Always a Body to Trade by K. C. Constantine

An unidentified young woman is found murdered by the police. Without any leads to work with, Chief Mario Balzic begins his search to find the killer of the nameless Jane Doe. But what starts as a mysterious murder soon turns into a sordid tale of police corruption, coupled with a power struggle between the police chief and the newly-elected Mayor, whose naive morality clashes with the reality of detective work.

In this installment of the Mario Balzic series, K.C. Constantine presents once again his brilliant dialogue and his frank, no-nonsense portrait of blue collar United States. The book is especially adept at portraying the overt racism of the late-1970s, as well as the messy reality of the legal system.

Unlike with his best work, however, this novel contains some uneven characters, particularly with some of the drug dealers who appear more clownish than human. That being said, the second-half of the story is quite good, and by the end of the book the reader is reminded once again why Constantine is such a strong writer.

3 out of 5 stars