“Thrilling and suspenseful. . . . Ephron’s dank and musty storage units offer perfect settings for the piecing together of the puzzle, one made of human pieces in various sinister shapes and sizes. Ephron . . . deftly builds these tensions and offers readers the pleasure of unraveling the mystery in a way they will relish. I laughed more than I expected to, related to quotidian elements like overpacked closets, and let myself be carried along on this nightmare of a trip. I anticipated bad guys where there weren’t any, and thought I’d figured it out when I hadn’t. The red herring smelled fishy to me. The marital dances were familiar yet fun. And I found a compelling companion to Emily, a modern-day grown-up Nancy Drew in a sh-tty car and a ponytail, as she searches for her own purpose while hunting down the perpetrator of the emerging crime. She is a friend we would all want to keep—messes included.”

—Jamie Lee Curtis, Time

“[A] thoroughly enjoyable twist on the classic murder mystery.”

—Christian Science Monitor

“Outstanding. . . . May be the first domestic thriller to weave in Marie Kondo’s decluttering theory about discarding things that don’t spark joy. . . . 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.”

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Hallie Ephron has crafted a timely, twisty tale that had me grinning at the opening line and wide-eyed at the conclusion. Cleverly plotted and cast with compelling characters, Careful What You Wish For is the perfect summer book club pick!”

—Wendy Corsi Staub, New York Times bestselling author

“Hallie Ephron’s Careful What You Wish For is a cautionary tale for the spark joy moment—a tidy nightmare of a story that won’t be contained. A compulsive page-turner that sparks anxiety.”

—Lori Rader-Day, Edgar Award–nominated author of Under a Dark Sky

“Expertly crafted. . . . Ephron is as strong on character as she is on narrative, and this is a rarity.”

—New York Journal of Books

“Clever. . . . 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.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Ephron’s novels are gripping because her characters are just real and nuanced enough to identify with. Ultimately, it’s compassion that makes us stay up late reading, and, nose in book, miss our subway stop the next morning.”

—Boston Globe

“Hallie Ephron is the queen of secrets—and the star of suburban noir.”

—Hank Phillippi Ryan, award-winning author of Say No More

“Ephron understands that the fears we inflict upon ourselves can be more crippling than a man with a gun.”

—Mystery Scene