Chicago Oscar-winning producer, Marty Richards, and Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe hosted a sunset garden reception for Karin Yapalater and her spine-tingling debut in the mystery-thriller genre with An Hour To Kill. This whodunit sounds like a perfect summer beach read, according to novelist James Patterson, who calls it “savvy, sexy and, best of all, true to life.”

Sunset partygoers stayed for the luminescent full moon, and lingered even longer for the schmoozing and synergy in the albedo-lit gardens of Marcy and Michael Warren’s splendid Water Mill home. On hand to toast the authoress de mystére with literati congrats were Star Jones, Laura Hunt, Denise Rich, Jane Friedman, and Lizzie Grubman (recording sound bites for her “Blink” radio gig). In August, Karin appeared on The Today Show—quite the honor for a first-time novelist.

No mystery about that!