrupt and not
entirely convincing), but my complaint about this book
is not with the execution, but rather with the nature of
the project. A single beam of light would, I think, have
made this a more worthwhile work.
Rating:
Summary: Well-crafted, but dreary
Review: The writing here is good, very good, and the characters are
subtly and richly drawn. The setting and dialog are
convincing, and the emotions will stay with you. Which
is perhaps the problem! There is no redemption here. The mood and events are
dark, the deaths pointless. There is no brain-teasing
mystery, no real lesson about human nature beyond that
it can be ugly and destructive. I don't normally wonder
about the point of books, but I have to admit that after
this one I did. What was the point of all that? Did I
need to be reminded that life can be painful? Maybe
I did. In retrospect I think it was worth the time
to read, but I can't say I _enjoyed_ it. There are a very few technical flaws (the drug-dealer
side-plot seemed entirely unnecessary, and the sudden
solving of the "mystery" at the end was abrupt and not
entirely convincing), but my complaint about this book
is not with the execution, but rather with the nature of
the project. A single beam of light would, I think, have
made this a more worthwhile work.
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