A young Brooklyn assistant district attorney, Carmen Rodriguez, is called to investigate the murder of a Hasidic Jew. The Shomrim, the Hasidic community patrol, apprehended a suspect, Ramon Perez, a few minutes after the murder.

During the course of her investigation, Carmen learns that one of three eyewitnesses to the crime, Moshe Herz, is mentally unstable and may have a crack problem. Moshe's landlady tells Carmen that Moshe has a dybbuk.

Tightly plotted, suspenseful, and funny, Twelve Wounds provides a sobering insight into what sometimes passes for criminal justice in New York City.