Clark, Mary Higgins 1929(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born December 24, 1929 (some sources say 1931), in New York, NY; daughter of Luke Joseph (a restaurant owner) and Nora C. (a buyer) Higgins; married Warren F. Clark (an airline executive), December 26, 1949 (died September 26, 1964); married Raymond Charles Ploetz (an attorney), August 8, 1978 (marriage annulled); married John J. Conheeney (in business), November 30, 1996; children: (first marriage) Marilyn, Warren, David, Carol, Patricia. Education: Attended Villa Maria Academy, Ward Secretarial School, and New York University; Fordham University, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1979. Politics: Republican. Religion: Roman Catholic. Hobbies and other interests: Traveling, skiing, tennis, playing piano.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Saddle River, NJ; New York, NY. Agent—Eugene H. Winick, McIntosh and Otis Inc., 535 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10016.

CAREER:

Writer. Remington Rand, New York, NY, advertising assistant, 1946; Pan American Airlines, flight attendant, 1949-50; Robert G. Jennings, radio scriptwriter and producer, 1965-70; Aerial Communications, New York, NY, vice president, partner, creative director, and producer of radio programming, 1970-80; David J. Clark Enterprises, New York, NY, chair of board and creative director, 1980—. Chair, International Crime Writers Congress, 1988.

MEMBER:

Mystery Writers of America (president, 1987; member of board of directors), Authors Guild, Authors League of America, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Society of Journalists and Authors, American Irish Historical Society (member of executive council).

AWARDS, HONORS:

New Jersey Author Award, 1969, for Aspire to the Heavens, 1977, for Where Are the Children? and 1978, for A Stranger Is Watching; Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere (France), 1980; Women of Achievement Award, Federation of Women's Clubs in New Jersey; Irish Woman of the Year Award, Irish-American Heritage and Cultural Week Committee of the Board of Education of the City of New York; Gold Medal of Honor Award, American-Irish Historical Society; Spirit of Achievement Award, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University; Gold Medal in Education, National Arts Club; Horatio Alger Award, 1997; Deauville Film Festival Literary Award, France, 1998; Outstanding Mother of the Year Award, 1998; Catholic Big Sisters Distinguished Service Award, 1998; Graymoor Award, Franciscan Friars, 1999; Bronx Legend Award, 1999; Grand Master award, Mystery Writers of America, 2000; Ellis Island Medal of Honor, 2001; Passionists' Ethics in Literature Award, 2002; first Reader's Digest Author of the Year Award, 2002; Christopher Life Achievement Award, 2003. Also thirteen honorary doctorates, including Villanova University, 1983, Rider College, 1986, Stonehill College and Marymount Manhattan College, 1992, Chestnut Hill, Manhattan College, and St. Peter's College, 1993; named Dame of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, Dame of Malta, and Dame of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS; UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

Aspire to the Heavens: A Biography of George Washington, Meredith Press (New York, NY), 1969.

Where Are the Children? (also see below), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1975, 30th anniversary edition, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2005.

A Stranger Is Watching (also see below), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1978.

The Cradle Will Fall (also see below), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1980.

A Cry in the Night, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1982.

Stillwatch, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1984.

(With Thomas Chastain and others) Murder in Manhattan, Morrow (New York, NY), 1986.

Weep No More, My Lady, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1987.

(Editor) Murder on the Aisle: The 1987 Mystery Writers of America Anthology, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1987.

While My Pretty One Sleeps (also see below), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1989.

The Anastasia Syndrome and Other Stories, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1989.

Loves Music, Loves to Dance (also see below), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1991.

All Around the Town (also see below) Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1992.

Missing in Manhattan: The Adams Round Table, Longmeadow Press (Stamford, CT), 1992.

(Editor) Mists from Beyond: Twenty-two Ghost Stories and Tales from the Other Side, New American Library/Dutton (New York, NY), 1993.

I'll Be Seeing You, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1993.

Remember Me, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1994.

The Lottery Winner: Alvirah and Willy Stories, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1994.

Silent Night, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1995.

Mary Higgins Clark: Three Complete Novels (includes A Stranger Is Watching, The Cradle Will Fall, and Where Are the Children?), Wings Books (New York, NY), 1995.

Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1995.

Moonlight Becomes You: A Novel, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1996.

Mary Higgins Clark, Three New York Times Bestsellers (includes While My Pretty One Sleeps, Loves Music, Loves to Dance, and All Around the Town), Wings Books (New York, NY), 1996.

My Gal Sunday, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1996.

Pretend You Don't See Her, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

(Editor) The Plot Thickens, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1997.

All through the Night, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1998.

You Belong to Me, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1998.

We'll Meet Again, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1999.

Before I Say Goodbye, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2000.

(Editor) The Night Awakens, Pocket Star Books (New York, NY), 2000.

On the Street Where You Live, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2001.

Kitchen Privileges (memoir), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002.

Daddy's Little Girl, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002.

Mount Vernon Love Story, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002.

The Second Time Around, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2003.

Nighttime Is My Time, Thorndike Press (Waterville, ME), 2004.

No Place Like Home, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2005.

Two Little Girls in Blue, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2006.

I Heard That Song Before, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2007.

Ghost Ship: A Cape Cod Story (children's book), illustrated by Wendell Minor, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2007.

