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Mario Balzic Detective Mystery#1
The Rocksburg Railroad Murders
The Rocksburg Railroad Murders is a crime novel by the American writer K.C. Constantine set in 1970s Rocksburg, a fictional, blue-collar, Rustbelt town in Western Pennsylvania (modeled on the author's hometown of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, adjacent to Pittsburgh, as well as his current place of residence, Greensburg, Pennsylvania).
Mario Balzic is the protagonist, an atypical detective for the genre, a Serbo-Italian American cop, middle-aged, unpretentious, a family man who asks questions and uses more sense than force.
As the novel opens, a man familiar to Mario has been found beaten to death with a Coke bottle on the platform of the Rocksburg railroad station. Mario becomes convinced that the man's stepson is the guilty party, but proving it will be a challenge.
Mario Balzic is the protagonist, an atypical detective for the genre, a Serbo-Italian American cop, middle-aged, unpretentious, a family man who asks questions and uses more sense than force.
As the novel opens, a man familiar to Mario has been found beaten to death with a Coke bottle on the platform of the Rocksburg railroad station. Mario becomes convinced that the man's stepson is the guilty party, but proving it will be a challenge.
196 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
About the author
K.C. Constantine
26books38followersCarl Constantine Kosak is an American mystery author known for his work as K.C. Constantine. Little is known about Kosak, as he prefers anonymity and has given only a few interviews. He was born in 1934 and served in the Marines in the early 1950s. He lives in Greensburg PA with wife Linda.
http://www.badattitudes.com/KCCintvw....
http://www.badattitudes.com/KCCintvw....
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 21, 2009
Chief of police Mario Balzic, in small southwest Pennsylvania town. So true to life, you can taste the stale beer.
November 14, 2021
I've hadThe Rocksburg Railroad Murders,the first Mario Balzic mystery, byK.C. Constantineon my bookdshelf for a couple of years. I'm glad I finally tried it. It was an interesting mystery and story and it's made me more enthusiastic about trying the other books in the series.
Mario Balzic is the police chief of Rocksburg Pennsylvania, a small town in Pa. The story starts with Mario working with local folks to manage traffic flow after the big high school football match. He is called to the train station where a dead body has been discovered. The face of the victim has been disfigured so much that Balzic doesn't recognize an old classmate. As he goes to advise the wife and children, he meets stepson Tommy and automatically is suspicious of him.
It's an interesting investigation, involving Mario, the DA (a pain in the butt) and his investigators (also pains in the butt) and the State Cops, led by Lt Moyer (him I like, he's got a great relationship with Mario), and thrown into the mix, Father Marazzo and Def Attorney Valcanas.
The story wanders around town but seems to spend a lot of time at Buscotti's Bar, where everybody hangs out. Whenever Mario needs to find someone, that's where he heads. We also meet his family, all of whom seem to be lovely people. The case moves along at a nice pace, at times Mario seems to make leaps of intuition that aren't necessarily supported by facts but he at least admits that. His logic is not too bad and he does get assistance from Moyer and Father Marazzo.
You get a nice description of the area and I imagine it will be fleshed out even more in future stories. Mario is a great character; thoughtful, intelligent, a man who cares about the community he's served for years. He's an interesting cop; doesn't believe his beat cops should be armed. He knows the people in his community and has a firm sense of justice. It's a gruff, gritty story and moves along nicely and introduces the characters so that you can empathize with them. I look forward to reading the next book. (3.5 stars)
Mario Balzic is the police chief of Rocksburg Pennsylvania, a small town in Pa. The story starts with Mario working with local folks to manage traffic flow after the big high school football match. He is called to the train station where a dead body has been discovered. The face of the victim has been disfigured so much that Balzic doesn't recognize an old classmate. As he goes to advise the wife and children, he meets stepson Tommy and automatically is suspicious of him.
It's an interesting investigation, involving Mario, the DA (a pain in the butt) and his investigators (also pains in the butt) and the State Cops, led by Lt Moyer (him I like, he's got a great relationship with Mario), and thrown into the mix, Father Marazzo and Def Attorney Valcanas.
The story wanders around town but seems to spend a lot of time at Buscotti's Bar, where everybody hangs out. Whenever Mario needs to find someone, that's where he heads. We also meet his family, all of whom seem to be lovely people. The case moves along at a nice pace, at times Mario seems to make leaps of intuition that aren't necessarily supported by facts but he at least admits that. His logic is not too bad and he does get assistance from Moyer and Father Marazzo.
