- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher (1 July 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1567921922
- ISBN-13: 978-1567921922
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.4 x 1.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 59,918 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
20 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Among the best of modern mysteries
30 Dec 1996
Format:Paperback
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
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
The Best of the Best
31 July 2009
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
An Original Right Off the Vine
13 Oct 2003
Format:Paperback
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.
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