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Trouble in Rocksburg
Mario Balzic is a family guy. He loves his wife and both his daughters. He adores his mother who raised him after his father died in a coal mine when Balzic was only three years old. So Balzic is also part of Rocksburg and Rocksburg’s past and present. Now in the 70s … 80s Rocksburg changes, but the “Rust Belt” feeling still remains.
His mother is Italian, speaks often Italian and all her friends are mainly Italian. She is part of the Italian community as well as the rest of her family. She wasn’t happy when her son decided to start a career at the police, but now she is fine with him an his choice. Characteristic for Rocksburg and especially its Italian people is that nobody trusts the police and always silence rules the game. This doesn’t make it any easier for Balzic to do his job.
Mario Balzic became Chief of Police and has got some staff, however, too less to be able to care for law and order in a way appropriate for Rocksburg. So many petty crime goes unnoticed … until violence escalates and maybe results in manslaughter or even murder. Balzic is always seriously affected when a murder case disturbs his life and the daily business of Rocksburg. When investigating he sometimes works for 24 hours without getting any rest because he is afraid that more trouble, more crime may be brewing.
Balzic’s cases are not isolated, but always it’s Rocksburg as a city including Rocksburg’s administration, Rocksburg’s police, all the people milling around and sitting in the bars, all the families and the interrelations among them, the Catholic priests, all the petty crooks, Rocksburg’s sort of Mob and its good fellas – everybody seems part of the story. So any story told is a story of life in Rocksburg with Balzic in the centre.
Balzic tries to observe the law, but sometimes it seems necessary to bend the law in order to bring an evildoer to justice. He is not happy about this, but if there is no other way out – unless the bad boy walks out of the court without any sentence.
As mentioned there is Rocksburg’s Mob mainly interested to do their very own business with our any interruption. Therefore their boss is on good terms with anybody ruling the town – also with the Chief of Police. There are underhand dealings where anybody may be involved – also old ladies living at the margin of subsistence. In short anybody is always eager to lay hands on some money. Sometimes it goes wrong … and violence suddenly busts.
There are no sophisticated murders – people use kitchen knives, baseball bats, scarves or whatever is available to strangle somebody. Often only fists, mighty fists, do their work and leave behind horribly injured victims. Alcohol may be another player in the game. Shenanigans at decks, fraud at raffles … any kind of bad morals may lead to bloody outbursts – not to forget any sexual lapses.
When reading about Mario Balzic it’s always a story of a small society with their own rules, sometimes divergent concerning straightforward law and order, decent living, friendly neighborhoods – nevertheless they all live and enjoy and even sometimes they die of natural or unnatural causes.