You get a nice description of the area and I imagine it will be fleshed out even more in future stories. Mario is a great character; thoughtful, intelligent, a man who cares about the community he's served for years. He's an interesting cop; doesn't believe his beat cops should be armed. He knows the people in his community and has a firm sense of justice. It's a gruff, gritty story and moves along nicely and introduces the characters so that you can empathize with them. I look forward to reading the next book. (3.5 stars)
May 13, 2019
PROTAGONIST: Mario Balzic, Chief of Police
SETTING: Rocksburg, IL
SERIES: #1
RATING: 4.25
WHY: Rocksburg Chief of Police Mario Balzic grew up with John Andraski, although they were never friends. When Andraski is found brutally bludgeoned to death at the train station, he immediately suspects John’s stepson. There are a lot of ups and downs during the investigation. I liked the fact that Mario understood what authority he did and didn’t have when working on the case. Mario is aided by alcoholic lawyer Mo Valacas and Father Marrazo. He has confrontations with other characters, notably DA Milton Weigh. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a book as much as I did this one. I loved the lead character, who was completely genuine. He had some interesting views—he wouldn’t let the men under his command carry guns, for instance. The dialogue was excellent; it felt like real people were talking to one another. The biggest weakness was the plot. It stretched credulity a bit, but that wasn’t offputting.
SETTING: Rocksburg, IL
SERIES: #1
RATING: 4.25
WHY: Rocksburg Chief of Police Mario Balzic grew up with John Andraski, although they were never friends. When Andraski is found brutally bludgeoned to death at the train station, he immediately suspects John’s stepson. There are a lot of ups and downs during the investigation. I liked the fact that Mario understood what authority he did and didn’t have when working on the case. Mario is aided by alcoholic lawyer Mo Valacas and Father Marrazo. He has confrontations with other characters, notably DA Milton Weigh. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a book as much as I did this one. I loved the lead character, who was completely genuine. He had some interesting views—he wouldn’t let the men under his command carry guns, for instance. The dialogue was excellent; it felt like real people were talking to one another. The biggest weakness was the plot. It stretched credulity a bit, but that wasn’t offputting.
November 13, 2009
Constantine’s novels prove him a master of the small-scale crime procedural. His general sense of local color, dialog, and small-town community and controversy, combined with his keen insight into western Pennsylvania’s struggle to adjust to its post-industrial fall, make for the rarest of entertaining reads: the type gets you thinking without the burden of being aware of it. In Constantine’s debut, small-town police chief Mario Balzic takes on a high-stakes case that no one – surprisingly, yet very appropriately – suggests “can’t happen here.” As the plot thickens, Balzic proves just how wrong they are, and why they always will be. It’s a brilliant examination of the mendacity that lurks amid the mundane, and makes the impossible all-too-possible.
July 27, 2012
The Rocksburg Railroad Murders is the first of fifteen books in the Mario Balzic series. The strengths of the book are the characterisation, dialogue and social scenes, the sense of place, and the all show and no tell style. Constantine very good at creating clearly defined characters who are alive on the page and the social interactions between them are first rate, the dialogue spot on. Indeed, the dialogue is what makes the book sparkle, with lively exchanges through authentic voices. Constantine makes sure to thoroughly intertwine the social and work, providing a rounded view of Balzic’s world as a family man and local cop in a small community where he knows just about everyone. And the story is full of insight into local law and order politics, the intricacies of the relationships between local, state and federal cops and the legal system, and has some interesting political swipes at U.S. law enforcement (at one point Balzic makes a well argued case against police officers being armed, for example). Sometimes the plot perhaps focuses a little too much on Balzic and not on the mystery. In fact, there’s not much mystery to the story and the plot relies on a couple of awkward plot devices, especially toward the end in order to create a dramatic conclusion. But somehow that doesn’t really matter. The star of the show is Balzic and it was a pleasure to spend time in his company.
June 4, 2020
A book group selection. I liked the characters, the setting, and the times BUT, the premise for the book was weak. The novel was also dialog driven and tiresome to read. I really didn’t like the dialect used, which didn’t ring true. This novel was apparently written in just a few days and it shows. I have a few more by this author and I hope they are better.
August 27, 2020
this is another one I picked up from my bookshelf, after moving it around with me for who knows how many years. Its hero, a small town police chief, is admirably human. There is a discussion of the use of guns by police that is a half century ahead of its time, as this was written in the early 70s. An admirable mystery and well worth moving around with me all these years.
June 7, 2024
The first in the Mario Balzic, police chief, mysteries finds Balzic managing traffic control after the local high school football game. He just gets home afterward, when he gets called out again. A man has been found beaten to death at the train station. The beating was so furious that Balzic doesn't even recognize John Andrasko, a man he went to school with. The station master tells Balzic that Andrasko took the eleven-thirty-eight every night to his job at Knox, walking to the station through rain, sleet, or snow because he hated to drive. Andrasko was an unexceptional, steady family man whom Balzic can't imagine anyone wanting to kill. And then he meets the man's stepson Tommy Parilla. When he tells Tommy of his stepfather's death, Tommy doesn't even blink an eye--you'd think he had stepfathers dying every day of the week. So, Balzic immediately has his eye on the boy.
But the DA (a royal pain in the fanny) is just sure it has something to do with the supposed drug-running he claims is going on in his town. Balzic thinks the DA is right out of The Music Man-- "We've got trouble in River City!" --and wants any excuse to bear down on the long-haired hippies he thinks are behind every bad thing that happens. Balzic has a more sympathetic ear in Lieutenant Moyer of the State Police. And the two men set out to find out what really happened to John Andrasko that night and why.
So...there are quite a few things to like about this one--chiefly our Chief of Police Mario Balzic. He's smart and cares about the community he grew up in and now serves. He's interested in finding the right answer (not the most expedient or most convenient answer--see DA above) and is truly interested in justice. We get a very good look at small town America in the early 1970s. And even though this is a small town and not New York City, Balzic and the entire set up gives me Kojak vibes. Kojak could be tough on crime, but he had heart and really cared about the people involved in his cases. I also enjoyed Balzic relationships with Father Marazzo and Lieutenant Moyer. Both are down to earth and serve as sounding boards for the chief's ideas.
On the negative side, this isn't really a mystery. Sure, Constantine tries to drag a few red herrings across the path, but they aren't attractive enough to grab the attention. The story is more accurately a tough, gritty police procedural and it has a pretty bleak ending. I wouldn't have minded the bleak ending as much if I thought it made sense. But it just didn't. It didn't solve the murder--that was done. It didn't serve justice in any way and the reason given for the action just wasn't compelling. ★★★ for a fair beginning to the series.
First posted on my blogMy Reader's Block.
But the DA (a royal pain in the fanny) is just sure it has something to do with the supposed drug-running he claims is going on in his town. Balzic thinks the DA is right out of The Music Man-- "We've got trouble in River City!" --and wants any excuse to bear down on the long-haired hippies he thinks are behind every bad thing that happens. Balzic has a more sympathetic ear in Lieutenant Moyer of the State Police. And the two men set out to find out what really happened to John Andrasko that night and why.
So...there are quite a few things to like about this one--chiefly our Chief of Police Mario Balzic. He's smart and cares about the community he grew up in and now serves. He's interested in finding the right answer (not the most expedient or most convenient answer--see DA above) and is truly interested in justice. We get a very good look at small town America in the early 1970s. And even though this is a small town and not New York City, Balzic and the entire set up gives me Kojak vibes. Kojak could be tough on crime, but he had heart and really cared about the people involved in his cases. I also enjoyed Balzic relationships with Father Marazzo and Lieutenant Moyer. Both are down to earth and serve as sounding boards for the chief's ideas.
On the negative side, this isn't really a mystery. Sure, Constantine tries to drag a few red herrings across the path, but they aren't attractive enough to grab the attention. The story is more accurately a tough, gritty police procedural and it has a pretty bleak ending. I wouldn't have minded the bleak ending as much if I thought it made sense. But it just didn't. It didn't solve the murder--that was done. It didn't serve justice in any way and the reason given for the action just wasn't compelling. ★★★ for a fair beginning to the series.
First posted on my blogMy Reader's Block.
August 4, 2022
Written in 1972 and set in that time, this is a police procedural murder case, primarily. However, there's more to it; it's also a picture of the detective's world and those around him. Mario Balzic has grown up in Rocksburg, "a fictional blue-collar Rustbelt town in Western Pennsylvania, modeled on the author's hometown of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania" according to Wikipedia. He knows these people, some are police, lawyers, priests, etc., while others are often on the other side of the law or skimming the line. He spends a lot of his time in a local bar, where all of these types seem to gather to drink, play cards, etc.
But Mario is working on a brutal killing of one of his schoolmates and feels compassion for the victim's stepson, one of the "usual suspects." But, though the detective spends a lot of time drinking and conversing, especially with the local priest, he doesn't come across as one of the broken detectives that modern crime fiction seems rife with. He just comes across as a guy trying to do his best at both home and work, and not always making the right decisions. But trying.
