The Rocksburg Railroad Murders

 The Rocksburg Railroad Murders (1972) by K. C. Constantine (Carl Constantine Kosak)

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 line: Even with the hand-talkies, it took Chief Mario Balzic a half hour after the game to get the auxiliary police coordinated.

Last line: Everybody except the teachers and Balzic.
********************

Deaths = 3 (two hit on head; one stabbed)