THE MAN WHO LIKED TO LOOK AT HIMSELF by K.C. Constantine

 Finished Mo 12/11/23

An excellent short novel from the early 70's by a writer that I really liked. The novel features racist assertions and a negative attitude toward gay characters. But, these were accurate feelings of many people at the time and it was kind of refreshing to hear, although it did seem very 'out of touch'. 

From the author's page at Wikipedia:

"Carl Constantine Kosak (1934 – March 23, 2023), better known by the pen name K. C. Constantine, was an American mystery author.

His most famous creation is Mario Balzic, police chief in fictional Rocksburg, Pennsylvania. Rocksburg is a by-product of Kosak's hometown McKees Rocks, as well as the nearby cities Greensburg and Johnstown. Kosak is much more interested in the people in his novels than the actual mystery, and his later novels become ever more philosophical, threatening to leave the mystery/detective genre behind completely. In 1989 Constantine was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel for the Mario Balzic novel Joey's Case. In 1999 Booklist ranked Blood Mud among the year's best crime novels, saying (along with Brushback) "Constantine has given us two more superb police procedurals and a wonderful opportunity to renew our acquaintance with one of the most memorable characters in contemporary crime fiction."

From the book's page at Wikipedia: 

The Man Who Liked To Look at Himself is a crime novel by the American writer K. C. Constantine.[1][2] The novel is set in 1970s 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 is the protagonist, an atypical detective for the genre, a Serbo-Italian American cop, middle-aged, unpretentious, a family man who asks questions and uses more sense than force.

As the novel opens, Balzic and Lt. Harry Minyon of the state police are hunting pheasant at the Rocksburg Rod and Gun Club when, after Minyon's dog bites Balzic, the dog uncovers a piece of human bone that shows signs of having been hacked apart.

It is the second book in the 17-volume Rocksburg series.