CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Now available in paperback, hardback, e-book, and audio!
Emily Harlow is a professional organizer who helps people declutter their lives; she’s married to a man who can’t drive past a yard sale without stopping. He’s filled their basement, attic, and garage with his treasures.

Sometimes she finds herself wondering: Does he spark joy?

Jamie Lee Curtis, TIME Magazine: CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR is “THRILLING AND SUSPENSEFUL”! 

 

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Free excerpts: 

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

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2023-2024 Dr. Herb Voigt Writer in Residence, Milton Public Library!

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STARRED review for You’ll Never Know, Dear in Publisher’s Weekly

“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. … After being a finalist five times, Ephron may finally win the Mary Higgins Clark Award for this one.” – Publisher’s Weekly

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ONE OF AUGUST’S TEN BEST BOOKS

Careful What You Wish For

“When a professional organizer comes across what seems to be stolen property and then discovers a dead body, the mess is more than she bargained for. It definitely does not spark joy. In this thoroughly enjoyable twist on the classic murder mystery, her organizing skills help solve the puzzle.” — Christian Science Monitor

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“Hallie Ephron’s Careful What You Wish For is one of the most original thrillers I’ve read this year, in large part because of the heroine who takes center stage. … The tale’s irony is both striking and sumptuous, as we watch Emily struggling to apply the principles of her trade to untangle herself from the web in which she’s mired.” — The Providence Journal

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“Move over, Marie Kondo! Professional organizer Emily Harlow not only helps to declutter her clients’ lives, she has also become the prime suspect in a murder. In “Careful What You Wish For,” Hallie Ephron has created a psychological thriller so brilliantly constructed that you’ll be asking yourself “How did I miss that clue?” while simultaneously racing to finish the book – most likely in one sitting.” — The Orange County REGISTER

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Lori Rader-Day interviews Hallie for the Chicago Review of Books.

Ephron’s novels are hyper-contemporary, engaging with our very of-the-moment fears about family life and the modern world. In her latest, Careful What You Wish For, Ephron has written what might just be the first crime fiction novel to “spark joy” by inciting terror in the decluttering industry. (Think Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up crossed with Storage Wars plus, well, murder.) Careful What You Wish For is a tidy novel without a lot of subplots or loose threads. What it’s likely to spark is a night or two up past a civilized bedtime.

I talked to Ephron about the origins of her novel, her advice for dealing with a pack rat, and what sparks joy for her. Read more…

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Hallie writes “On finding my way to crime fiction…” on MYSTERY FANFARE

“When I’m asked what books inspired me to write mystery novels, sometimes I go on about how much I loved the Nancy Drew novels. I talk about graduating to the complete works of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and P.D. James. But those authors’ works inspired me to binge read mysteries, not to write them. Instead, I found my way by first trying and failing to write true crime.” More…

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YOU’LL NEVER KNOW, DEAR

Forty years ago, a little girl and her doll disappeared; today the doll comes back.

Mary Higgins Clark Award FINALIST
Audiofile EARPHONES AWARD
New York Public Library PICK for adults

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“Growing Up Ephron” in “O” Magazine

Hallie writes about what it was like growing up the third of four writing Ephron sisters.

Jungle Red Writers