The case wasn't a full-fledged mystery since Balzic had a suspect from early on. Some elements of the story are left hanging, but the series goes on for quite a few volumes and those threads may be picked up later. I plan to return to Rocksburg for the next volume and see what's going on in Mario Balzic's life.
Sidenote- many of the volumes of this series are found listed in the Kansas Library Catalog from my state. However, NO library still has volume one (this one), so we had to interlibrary loan it (from Arkansas, in this case). As a retired librarian, I'm sending out a plea to other public librarians to keep these early volumes, especially if you are the only one in the state owning it! One is enough, but think about it!
But Mario is working on a brutal killing of one of his schoolmates and feels compassion for the victim's stepson, one of the "usual suspects." But, though the detective spends a lot of time drinking and conversing, especially with the local priest, he doesn't come across as one of the broken detectives that modern crime fiction seems rife with. He just comes across as a guy trying to do his best at both home and work, and not always making the right decisions. But trying.
The case wasn't a full-fledged mystery since Balzic had a suspect from early on. Some elements of the story are left hanging, but the series goes on for quite a few volumes and those threads may be picked up later. I plan to return to Rocksburg for the next volume and see what's going on in Mario Balzic's life.
Sidenote- many of the volumes of this series are found listed in the Kansas Library Catalog from my state. However, NO library still has volume one (this one), so we had to interlibrary loan it (from Arkansas, in this case). As a retired librarian, I'm sending out a plea to other public librarians to keep these early volumes, especially if you are the only one in the state owning it! One is enough, but think about it!
March 27, 2019
Mario Balzic is the chief of police in a small Pennsylvania town. He's an oddball in that he doesn't even carry a gun, usually. When a senseless murder occurs at the railroad station, and there are no witnesses, Mario must rely on his wits and knowledge of psychology to direct him to the likely killer. Constantine writes very realistic fiction. This is not a glamorous or exciting detective novel, compared to most detective novels. The small-town setting makes it different from most police procedural, also. All the dialogue seems very true-to-life, and the characters are drawn by someone who knows people. The story drew me in further and further as I read. One gets the feeling that Constantine himself must live in a small Pennsylvania town like Rocksburg, just to be able to bring this kind of local flavor to the dish. This is the place to start if you're interested in this series, since it's the first novel in the set.
March 27, 2019
Detective Balzic works and lives in a blue-collar town in western Pennsylvania. His character feels very realistic and true to life. At the beginning of the novel, a hard working man is found brutally beaten to death with a Coke bottle on a train platform. There are no witnesses or evidence. When Balzic goes to inform the family, the man's step-son acts very nonchalant about the murder. Balzic has a theory and does everything in his power to bring justice to his town. In the end, Balzic is proven correct but not before more harm is done. These books are basic police procedurals but are lifted above the average by the realistic characters and locations. I will continue to read these novels.
May 5, 2022
More than a mystery or police procedural. Like the rest of the Rocksburg novels, this one makes the people and place in the story feel real. Compelling in that respect from the first page to the last. And the story packs a punch. Constantine (Kosak) seemed to be writing social history rather than trying to manufacture an artificial best seller. I first came across this more than 30 years ago. It was just as vivid and absorbing in a reread now. It's not perfect, but I'll rate it at 5 stars rather than 4 because of its clarity of vision, and because it led me to read the rest of Constantine's remarkable work as his later novels came out over the years.
May 1, 2023
I'd not heard of this series until a few weeks ago, got the paper copy and was pulled into the story. Fifty years after publication, it still packs a solid story with the feel of small-town western Pennsylvania. Some parts seem too wordy and the rhythm slows but the dialog picks up the tempo. Lots of cussing -- especially for 1972, and ethnic slurs that were common to the people and times. The main characters are mostly good folks trying to make sense of a bad situation. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
July 24, 2023
Not the normal type of book I would pick up, but glad I did. The ‘mystery’ wasn’t so much of a mystery, as there was only one suspect and he did it. I kept waiting for a plot twist, or another suspect to be added, but it never happened. The part that carries the book is the main character, police Chief Balzic. He’s a very realistic feeling character. It’s easy to step into his shoes and really get into the story through his eyes. The end kind of got a bit confusing and needlessly complicated after the ‘mystery’ was concluded, but all together I’m glad I read it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 12, 2024
Way to slow for my taste, stopped a 100pgs in and noticed how much they go for and put it up for sale.
