#WritersRecommend: Hallie Ephron

Recommended Reading

I shiver, remembering the opening line of the first of Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne’s mysteries (In the Bleak Midwinter): “It was a helluva night to throw away a baby.”  Bone-chilling cold and the lakes and forests of the Adirondacks are the backdrop. The story was a riveting page turner, a mystery with a romance running through it and no babies sacrificed for the exigencies of storytelling. The ninth book in the series, Hid From Our Eyes, came out recently and it’s a winner. This is a series to read from beginning to end, and then hope there will be more.

Words of Wisdom

My perennial advice for writing is: “Just hold your nose and write.” Set a timer if you need to and turn off your inner critique. It’s never as bad (or as good) as you think it is at first blush, so save everything.

About Hallie Ephron

New York Times bestselling author Hallie Ephron, Edgar Award finalist and five-time finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, writes books she hopes readers can’t put down. Her eleventh suspense novel, Careful What You Wish For, echoes Marie Kondo life-changing decluttering tips. It features Emily Harlow is a professional organizer who helps people declutter their lives; she’s married to man who can’t drive past a yard sale without stopping. Sometimes she find herself wondering if he sparks joy. In a starred review, Publisher’s Weekly called it “outstanding.” Reviewing it for TIME magazine, Jamie Lee Curtis wrote, “Careful What You Wish For is not scary–it’s thrilling and suspenseful. … 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.”