Book overview
"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." -Paulina Prosnit, Airmail
A socialite living in late-1930s New York City disappears without a trace in Unseasonably Cold, Amy Ephron's elegant, melancholy noir of secrets, misapprehensions, and deceptions.
Replete with beautifully observed period detail and sharply drawn characters, Unseasonably Cold is classic storytelling, a mystery crafted with an artist's eye.
Rendered in Ephron's lovely, austere literary prose, it is utterly worthy of the era it depicts, when the polite mask of high society's mannered calm concealed the turbulence just beneath; a mirror of the terrible events swirling in Europe in the lead-up to the Second World War.
* The Historical Novel Society calls Unseasonably Cold Amy Ephron's "noir-ish 1939 mystery . . . The plot hinges on a police investigation, the multiple family ties, romantic entanglements, hidden and not so hidden relationships."
"A spare historical thriller about trusting the wrong people. Our verdict: Get it!" -Kirkus Reviews
"Unseasonably Cold's atmosphere is Wharton and Towles; its page-turning plot is pure Christie." - Airmail Weekly
"Altogether intriguing-haunting, even-and I couldn't have enjoyed myself more."
-Benjamin Dreyer, author of the New York Times bestseller Dreyer's English
"Atmospheric. Propulsive. Captivating. Pure Amy."
-Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The View from Lake Como
"I was enthralled from the first page to the very last. A fascinating, compelling read that I thought about for a long time after. It's not a book to be missed."
-Jill Santopolo, New York Times best-selling author of The Light We Lost
"It's a Faberge egg of a novel. Perfect in detail and execution. Ephron's prose is so incredibly sparse and compelling. I was very taken with it."
-Holly Goldberg Sloan, best-selling author.
