23 Shades of Black — K.J.A. Wishnia / Ken Wishnia

A mystery with brains. A heroine with guts. And a city full of attitude...

Meet Filomena Buscarsela -- a street-smart cop who's finding that New York City is a far cry from her native Ecuador. She might be out of her element, but she's totally in sync with the city's crazy quilt of cultures...and its equally crazy cross section of crime.

It all starts with a typical night on the beat: breaking up a street scuffle, helping a rape victim limp through the justice system, and calling in a chemical emergency. But when a key witness to the "emergency" is found dead, and the department fails to solve the case, Filomena decides to investigate on her own. From the heights of the corporate world to the depths of the subways -- with a few detours along the way to some way-out nightclubs and down-and-dirty construction sites -- Filomena learns that the only way to stay on top of it all is to get to the bottom....