Careful What You Wish For

Starred review from June 3, 2019
This outstanding standalone from bestseller Ephron (You’ll Never Know, Dear) may be the first domestic thriller to weave in Marie Kondo’s decluttering theory about discarding things that don’t spark joy. Paring down her belongings brings so much joy to Emily Harlow that she and her friend Becca Jain have started a business, Freeze-Frame Clutter Kickers, to help others organize. Emily’s husband’s obsession with possessions brings her no joy, especially since his “compulsive yard-sale-ing” has overstuffed the basement of their suburban Boston home. But Emily’s rule is that she can’t discard another’s property, even in her own house. Meanwhile, a new client wants Emily and Becca to clear out her late husband’s storage unit she didn’t know he had, and Emily bonds with another client whose husband is also a hoarder. The discovery of a body in the storage unit raises the stakes. Appealing characters and some suspenseful detective work help elevate this in-depth look at people’s emotional attachment to things. After being a finalist five times, Ephron may finally win the Mary Higgins Clark Award for this one. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary.

July 1, 2019

Best-selling author Ephron (There Was an Old Woman) introduces professional organizer Emily Harlow, owner of Freeze-Frame Clutter Kickers. Emily likes to keep her things in order, but husband Frank loves to hit the yard sales on the weekends and has filled their home with stuff. One would think Emily could fix the issue of clutter at her own house, but she has a rule that you can only organize your own things, so Frank's finds are off-limits. While working, she meets Mrs. Murphy and Quinn Newell. Mrs. Murphy hires Emily to go through the possessions of her recently deceased husband, while Quinn Newell hires her company to declutter her garage. Emily crosses professional boundaries by getting a little tipsy during her initial consultation with Quinn. They both joke about getting rid of their sloppy spouses, and a few days later Emily finds herself in a huge mess. VERDICT With smooth dialog and a title that is a good representation of the story line, Ephron offers a great "murder swap" mystery reminiscent of the 1951 Hitchcock classic Strangers on a Train. Recommended for those who love puzzling, unpredictable mysteries with a little lesson in professional organizing on the side. [See Prepub Alert, 2/11/19.]--Joni Gheen, LadyJ's Bookish Nook, McConnelsville, OH

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2019
If it doesn't bring you joy...get rid of it before it drags you into a murder investigation. In Ephron's (You'll Never Know Dear, 2017, etc.) latest clever crime novel, professional organizer Emily Harlow has made uneasy peace with her lawyer husband Frank's extreme garage-sale-ing. As their story opens, she's in her bedroom making a promotional video about closet decluttering; he's downstairs unloading more boxes of junk into a basement already stuffed with his collections. The irony is not lost on her. But with fertility issues already putting stress on the childless marriage, both partners immerse themselves in their separate activities rather than face off directly. Conveniently, Emily's business, Freeze-Frame Clutter Kickers, has gotten so busy that she and her business partner, Becca, have had to start working weekends. First they have an elderly client who urgently needs them to clean out the storage unit where her late husband kept his collections. Then a wealthy woman whose controlling husband has never let her move her stuff into his showplace mansion, the walls of which are covered with his priceless collections, offers to pay them double if they can come over right away. Everyone's a collector, right? But this is a little more than the skewed perspective of a Marie Kondo devotee--something is rotten in the storage unit. But Emily hasn't done anything wrong--so why do people keep telling her they've got her back? Ephron's tidy approach to stowing clues, arousing suspicions, keeping the chaos of the climax under control, then tying up loose ends makes her a professional organizer of this type of entertainment. In a word--neat.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Narrator Amy McFadden dives into the evolving drama in this clever thriller featuring a professional organizer and her garage saleloving husband. Emily and her partner, Becca, are capitalizing on the Marie Kondo trend by helping people declutter their homes. The women have the details of their business down to a science--until one busy day they gain two new clients, and Emily reluctantly agrees to conduct one of the job assessments solo. McFadden's inflections and delivery of dialogue highlight Emily's incrementally changing psychological state: from annoyance at the needy new client to worry when a minor mistake threatens to have big consequences and then to fear as she comes to the horrifying realization that she's being set up as someone else's fall guy. C.B.L. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

August 1, 2019
Emily Harlow has changed careers, going from teacher to professional organizer. It's something of an odd choice since her husband, Frank, is a flea-market enthusiast, verging on hoarder. But Emily's fledgling business, which she runs with her best friend, is doing well, and the future looks even brighter, thanks to two new clients: Mrs. Murphy, who needs to clean the storage locker of her deceased husband, and Quinn Newell, a young woman who wants help cleaning her garage. Of course, nothing is as it seems, and, before long, the jobs are suspiciously intertwined by the discovery of Quinn's husband's body in Mrs. Murphy's storage locker. In Emily, veteran writer Ephron has created a likable amateur sleuth, albeit one who figures out various plot elements considerably after the reader does. Still, the story flows smoothly and agreeably around an engaging premise. It's easy to see this as the start of a series; after all, there are plenty of opportunities to find dead bodies when one is cleaning out closets and garages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)