Ivy Rose and her husband are holding a yard sale outside their Victorian home when an old high school acquaintance stops by. Melinda White, who was an awkward, unpopular girl at school, acts as if she and Ivy were close friends, though Ivy barely remembers her. They now have only one thing in common: both are very pregnant. Melinda's peculiar and overbearing intimacy makes Ivy uncomfortable, so she's relieved when her husband distracts the woman by offering to show her around their house. Ivy thinks that's the end of it, but it's only the beginning. When a short time later the former schoolmate is reported missing, the police grow suspicious of Ivy's husband and after peculiar things start to happen, Ivy isn't sure who to believe.
Character development is not a hallmark of this novel; the reader never really gets to know Ivy's husband or gain a nuanced sense of their relationship. Instead, the focus is on steadily ratcheting up the tension, with a pace that's as inevitable as the approach of Ivy's delivery date. Ephron, an experienced novelist who published the Edgar-nominated book, Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel, knows how to build suspense. The mood proceeds smoothly from disquiet, to distrust and doubt, to panic. It seems suitable, somehow, that much of the action takes place in an old house, full of history and secrets, where Ephron can blend the pulse-pounding creepiness of a Gothic horror story with the puzzle-pieces of a mystery.
"For me, the books I read were the call—the call to adventure, to thinking, to acknowledging other points of view. But to complete the ritual, I needed to respond."
I am surrounded by books. Every room, every space in my large, sprawling 1750s house is full of books...
Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions, and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has: my father was a small-time gangster. Really.
"My ah-ha moment came when I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.... That was it for me – I was off to the races."
Nietzsche once wrote, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”
"Mystery books were daring and exciting, firing up my imagination and making me yearn to become a girl detective or even a secret agent. They also empowered me to make up impromptu ghost stories around the campfire for my Girl Scout troop and sneak into the cemetery at night on a dare."
Fire and Ashes, the latest Angela Richman Death Investigator mystery, is an exploration of a fatal fire. To research this novel, Viets delved into the devastating consequences of junk science and arson investigations.
