Blood Mud

In the bleak, industrial no-man's-land of central Pennsylvania sits Rocksburg, the town Constantine has put to such good use in his Mario Balzic and other mysteries (Brushback, etc.). Now, retired police chief Balzic, conscientious and cranky, is hired by an insurance lawyer to investigate a claimed loss of 40-plus handguns and 30,000 rounds of ammunition stolen from a firearms company. Bored with retirement, trying to ignore his wife's suggestions that he exercise more and they move to Florida, the self-described ""old geezer"" eagerly takes the job. Of course, what he uncovers is more complicated and corrupt than a simple heist. As is typical of Constantine's dark, gritty novels, the pitch-perfect dialogue carries a zigzag plot, full of idiosyncratic characters, that is beautifully developed and enigmatically resolved. Balzic's warm, often combative relationship with his wife intensifies when he suffers a ""coronary event"" and must face his fear of death and his guilt over unresolved cases. To compensate, he reads books by Dean Ornish, Herbert Benson and Robert Sarno given to him by his daughter, eats more veggies and practices yoga and meditation. But what really takes his mind off the ""blood mud"" clogging his arteries is his need to see justice served. Constantine rarely falters as he again scrutinizes a dying small town where politicians, cops and crooks divide up the diminishing spoils, and where people are still judged by their ethnic background. Balzic, meanwhile, continues to age ungracefully, cursing his deteriorating physique, hearing and memory in some very funny scenes that nearly relieve the darker doings elsewhere. (Apr.)