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Title: The Blank Page by K.C. Constantine ISBN: 0-8415-0335-4 Publisher: Penguin USA Pub. Date: 01 October, 1974 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $5.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: Chief Balzic investigates a murder on the college campus
Comment: Chief of Police Mario Balzic receives a phone call from Miss Cynthia Summers who reports that she has not seen one of her student roomers for several days. Paying a courtesy call sounds a lot better to Balzic than working on the budget report until he finds the body of Janet Pisula on the floor of her room. The young woman has been strangled with her brassiere, wearing only her panties, with a blank sheet of paper resting on top of her body. The murder had happened sometime the previous week and nobody in the rooming house or on campus had noticed Janet had suddenly disappeared.
For "The Blank Page," the third novel in the Mario Balzic series, author K. C. Constantine has apparently settled on a specific literary modus operandi. Lt. Harry Minyon, the blundering blowhard who was in charge of the local State Police barracks in the previous mystery "The Man Who Like to Look at Himself" has been temporarily replaced by Lt. Walker Johnson, who is more in the mold of Lt. Phil Moyer from "The Rocksburg Railroad Murders" in terms of providing support for Balzic rather than an constant impediment in the search for the murderer. By removing the set of stereotypical clowns getting in the way of Balzic's investigation, Constantine is able to keep the story's focus on the chief's interrogative skills. In the current dichotomy represented by television's "Law & Order" and "C.S.I." franchises, Constantine's Balzic is clearly in the camp of the former. The focus here is not on forensic science or the ability to beat and/or shoot up bad guys, but rather on asking the right questions in order to gather the necessary information. Reading these books is waiting for the key piece of the puzzle to show up so that everything can fall into place, at which point Balzic can go bring in the murderer. These novels are not so much about police procedure as they are the lost art of interrogation. Of course, in Constantine's hands these interrogations rarely take place in a special room at the police station.
"The Blank Page" is the best of the first three Mario Balzic novels, although readers who are captivated by some of the more colorful characters in Rocksburg may well wish Father Mazzo and Mo Vulcanas were more involved in the story as they were respectively in the first two books. Personally, I would like to see a bit more of Balzic's family, since they tend to provide nice counterpoints to the crime being investigated. But the most important other character in these novels to this point in the series clearly ends up being the murderer. I would not go so far a to say Balzic shows compassion for the murderers he catches (with the exception being what happened in the second novel), but there is certainly a strong sense of empathy and understanding towards the story they have to tell. But then, it is that ability to look at things from the perspective of others that is Balzic's greatest asset when it comes to solving crimes.
Comments on recurring concerns: "The Blank Page" was originally published in 1974, which helps to explain the original art on the hardcover edition with is a photograph of a woman's naked torso reproduced four times in pop art style with an empty rectangle representing the titular item on her stomach. Besides any concerns about having a picture of a naked breast reproduced four times on a book cover, there is the problem that it suggests the crime in this novel involves some sort of lurid sex act. However, I tend to think this is more an attempt at titillation by the marketing department for the Saturday Review Press rather than a red herring intended to throw readers off the track of the mystery. The other thing to be pointed out is that Constantine does not believe in chapters, so if you are in the read "x" number of chapter before bedtime school of reading, be forewarned. Constantine's books are ideal for those of us living the commuter lifestyle.
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Title: The Man Who Liked to Look at Himself by K.C. Constantine ISBN: 0879236639 Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher Pub. Date: 01 June, 1987 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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Title: Cranks and Shadows (A Mario Balzic Novel) by K. C. Constantine ISBN: 0446403539 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1996 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Good Sons by K. C. Constantine, Mysterious Press ISBN: 0892965444 Publisher: Replica Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: Family Values by K. C. Constantine ISBN: 0892965452 Publisher: Warner Books Inc Pub. Date: 01 February, 1997 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: Blood Mud (Mario Balzic Novel) by K. C. Constantine ISBN: 0446676403 Publisher: Mysterious Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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