When Organization Fails

Careful What You Wish For - Hallie Ephron

Like the Bushes and the Kennedys in politics and the Barrymores in theater, there are dynasties in fiction. Some are more successful than others: think Steven King and his son, Joe Hill (ignore Tabitha, though…) in the world of horror; or James Lee Burke and daughter Alafair if your taste runs to mysteries. And then there are the Ephron sisters… everyone knows Nora for such films as “Sleepless in Seattle” or “Silkwood,” but did you know that her sister Hallie Ephron is also a writer? Neither did I, at least before I picked up a copy of Careful What You Wish For… and I’m still not sure.

Meet Emily Harlow, erstwhile third-grade teacher turned Marie Kondo clone; right down to that whole “spark joy” bushwa. She and a buddy operate Freeze-Frame Clutter Kickers, one of those “organizer” services that help hoarders and near-hoarders clean out their closets. Yeah, as if… Truth be told, Emily should be helping her husband, Frank, clean up all his junk.

Who Is Killing Charlie Grant's BFFs?

Catch Me - Lisa Gardner

Boston Homicide's D. D. Warren is not about to let a case of the postpartum blues slow her down, no, not one step. But this latest case is… just plain weird. Oh, one more dead pedophile is nothing new; but the woman she meets at the murder scene, a woman who's come to see the cop she expects to investigate her own murder? Now, there's a first.

Charlie Grant's two BFFs were murdered exactly one year apart on January 21st, both cases still unsolved. With just a few days left before she expects to meet her own death on that wintry date, Charlie's gone underground in Beantown. She's turned herself into a lean, mean, fighting machine and armed herself for bear - but she's still certain she knows what date will be carved to the right of the dash on her tombstone. That's when she comes on Warren's radar; not because she seems afraid but she seems somehow… guilty.