There Was An Old Woman

Hallie Ephron's There Was An Old Woman: A Novel of Suspense is set in a section of the Bronx full of history as an aging neighborhood is being overtaken by a company intent on demolishing its homes.
When Sandra Ferrante is hospitalized, her daughter Evie comes home to clean up her mother's home, only to be confronted by a mess beyond her wildest dreams.  In addition to the alcoholism that is killing her mother, it now appears that Sandra Ferrante has become a hoarder.  Evie reacquaints herself with her mother's neighbors, especially Mina Yetner, whose nephew is encouraging her to move to a nursing home. There are a lot of secrets in this small neighborhood and Evie is thrust into the middle of them as tries to determine who she can trust. 
Although there is suspense to this story, it centers more around the future of the neighborhood. There Was An Old Woman is not the creepy, scary story I imagined, nor is it the terrifying web of deception and madness the back cover advertises. I enjoyed Ephron's writing, which was easily readable, and only wish that some of her plots - especially the subplot centering around an historic event that Mina witnessed were more developed.