Joey's Case [Large Print] [Hardcover]

K. C. Constantine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1989

Police Chief Mario Balzic has got one hot Italian on his heels. Albert Castelucci wants to straighten some things out about his son's murder. It seems that the investigator Balzic appointed to Castelucci's case made such a mess no jury could convict the killer. Pushing Balzic into losing his temper may just provide the answers Castelucci needs.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like the characters in The Man Who Loved Slow Tomatoes and other of Constantine's novels, the citizens of Rocksburg, Pa., are recognizable human beings in his new story. And his gritty dialogue fairly zips off the page. Tough old ex-miner Albert Castelucci nags the town police chief, Mario Balzic, into checking on the killing of his son Joey. The grieving father believes the state police, in charge of the case, have bungled badly. When Balzic agrees to investigate unofficially, he hears that Francis Collins, the lover of Joey's estranged wife Rose, had fired the fatal shot to save his own life. Rosa's relatives, tenants in her building, support the claim that Joey was beating Collins before the gun went off. Balzic's suspicions of a murder conspiracy grow stronger but he can find no evidence, and, during Collins's trial, he bitterly contemplates the wide gap between justice and the law. Disclosures after the verdict is reached provide the climactic, stunning moment in the complex mystery.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: ABC-Clio Inc (June 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557361215
• ISBN-13: 978-1557361219
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,365,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book!, August 31, 2010

By 

egreetham (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joey's Case (Hardcover)

If you haven't stumbled across K.C. Constantine as yet, you are one lucky soul and you're in for a major treat: "Joey's Case" may be his best book. K.C. Constantine wrote a series, of which this is one, chronicling the doings of the Mario Balzic, chief of police of Rocksburg, PA, a declining industrial town in the Rust Belt. He is a long-suffering man of some intelligence and more intuition, thoroughly wedded to his work, but just as devoted to his wife Ruth, who understands him better than he understands himself at times--as in this story.

Joey, a man of uncertain temper is dead--murdered. His elderly father is convinced that something was wrong with the case that failed to convict his son's klller--and that Chief Balzic is the man to put this right. The old man haunts Balzic everywhere for months, trailing him even to the hospital, where Balzic uncharacteristically loses his temper. "Now I'm getting somewhere," the elderly Castolucci says. And, indeed, just as the old man suspects, there are some loose ends to be dealt with, and as so often happens, all is not what it seems.

Wonderful atmosphere, poignant picture of family lives, complex characters, great story--fabulous.

Read this, then read: Upon Some Midnights Clear, Always a Body to Trade, The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes,..