The Glass Factory: A Filomena Buscrasela Mystery

Sharp tongued and wise cracking Filomena Buscarsela has been given some sobering news. She has cancer and is not given long to live. She knows the one responsible for her slow lingering death. As her life is falling apart she is determined to get her revenge. She will stop at nothing to bring Sam Morse to his grave, for after all what has she got to lose? In this suspenseful story we see the vicious side of Filomena consumed by anger which borders on hatred. Forced to move in with her sister-in-law where the community's water is polluted by Morse's glass factory, Filomena drops all ethical restraints. Glass Factory is an intriguing story of environmental pollution allowed to go on for years. People are hurt but the corporate dogs escape punishment. Who will mete out justice for their crimes against humanity. Here we find a mother pushed to her limits and will stop at nothing to avenge not just herself but others who have been poisoned by Morse's greed. Filomena shows us what happens when one is pushed to the edge. We see a mother who loves her child but in her anger she carelessly puts her daughter in danger. Filomena also comes to the point of falling in love but once again her hatred is blinding her from a fulfilling relationship regardless of how much time that she has left. Is she becoming more like Morse is the underlying question and concern in this mystery? If so are the people any better off? Find out in this amazing thriller of revenge, greed and hate.

Filomena Buscarsela is dying of lung cancer and determined to get the man who poisoned her. She moves to Long Island and discovers he is poisoning the entire environment, yet no one seems to care. When she digs more deeply, she is threatened--worse, her child is threatened.k.j.a. Wishnia writes a fast-moving adventure and Filomena provides intriguing commentary on life in New York, her take on the Long Island suburbs, the dating scene, and the evils of capitalism. This last is the one hiccup in the works. Clearly toxic polluters are bad but do they have to represent an inditement of the entire capitalistic system? Also, I could have done with a little less literary criticism and gotten back to the action (which was really good).

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