Blood Mud [Large Print] [Hardcover]

K. C. Constantine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1999

Mario Balzic, the cop who never says die returns for another ride through the fiercely authentic American language and landscape that is the hallmark of this acclaimed series from the author of Brushback. Once public detective, now turned private, Mario Balzic is hired to track down the missing guns from the local gun shop for the insurance company.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the bleak, industrial no-man's-land of central Pennsylvania sits Rocksburg, the town Constantine has put to such good use in his Mario Balzic and other mysteries (Brushback, etc.). Now, retired police chief Balzic, conscientious and cranky, is hired by an insurance lawyer to investigate a claimed loss of 40-plus handguns and 30,000 rounds of ammunition stolen from a firearms company. Bored with retirement, trying to ignore his wife's suggestions that he exercise more and they move to Florida, the self-described "old geezer" eagerly takes the job. Of course, what he uncovers is more complicated and corrupt than a simple heist. As is typical of Constantine's dark, gritty novels, the pitch-perfect dialogue carries a zigzag plot, full of idiosyncratic characters, that is beautifully developed and enigmatically resolved. Balzic's warm, often combative relationship with his wife intensifies when he suffers a "coronary event" and must face his fear of death and his guilt over unresolved cases. To compensate, he reads books by Dean Ornish, Herbert Benson and Robert Sarno given to him by his daughter, eats more veggies and practices yoga and meditation. But what really takes his mind off the "blood mud" clogging his arteries is his need to see justice served. Constantine rarely falters as he again scrutinizes a dying small town where politicians, cops and crooks divide up the diminishing spoils, and where people are still judged by their ethnic background. Balzic, meanwhile, continues to age ungracefully, cursing his deteriorating physique, hearing and memory in some very funny scenes that nearly relieve the darker doings elsewhere.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Mario Balzic, chief emeritus of the Rocksburg (Pa.) PD, likes keeping his investigative hand in, especially when there's a fat fee involvedsuch as the $50 an hour offered by lawyer Panagios Valcanas to check out a gun-shop burglary that might also be a scam involving the insurance company that Valcanas represents. Mario sets about the sleuthing in his characteristic waybrilliance disguised as ploddingwhen suddenly the bad thing hits him: a ``coronary incident,'' as he's told at Conemaugh General when he comes to after passing out on the steps of the state police barracks. Not to worry, though, his doctor reassures him, explaining about the tiny drill that will dissolve the ``blood mud'' clogging a Balzic artery. But Mario worries, all right. This quondam tower of strength, who has faced down his share of dangerous enemies, now finds himself terrified, stalked by irrationality, struggling just to get out of his house. But, emotionally off-balance as he is, he's still Mario Balzic. ``Life is movement,'' he says grimly, wrenching himself into action. The burglary, he discovers, does have ramifications. Not just a small-time hustle, it's connected to gangsterism, murder, official cover-up, and police chicanery, which of all public misbehavior is the likeliest to energize the straight-arrow Mario. Rising above a variety of obstacleshis own vulnerabilities among themhe solves the crime, but the punishment that follows is, at the very least, ill-fitting. This is Constantine at the top of his world-class game (Brushback, 1998, etc.), with dialogue to cherish as his hero contends with two intricate casesthe mystery behind a robbery-murder and the even more complex mystery of Mario Balzic. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 570 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; First Edition edition (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786220317
• ISBN-13: 978-0786220311
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,335,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It just does not get any better than this., April 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood Mud (Hardcover)

If you are a a first time visitor to Constantine's Rockville or a frequent visitor to the more than fifteen of the original novels - you are in for a treat. Ole' Mario is back with heart problems, a growing bar tab and cluster of challenges thanks to an insurance investigation pursued for an old friend. Simply the best dialogue in contemporary fiction, the richest characters and, by far, the best damned mystery reading available. Buy two copies and pass one on to a buddy; you'll get a pat on the back and a cold brewskie in return.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is that an elephant on my chest, or the weight of the world?, May 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood Mud (Hardcover)

Lemme start by saying I've read every one of K.C.C.'s Rocksburg books. I am a fan. Even though there have been some wherein the dialog was TOO 'authentic'--whole screeds from Valcanas in Mo's bar that went--and then re-visited--nowhere; in-term-in-a-ble bickerings between Mario & Ruthie that tripped every buzzer on the redundancy meter, enough already; Carlucci's internal round'n'round'n'rounds. No matter. I am a fan.

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?

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Balzic tale, April 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood Mud (Hardcover)

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