Book Review: The Glass Factory

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Glass Factory     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
K. J. A. Wishnia
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Woman Main Character
Series: Fil Buscarsela # 3
Dutton, Jun 2000, $23.95, 215 pp.

Several years, CEO Samuel Morse locked former New York police officer Fil Buscarsela in a room filled with a deadly toxin. Now Fil suffers from lung trouble that has her constantly coughing at any odor and spitting up blood. Even her three-year old daughter Antonia worries about Fil’s health.

A former peer tips Fil off about Sam’s latest empire building in Mineola, Long Island. Fil decides it is time to attain revenge as well as shut down one of the world’s worst polluters. She travels across the vast sea from Manhattan to the suburbs where Sam has built a GLASS FACTORY that employs much of the townsfolk. As she uncovers the illegal dumping of toxins, Fil finds no one willing to spill their guts about their employer. Sam knows Fil is in town and has his own plan to contaminate his enemy even further.

THE GLASS FACTORY, the third Buscarsela tale, is an entertaining environmental mystery, but falls short of its predecessors (see 23 SHADES OF BLACK and SOFT MONEY). The plot is exciting and well written, but the climax is too “clean air, blue sky, green trees” for the underlying complexities that support this brilliantly conceived story line. Fil retains her witty, somewhat self-deprecating character that readers enjoy and her daughter has become quite the precocious young lady. On the other hand, the villain seems plastic as he speaks in villain-speak rather than English. Fans of the series and anyone who relishes an environmental mystery starring a strong female lead will still gain much pleasure from K. J. A. Wishnia’s latest novel.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner