Amy Ephron's UNSEASONABLY COLD is IN SEASON!

 HALLIE EPHRON: Today it's my great pleasure to welcome my sister Amy Ephron to Jungle Red! She's a lot younger than me and still she beat me, getting started writing years before I took the plunge.

Her brand new book, UNSEASONABLY COLD, is off to a great start.

It's a mystery and a love story. The tag line:
A socialite living in late 1930s New York City, disappears without a trace.

And it just got a fabulous review in AIR MAIL Magazine:

The place is New York; the year is 1939. War is the backdrop of Amy Ephron’s latest novel, a suspenseful noir that travels between the bohemians of Greenwich Village and the aristocrats of uptown. But the society set is far more preoccupied with another matter: the mysterious disappearance of heiress Jane Abbott. None more so than her best friend, Liza, who is haunted by the foreboding last words Jane said to her. Unseasonably Cold’s atmosphere is Wharton and Towles; its page-turning plot is pure Christie. - Air Mail Magazine

Today I'm thrilled to host Amy here on Jungle Red.

Amy, tell us about the crime/event that inspired you to write UNSEASONABLY COLD.

AMY EPHRON: It wasn’t really a crime... unless it was.

When I was in my 20.’s a dear friend had an “accident” on the island of Kauai — toppling from a mountain cliff. His glasses were left on the mountainside.

There was a lot of speculation. Did he fall? Did he jump? Was he pushed? There were rumors someone had been with at the time.

He’d always been so jovial and unconditionly kind. I’d never known about the depression, the heartbreak, or that there might have been drug use. Secrets, illusions, perfectly masked.

His loss was so unexpected….it was an awful and long lasting loss.

HALLIE: I know you started writing UNSEASONABLY COLD years ago... what made you set it aside? And then (lucky for us) what made you pick it up and write to the finish line?

AMY: I wrote three kid’s novels, ‘The Castle in the Mist’ ‘Carnival Magic’ and ‘The Other Side of the Wall’ for Philomel/ Penguin, took a screenplay job, and wrote a silly/fun book (‘The Amazing Baby Name Book')with my daughters Maia Wapnick and Anna Ephron Harari.’

So the manuscript for UNSEASONABLY COLD was just waiting to get finished.

HALLIE: 1930s New York City: What is it about that period that intrigues you.

It was a time a bit like today. The division of wealth and class differences was extreme. So were political and religipus views, discrimination rampant, women’s rights. The war was just beginning, the end of which was so uncertain and unknown, almost a mirror for the story, as no one knows what was happened to Jane.

I think so many people now are experiencing loss that is hard to fathom. 

[Photo by Katrina Dickson]

HALLIE: What kind of research did you do to make the period and the characters come so alive?

AMY: Thank you for saying that. It was a very interesting time for art, what was hanging at the Met, theatre, the world’s fair, beginning Hollywood.

I also researched clothes and food and existing clubs and restaurants which was very fun. But I researched it as it came up. I’ve previously read a lot of fiction and nonfiction about that period.

A bestselling earlier novel of mine “A Cup of Tea” (based on a Katherine Mansfield story - don’t believe in stealing, I bought the rights from her estate.) A story of love, disloyalty, and madness, is set in New York and France at the time of the U.S. entrance to World War I.

HALLIE EPHRON: A wonderful review of the book in AIRMAIL called the book a "historical thriller" -- do you think that feels right?

AMY: Unseasonably Cold is a bit of a hybrid: lit fiction, mystery, love story, historical fiction, noir. I hope it finds many fans! Thanks for having me and being my sister!

HALLIE: It's a terrific book and it will appeal to a broad range of crime fiction readers, and on to straight up Agatha Christie. Hopefully it will also send readers off to find A CUP OF TEA as a chaser.

ABOUT AMY EPHRON: Amy Ephron is a best-selling, award-winning novelist and children’s book author. She is also a journalist, screenwriter and producer. She was a contributing editor to Vogue, The New York Times’ T magazine. She has published in print and online at Airmail Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, Harper’s Bazaar and more. Unseasonably Cold is her 10th novel.

The Reds on Vacation

 

LUCY BURDETTE: Summer’s coming very early this year with Memorial Day on May 24, yikes! I think we’re all feeling a little worn down and overworked by the long winter. We wanted to give you a little notice about a change in our summer schedule here at the Reds. Get out your flip flops and back your bags--the Reds are taking a summer vacation!  We won't go far and we'll still chat every week, but our summer schedule will be a little different as we all write our books and teach our classes and generally catch up. Maybe even go on vacation! Starting next week, May 25, we’ll have a group chat on Mondays and a writer’s choice on Thursdays. We won’t schedule guests this summer either—they get a vacation too:). We know some of you will be disappointed and will miss reading the blog every day–but, we haven’t taken a break in 15 years! (In other words, we’ve saved up our vacation days and decided now’s the time to use them.:). So what will we be doing?

Reds, I am determined to finish The Paris Recipe by June, before I have to get started on Key West #17. After that, we’ve planned a week getaway in Maine with a bunch of grandchildren and other relatives. And after that, maybe stay home and enjoy the summer in Connecticut. What are your plans for the summer?

RHYS BOWEN: as you can imagine I’m taking baby steps forward into a new stage of life. Living alone is something I have never done before. From college dorm to sharing with friends to marriage. So it will feel strange. Being able to do what I want without consulting someone else. So I’m flying down to grandson’s graduation this weekend. I plan to join Clare and co in San Diego, join Dominic either in Canada or San Juan islands and go to England in September   Oh, and finish a book I’ve put on hold and do all the publicity for this summer’s release. 

HALLIE EPHRON: Change is good!

I’ve got a flurry of teaching gigs in the next three months, including the Book Passage bookstore’s annual Mystery Writing Conference https://www.bookpassage.com/mystery. Rhys will be there, too! Also Elizabeth George and Lisa Scottoline and Rachel Howzell Hall…

I’ll be giving a talk for the Grand Canyon Sisters in Crime. Teaching my two-week mystery-writing class for SinC Guppies. Giving several workshops for the annual fabulous Surrey International Writing Conference in October. 

All of these are on my web site at http://hallieephron.com with links. 

Beyond that, my fall to-do list is topped by: Decide what I should do next. I have the start of a novel and some other projects noodling around. A lot of unanswered questions. Very much at a crossroads.

JENN McKINLAY: I’m chiming in from Spain! I’m  visiting the set where they’re shooting the adaptation of my novel PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA which will air on Hallmark Plus in July! Thrilling!

This summer will spent traveling a lot - a visit to CT for a book event at the Cragin Library in Colchester on June 12th, a trip to the Nova Scotia cottage at some point, and possibly a week in San Diego. I’m tired just thinking about it. Oh, and I suppose I have to start writing something again. Hmm…what will it be? 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: My summer starts with a bang as Youngest brings the Very Tall Dutchman home for two weeks in June to met the family! I’ve cleared off my calendar so we can show him some typical Maine delights - a Sea Dogs baseball game, eating at a lobster shack, hiking in Acadia and visiting a Super Wal-Mart. Yes, that last was among the American experiences he wants to explore.

I’ll be working on a book, about which I can say no more at the moment, and I’m planning to devote much more of my time to my garden/grounds, since I’ve let everything go to wrack and ruin in the past few years. I’m planning a couple of stays at Old Orchard Beach, and rounding out the summer with the wedding of the daughter of dear friends.

When you live in Maine, you don’t travel in the summer, because HERE is where everyone wishes they could be!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: My 2027 book is due September 1. My 2026 book will be published on September 1. You do the math about what I will be doing this summer!  And into the fall.

It’s all very exciting, and quite wonderful, and there is absolutely no way I can take a work-free vacation. Happily, luckily, we have a lovely back yard with flowers everywhere and  a pool, and sitting outside and being in the lovely (we hope) weather is always so satisfying.

(I just got back from a whirlwind–Teaching at the MIT Weekend Writing Seminar, teaching the International Thriller Writers 8-hour Master Class (!), and a CraftFest Class and so much more. I was the featured speaker at Crime Conn and and and…well, my schedule is packed as you can see here hankphillippiryan.com/events ! )

And Rhys, we are thinking of you every day.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: This summer I will be doing all the edits for my book, A LONG COLD SLEEP, which apparently now has an April ‘27 release.  And then I’m hoping to have my long-overdue knee replacement, which I’ve been putting off for at least five years because I was trying to finish books. After that, I can start planning for trips. It will be three years in July since I’ve been to London and I am desperate for a visit!

Red readers, what are your summer plans??

Take Another Look At It

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: A brand new visitor to the Reds' world today–and we are so thrilled to welcome her! And  the amazing Rhodi Hawk is asking a very provocative question–see what you think at the end.


“When the Mirror Hangs Upside-Down”

by Rhodi Hawk


On a snowy Colorado night in the 1970s, I tore up the stairs, screaming, to escape my aunt’s basement. You’d think my sister and I had found a man wielding a bag of bones down there. But no. We had merely watched something scary on TV.

The thing is, it felt like something had happened to us. The terror burned its brand onto my psyche. Forty years later, I remember every detail. The red and gold weave of the sofa as I hid my eyes. The scent of coffee, cigarettes, and heating oil. The way my sister finally burst from her seat in a dash for the stairs, which mobilized me from frozen terror to galloping terror. I can feel the imprint of the textured linoleum beneath my fingers as I clawed stair treads, vaulting up to safety with hands and feet.

Fast forward twenty years to the 1990s. That same show came up again in the TV listings, and I resolved to face my fear with a friend, this time in my sunny living room. I warned her it was going to be terrifying.

Well. The show was ridiculous. Pure camp. In the climax, a cursed broach comes to life as a rat the size of a Mastiff, but it just looks like a big stuffed animal. My friend and I were palsied with laughter. Also, I was mystified by my little-girl terror, which made no sense in my new reality twenty years later.

The show was called Night Gallery, an anthology like The Twilight Zone. Both featured Rod Serling. The name of the episode was “A Feast of Blood,” based on the short story by mystery writer Dulcie Gray.

Now, in the 2020s, three more decades have passed, and I have yet another perspective. I see that the writing was actually quite good—it’s just that the monstery climax fell victim to cinematic limitations of the day. And it starred Sondra Locke—something even my twentysomething self didn’t pick up on despite having seen her in several Clint Eastwood movies.

It amazes me how our perceptions change over time. Sometimes there’s contrast even in the short term. 

After a neurological disease put me in a wheelchair, I gained a new delight in small things. 

An enlargement of matters I’d previously breezed past. Favorite old novels inverted themselves to reveal fresh layers.

Even new novels: I read Lisa Jewell’s None of This Is True twice in three months, and the second reading felt like an entirely different book. A straight murder suspense became an investigation into vagaries of intense relationships. Though I clocked these things in both readings, they morphed in detail and emotion. I understand, of course, that the change in me informed the change in what I read. It was as if the mirror had been hanging upside down, then got flipped.

In my new novel This Town Won’t Tell, a roadhouse waitress perceives herself as a lone wolf in her snowy mountain town. That perception changes after she is preyed upon by dangerous people, forcing her to reach out to the townsfolk who have always been

waiting for her to let them in.

Have you ever read something, only to re-read it later with an entirely different experience?

I’ll confess something to you. For all my maturing, and despite my newly evolved analytical lens, as I typed the words “A Feast of Blood” just now, I still felt a whole-body tension—coupled with giddy hysterics.

HANK: SO interesting!~ I am not much of a re-reader, I have to admit, but I saw the musical Miss Saigon many many years ago, and thought, yes, fine, this is fine. And then last year-ish, I saw it again, and was knocked out with the depth of it. Certainly the show had not changed–but I had.

And in high school they forced me to read Our Town, the play by Thornton Wilder, when I was in high school and I thought it was so silly and melodramatic. Now I cannot even think about it without crying.

How about you, Reds and Readers?


Rhodi Hawk is the International Thriller Writers award-winning author of several novels, including her latest, This Town Won’t Tell. In recent years, a motor neuron disease has left Rhodi a wheelchair warrior with impaired cognitive ability. That neurodivergence informs Janey’s struggle with reading in This Town Won’t Tell. Devoted to wildlife and the natural world, Rhodi lives in piney woods with a pair of vultures, her dog, Frankie, her cat, Pumpkin, and her husband, thriller writer Hank Schwaeble.


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