The beat goes on in Rocksburg

REVIEWS BY BRUCE TIERNEY

For some 30 years, author K.C. Constantine has chronicled the adventures of police detective Mario Balzic in the fictional rust-belt city of Rocksburg. In Saving Room for Dessert, however, Balzic is but a minor player. The stars are three beat officers with very different backgrounds: one is an African American grappling with some serious ex-wife issues, one a somewhat overweight young fellow who can't abide wearing his bullet-proof vest, and one a short-timer counting the days until retirement. It is a recipe for calamity as the three answer a call to "the Flats," Rocksburg's community of chronically unemployed steel workers.

Constantine's Rocksburg novels are much more than standard police procedurals; in fact, the crime story is often secondary to the goings-on in the lives of the officers: issues of love, race, class and the disappointments of living in a dying town. With the closing of the steel mills, Rocksburg is in a state of collapse, its tax structure unable to keep up with the needs of its residents. Depression is the order of the day, both clinical and economic.

Constantine has been described as "one of the best-kept secrets in American fiction," and he gives every indication that he likes it that way: no interviews, no pictures, even his name is a pseudonym. Still, this fine writer deserves a much greater degree of recognition. He has an ear for dialogue that equals the masters, George V. Higgins and Elmore Leonard, and a sense of place without rival in contemporary detective novels.


Decker makes a brand new start

Best-selling author Faye Kellerman is back on the scene with her latest Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novel Stone Kiss. It has been some 10 years since Lt. Peter Decker walked the streets of New York. He is summoned back by the murder of a distant family member and the strange disappearance of a young girl. From the outset, this case promises to be trouble, as neither the New York police nor the family are particularly pleased to have his assistance with the crime. Decker's best chance for a clue rests with someone from his past, a pornographer and part-time pimp with ties to organized crime.

Kellerman's Decker/Lazarus novels continue to be among the most popular in contemporary crime fiction; they are well crafted and tautly paced. It helps to have read the earlier ones first, as occasional oblique mention is made of past events, leaving the reader puzzled from time to time. That said, Kellerman's legions of fans will remember the references like shared memories with old friends.


Tip of the ice pick

For more years than I can remember, I've been a fan of J.A. Jance's J.P. Beaumont mysteries. Beaumont, known to his friends as Beau, is a recovering alcoholic, a former Seattle cop turned private investigator. The stories are written in the first person, as all good detective novels should be. It was not until years later that I realized that J.A. Jance is a woman writing in the persona of a man, and carrying it off seamlessly (no mean feat). Somewhat later in her career, Jance started a second series featuring Arizona sheriff Joanna Brady. The Brady mysteries are written in the third person, and they have an entirely different feel, both in terms of gender and level of grittiness.

Jance's latest novel, Partner in Crime, winner of this month's Tip of the Ice Pick Award for best mystery novel, addresses a longtime desire of fans, namely that Beau and Joanna meet. It would be fair to say that both detectives are of the type-A personality, and fireworks are inevitable when they get together.

When a murder in Arizona turns out to have connections to a Washington state civil case, Beaumont is assigned to the investigation by the state Attorney General. Little does he realize that his trip will launch the biggest turf war since the days of Wyatt Earp. Adversaries at first sight, Beaumont and Brady must forge a working relationship—or shoot it out at the OK Corral! Interestingly, the parts of Partner in Crime featuring Sheriff Joanna Brady are written in the third person, while the Beau Beaumont parts are written in the first person, which is a thought-provoking device, and less confusing than it might seem at first blush.


Nashville-based writer Bruce Tierney is a lifelong mystery reader who was weaned on the Hardy Boys.

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