Careful What You Wish For

March 1, 2019

Professional organizer Emily Harlow would love to attack her own husband's sky-high pile, but it's against her own rules. Still, she and a new client laughingly imagine what life would be like without their hoarding husbands. Careful what you wish for, Emily. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

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.

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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.

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.)