Journal Entry 1 by goatgrrl from New Westminster, British Columbia Canada on Saturday, July 22, 2006

The fifth book in K.C. Constantine (Carl Kosak)'s Mario Balzic series, recommended by my friend Mary in Ottawa. The whole series:

• The Rocksburg Railroad Murders (1972)
• The Man Who Liked to Look at Himself (1973)
• The Blank Page (1974)
• A Fix Like This (1975)
• The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes (1982)
• Always a Body to Trade (1983)
• Upon Some Midnights Clear (1985)
• Joey's Case (1988)
• Sunshine Enemies (1990)
• Bottom Liner Blues (1993)
• Cranks and Shadows (1995)
• Good Sons (1996; with Rugs Carlucci)
• Family Values (1997)
• Brush Back (1998; with Rugs Carlucci)
• Blood Mud (1999)
• Grievance (2000; with Rugs Carlucci)
• Saving Room for Desert (2002)

Journal Entry 2 by goatgrrl from New Westminster, British Columbia Canada on Monday, March 05, 2007

The fifth book in K.C. Constantine's "Mario Balzic" series, set in Rocksburg, Pennsylvania, a fictional industrial town in the steel belt said to be modeled after Johnstown (in Rocksburg Railroad Balzic notes "this isn't ... Pittsburg", in Always a Body to Trade we learn Rocksburg is the county seat).

It's the late 1970s and Rocksburg is suffering under coal mine closures and labour strife. Even the police are poised to go on strike -- their contract has expired and negotiations between the police union and City Hall are not going well. Balzic is working harder than ever, and seldom gets to see his wife, mother and children, who have noticed his absence. He's also hitting the bottle hard enough to capture his mother's attention.

A few notes on some of the characters:

• Mario Balzic: born in 1924 and in his early fifties in Slow Tomatoes, Balzic has been Chief of the Rocksburg police force for eleven years. He lives with his elderly mother, his wife Ruth and his teenage daughters Marie and Emily. The son of a Serbian father and an Italian mother (he swears in both languages), Balzic enlisted with the Marines in 1942 and fought in the Battles of Tarawa and Iwo Jima. In Slow Tomatoes he has been a member of the Rocksburg police force for about thirty years. Balzic is an unrepentant debtor, an enthusiastic wine drinker and an expert marksman (a skill he's honed out of fierce commitment not to kill anyone he's attempting to arrest).
  
• Jimmy Romanelli: forty years old, the wife of Mary Frances "Franny" Romanelli. Laid off by the coal mine in nearby Westfield Township ("the patch"), after his unemployment benefits ran out he tried to make a living selling quick ripening tomatoes at Muscotti's. Disappears from home for unusual stretches of time, which worries his wife, Mary Frances.
  
• Mary Frances Romanelli: nee Mary Frances "Franny" Fiori, a childhood acquaintance of Balzic's (the latter used to babysit her while their fathers talked about union activities). Now thirty-six years old and married to Jimmy Romanelli, about whose frequent and lengthy disappearances she is concerned. After Jimmy lost his job in the coal mine, Mary Frances went back to college to learn secretarial skills, and seems to have had her consciousness raised by 1970s-style "women's libber" classmates.
  
• Mike Fiori: an old friend of Balzic's father, Fiori was big in the union with Balzic's Dad. Fiori spent fifty-five years working under ground in the coal mines. Now nearly eighty, he wheezes but still walks five miles every day and works in his garden growing "slow" tomatoes.
  
• Vinnie: a bartender employed at Muscotti's who has made a science out of skimming a daily rake from the till.
  
• Mayor Angelo Bellotti: current Mayor of Rocksburg, "nobody could find gainful employment at public expense faster than he could".

Journal Entry 3 by goatgrrl at Best Western Northgate Inn in Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada on Thursday, March 08, 2007

Released 4 yrs ago (3/8/2007 UTC) at Best Western Northgate Inn in Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

I'll be leaving this book on the table in the lobby at the Best Western Northgate Inn, around 12:30 pm today. Best wishes and happy reading to whomever picks it up!