The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes

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

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.

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.

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