| The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes | |
| Author: | K. C. Constantine |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Publisher: | David R. Godine |
| Release Date: | 1982 |
| Media Type: | Print (hardback) |
| Pages: | 177 |
| Isbn: | 0-87923-407-5 |
| Oclc: | 7737675 |
| Preceded By: | A Fix Like This |
| Followed By: | Always 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.