23 Shades of Black

23 SHADES OF BLACK is a real stand-out among hardboiled mysteries. For one thing, the main character, a New York cop named Filomena Buscarsela, is a woman of Ecuadorian descent. For another, although Filomena's tough as nails, beneath her toughness lies both keen intelligence and empathy. In addition, this female character is the creation of a male author. K.j.a. Wishnia (the "K" stands for "Kenneth") has succeeded where most male authors tend to fail. Without turning her into a saint (at least, not too much of one), Wishnia has created a likable, highly realistic female protagonist in a story told in the first person. This alone should probably have earned Wishnia the Edgar, but the story offers much more to support that position.

The show more story is actually told in retrospect, which is oddly (but effectively) conveyed in the first person present tense. As in "I get out of the car and get my nightstick . . .," as if it's happening right now, rather than back in the early-to-mid 1980s. This lends the story an immediacy it might not otherwise have.

Filomena and her partner, Bernie ("a beef-brained cabeza de chorlito so cerebrally-challenged he couldn't pick his own nose without the aid of an instruction manual and a detailed map"), end up on an emergency call for a toxic leak at a food stamp center. Apparently, the leak is coming from an insecticide factory next door. Without waiting for a hazmat unit or rescue workers, Filomena charges into the building and saves someone. (Disbelief had to be suspended here, until realizing this was pre-9/11 and the anthrax scares of the future.)

After the incident, Filomena just can't let go of what happened. Even though questions of sabotage are raised, no one seems to be following up. A suspect is identified and he ends up dead. And Filomena is the only one who seems to care. She asks questions, only to be smacked down. She follows leads, only to be thwarted. A reporter who's been calling Filomena with questions suddenly gets cold feet. Not good signs.

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Hard-boiled, noir crime fiction edgier than Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, funnier than J.D. Robb’s Eve Dallas, Filomena Buscarsela is a kick butt, Hispanic cop with no rose colored glasses for New York City’s streets. She is believable, likeable and has a sense of right and wrong we all want to believe in.
Author K. J. A. Wishnia has brought to life one of the most interesting characters to the crime fiction genre in ages. This author knows sarcasm, wit, mystery and noir and he mixes it together with a character that makes 23 Shades of Black a true hard-boiled crime fiction success.
Filomena has had a hard time lately. She has a jerk for a partner, deals with the low life of the city streets and her personal life is falling show more apart. And that is just the beginning. She finds out that a toxic leak may have been sabotage and decided to pursue the case on her own.
This is what crime fiction was meant to be. show less

Protagonist: Filomena Buscarsela
Setting: present-day New York City
Series: #1

What's a woman from a very rural mountain village in Ecuador doing as a New
York City cop? There are some days when Filomena Buscarsela wonders that
herself. She's trying her best to make detective, but for some strange
reason, she's always a half point short. She doesn't give up, and that
doesn't win her many friends amongst her co-workers. Officially, she's
working the case of the Columbian woman raped by her landlord, the Federal
case of illegal immigrants, and anything else her superiors throw in her
direction. Unofficially, she's working on the case of a dead artist who
claimed that the Lilliflex Corp. was polluting the environment.

I've read that Wishnia couldn't show more find a publisher for this book and decided
to publish it on his own dime. I'm glad he did. Buscarsela is one of the
best characters I've had the good fortune to meet this year. She's tough,
she's funny, and she doesn't know when to quit. I didn't always agree with
her decisions, but I still liked her at book's end. I want more Buscarsela! show less