That said I do believe a lot of folks that like small town mysteries that focus on the mystery and on the characters, dynamics will really enjoy this, the writing and character development is top notch, I personally was probably in the mood for some guns and naked chicks, you will not find that here.
That said I do believe a lot of folks that like small town mysteries that focus on the mystery and on the characters, dynamics will really enjoy this, the writing and character development is top notch, I personally was probably in the mood for some guns and naked chicks, you will not find that here.
October 21, 2018
I think it's probably fair to call this a cult classic. Set in the late 1960's in a working class town in Western Pennsylvania populated by ethnic whites, this book will delight readers hungry for a sense of place and local color. The characters that live inside the hard boundaries of this distinct paracosm are well developed and memorable, and the dialogue is absolutely masterful. There's not much plot or mystery, though, and the author does engage in some annoying editorializing and political commentary that does nothing to move the story forward. But it's still a great book; recommended to fans of "The Deer Hunter," "The Friends of Eddie Coyle," and early Bruce Springsteen.
September 14, 2020
The first of Mario Balzic’s escapades - and he is what makes the stories, not the crime itself or solving it. In fact, I’d argue that these are the only mystery thrillers where I don’t even really care about the mystery or the thriller. It’s all about the characters.
July 5, 2021
The start of the Mario Balzic series shows the humanity of its namesake detective and his connections to the people he polices. Probably would have worked better as a short story; there's not much even for a 196 page book. But it's sad and devastating all the same.
October 15, 2022
I enjoyed this very much. The ending was not up to the rest of the book but that seems pretty typical in detective fiction. I'll try to get more of this author's work but had to get this on interlibrary loan.
June 18, 2024
It’s more like “finished what I could” date. The library wanted it back.
April 1, 2016
This is the first of the Mario Balzic mysteries set in a fictional Rocksburg, a small town in southwestern PA that is apparently modeled on Greensburg. I've really liked Constantine (a pseudonym) since I read this book, my first also in the series, a number of years ago, and I made a point of tracking down the whole series. EAch one is different, and each is a delight, although I admit that my having grown in a small town in southewestern PA could have something to do with my interest in this series as I can really identify with the characters. But that is also a testament to Constantine's strength as a writer in that his characters, even the minor ones, are fully drawn indiviiduals. I also like that the motives for the crimes involved are generally very recognizably human rather than the work of crazed sociopaths (there seems to be a bit much of that in current mystery writing). That said, this is one of the darker of the Balzic series but not less powerful because of that. And the characters are a bit rougher around the edges than they are in later books in the series, but I really enjoyed moving back into this little world for a while again.
September 19, 2015
The Rocksburg Railroad Murders is set in Pennsylvania, not too terribly far from where I live. The setting and the action in the ethnic neighborhoods is very realistic. The characters, the local bars, and the attitudes towards and from the Italien Americans are very accurate to my experiences. The murder case is interesting but there really is not much of a mystery as right from the beginning, Mario Balzic, has the idea of who was guilty and it was just a matter of putting the evidence together. I think that I didn’t enjoy this one that much because there was not much of an escape factor, which I look for in books. The setting and characters are too familiar and so realisticlly drawn that it in some ways bored me, much as real life can at times. The tedium of life is so clearly protrayed here that I feel like it is well written to be able to evoke that sense, but if just made the actual book a drag to read at times.
March 17, 2013
This book brought me right back to my time in Southwestern Pennsylvania, as well as, the experience of growing up in a small town. Favorite moment: Mario asks his mom for information about a suspect's family history and says something to the effect that he would put his mom up against the FBI database any day. Also appreciated Mario's pragmatic relationship with dubious characters. He walks the fine line of not being on the take and not condoning, but knowing where the political winds blow and his priorities to keep the town safe. Looking forward to reading more in the series.
August 13, 2015
#1 in the Mario Balzic / Rocksburg, PA series.
Mario Balzic, police chief of Rocksburg, PA, tries to solve the murder, at the town's railroad station, of an old schoolmate. His suspect is the man's stepson but obstacles are the lack of evidence and motive. Background characters of his wife, children and mother, and the denizens of the local mob related bar, including a priest and lawyer flesh out this series debut.
Mario Balzic, police chief of Rocksburg, PA, tries to solve the murder, at the town's railroad station, of an old schoolmate. His suspect is the man's stepson but obstacles are the lack of evidence and motive. Background characters of his wife, children and mother, and the denizens of the local mob related bar, including a priest and lawyer flesh out this series debut.
November 17, 2015
Not much of a mystery but a really great look at small town life with some truly great characters.
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