The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes

The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes is a crime novel by the American writer K. C. Constantine set in 1980s Rocksburg, a fictional, blue-collar, Rust Belt town in Western Pennsylvania, modeled on the author's hometown of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, adjacent to Pittsburgh.

The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes
First edition
AuthorK. C. Constantine
LanguageEnglish
PublisherDavid R. Godine
Publication date
1982
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages177
ISBN0-87923-407-5
OCLC7737675
Preceded byA Fix Like This 
Followed byAlways a Body To Trade 

Mario Balzic, the protagonist, is an atypical detective for the genre: he is a Serbo-Italian American cop, middle-aged, unpretentious, a family man, and someone who asks questions and uses more sense than force.[1]

The novel opens at Muscotti's Bar, Balzic's refuge, as Jimmy Romanelli sells several baskets of tomatoes to Vinnie, the barkeep. It ends weeks later after a disappearance that sorely challenge the detective skills of Balzic.

It is the fifth book in the 17-volume Rocksburg series.

References

edit