First she was a beat cop, then she was unemployed. Now, Kenneth Wishnia’s dynamic Filomena Buscarsela has apprenticed herself to a New York City PI firm to put in the three years necessary to get her own PI license, which she needs to earn enough money to support herself and her daughter. Trouble is, she often agrees to take on sticky neighborhood cases pro bono—like the group of squatters restoring an abandoned building in the neighborhood—rather than handle the big-bucks clients her bosses would prefer.
While helping out her more “senior” colleagues with her own superior investigative techniques bred from years on the beat, Fil agrees to look into the disappearance of a young immigrant. Then, witnessing the arrest of a neighbor on marijuana-possession charges that nearly turns into a shoot-out with the police, Fil is roped into finding out what went wrong. Trying to balance charity cases like these with bread-and-butter cases, not to mention single motherhood, Fil is quickly in over her head dodging bullish cops, aggressive businessmen, and corrupt landlords in their working-class Queens neighborhood.
After years of policing and backstreet bloodhounding, Filomena Buscarsela is apprenticing to earn her own private investigator’s license. She pours on her Spanish, her clever tricks, and her battle-tested charms to uncover a labyrinth of deceit, racial prejudice, and impenetrable bureaucracy that not only rocks her neighborhood but also threatens the foundation of the big red house that is this PI’s America.
What People Are Saying
A Washington Post “Rave” Book of the Year
“Smart dialogue, a realistic and gritty depiction of New York, and the sensitive exploration of environmental, racial, and economic issues make this another great read in an energetic series.”
—Booklist
“An engaging character with a wry sense of humor. The jam-packed plot makes for an exciting story.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[Wishnia’s] word play is as sharp as his social conscience, and he has created a wonderfully intelligent and human voice for his protagonist. She can move from angry to funny to obscene in a handful of sentences, then climb back out of the gutter to take on the big boys again without hesitation. If only Buscarsela were real, the world would be a better place.”
—Washington Post
“Wishnia delivers well-developed characters with sharp, realistic dialogue. Red House shines when it depicts the gritty, uncaring urban jungle.”
—South Florida Sun-Sentinel
“She puts [other] female sleuths way in the shade.”
—The Times (St. Petersburg, FL)
About Kenneth Wishnia
Kenneth Wishnia was born in Hanover, NH, to a roving band of traveling academics. He has lived and worked (and been chased by riot police) on three continents, including several years in Scotland, France, and Ecuador. The urgent need for a day job forced him to earn a B.A. from Brown University (1982) and a Ph.D. in comparative literature from SUNY Stony Brook (1996). He teaches writing, literature, and other deviant forms of thought at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood, Long Island, where he is a professor of English.
His first novel, 23 Shades of Black, was nominated for the Edgar and the Anthony Awards and madeBooklist’s Best First Mystery list, and was followed by five other novels, including Soft Money, a Library Best Mystery of the Year, Red House, a Washington Post Book World “Rave” Book of the Year, and The Fifth Servant, an Indie Notable selection and a finalist for the Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery Award.
About Alison Gaylin (introduction)
Alison Gaylin's debut novel, Hide Your Eyes, was nominated for an Edgar Award in the Best First Novel category. Her 2012 novel, And She Was, was the first in a new series featuring Brenna Spector, a private investigator blessed (and cursed) with perfect autobiographical memory, and was a USA Today bestseller.