Blood Mud — K.C. Constantine

The New York Times Book Review has hailed K. C. Constantine as the "eloquent" medium for "the voices of people who have lost out on the American dream". The place once again is the fictional town of Rocksburg, PA, which once had factories and saloons. Today it has "professional buildings" -- and saloons. It is here you'll meet Mario Balzic, the retired but irrepressible police chief who, like Rocksburg itself, is far from ready to call it quits...

He's lost his mother. He's earned his pension. Now Mario Balzic swaps the service rags of the public cop for the shirt and tie of the private cop. His assignment to go with the new look? Track down some stolen guns for an insurance company. Mario isn't surprised when they lead to bigger trouble: a philandering politico, an ambitious police chief, and a deli owner cum racketeer and his hapless nephew. Then a sudden murder puts a twist into his search, and a sudden cardiac episode almost stops him cold. Mario's lonely job has become a grim mission: to stay alive, at least long enough to crack another case.