WITH DAUGHTER, CAROL HIGGINS CLARK

Deck the Halls, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2000.

He Sees You When You're Sleeping, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2001.

The Christmas Thief, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.

Santa Cruise: A Holiday Mystery at Sea, Scribner (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to books, including The Best "Saturday Evening Post" Stories, 1962; I, Witness, Times Books (New York, NY), 1978; The International Association of Crime Writers Presents Bad Behavior, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1995; and Caribbean Blues, J. Curley (South Yarmouth, MA), 1978. Author of syndicated radio dramas. Writer, with John Rutter, of the television story Haven't We Met Before?, 2002. Contributor of stories to periodicals, including Saturday Evening Post, Redbook, McCall's, and Family Circle.

ADAPTATIONS:

A Stranger Is Watching was filmed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1982; The Cradle Will Fall was shown on CBS-TV as a "Movie of the Week" in 1984; A Cry in the Night was filmed by Rosten Productions in 1985; Where Are the Children? was filmed by Columbia in 1986; Stillwatch was broadcast on CBS-TV in 1987; Ellipse, a French production company, produced Weep No More My Lady, A Cry in the Night (starring Clark's daughter Carol), and two stories from The Anastasia Syndrome. Many of Clark's books have been adapted as sound recordings. Filmed adaptations of Lucky Day, Loves Music, Loves to Dance, You Belong to Me, All Around the Town, Pretend You Don't See Her, and Haven't We Met Before? were released as Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Movie Collection, Lion's Gate Home Productions, 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

"You can set your bestseller clock each spring for a new Mary Higgins Clark winner," observed Publishers Weekly contributors Dick Donahue and Daisy Maryles in 2001. The prolific mystery author began her writing career as a newly widowed mother of five and has instilled her passion for suspense stories in her children, including daughter Carol, also a best-selling novelist. Clark's stories have proven so popular that her publisher, Simon & Schuster, signed her to a then-record-breaking 11.4-million-dollar contract in 1989 to produce four novels and a short story collection and in 1992 to a thirty-five-million-dollar contract for five novels and a memoir. By 2000, Clark had over fifty million titles in print and enjoyed best-seller status around the world.

Clark had always intended to become a writer. "When I was fifteen I was picking out clothes that I would wear when I became a successful writer," she told Powells.com Web site interviewer Dave Welch. "I was sure I'd make it." For the first nine years of her first marriage, Clark wrote short stories. "The first one was rejected for six years," she confided to Welch. "Then it sold for 100 dollars." Confronted with the daunting task of supporting five young children after the early death of her husband, Clark turned to suspense novels. Her first, Where Are the Children?, became a best seller in 1975, earning more than 100,000 dollars in paperback royalties. She followed that with another thriller, A Stranger Is Watching, which earned more than one million dollars in paperback rights and was filmed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1982. For Clark, this meant financial security.

Clark's style is to write about everyday life and the terror that is just around the corner. She also plays on readers' fears of unfamiliar or undesirable situations. For example, Clark explores mental illness in Loves Music, Loves to Dance, in which the killer's behavior is caused by a personality disorder, and in All Around the Town, in which the main character is afflicted with a multiple personality disorder attributed to severe sexual abuse in her childhood. In I'll Be Seeing You Clark's characters find themselves victimized by villains more knowledgeable than they in the issues of genetic manipulation and in-vitro fertilization. Many of the events and details of Clark's stories come from the lives of her friends and family, news events, and even her own experiences.

In Clark's more recent novels, nice people vanquish the powers of darkness with great flair. In Moonlight Becomes You: A Novel, Maggie Holloway, a young photographer and amateur sculptor, visits her deceased stepmother's home in Newport, Rhode Island, in order to investigate the woman's mysterious death. Maggie's search leads her to a nursing home plagued by a series of sudden deaths, and she begins to suspect that she, too, is being targeted by the killer who does not want her to expose his diabolical plot. A reviewer for Booklist acknowledged that, "though this is not her finest book, Clark's popularity will surely put Moonlight Becomes You on the lists."

In her short-story collection My Gal Sunday, Clark introduces a new detective team. Henry Parker Britland IV is a former U.S. president enjoying an early retirement, and his wife, Sandra—nicknamed "Sunday"—has just been elected to Congress and appointed the darling of the media. Henry and Sunday specialize in solving crimes that occur among their friends in political society. In one story, when Henry's former secretary of state is indicted for the murder of his mistress, Henry and Sunday determine he is willing to take the fall for a crime of passion he did not commit.

In Pretend You Don't See Her Clark takes on the federal witness protection program. While working as a real estate agent in Manhattan, Lacey Farrell witnesses a client's murder and is given a new name and a new identity by the government. However, merely changing her name does not protect her from the web of danger and deceit that surrounds the crime. As new clues emerge, Lacey realizes that a link exists between her family and the murder. In the meantime, romance enters her life and leads her to embark on a perilous journey to reclaim her old identity. A Booklist contributor found the story "briskly paced," though with few surprises. Kimberly Marlowe noted in the New York Times Book Review that in her fifteenth novel, Clark covers "a lot of ground … life, death threats and the perfect date."

By the late 1990s some critics began to suggest that Clark's writing was growing rather stale. In a review of You Belong to Me a Publishers Weekly contributor commented that the book gives fans "the page-flipping perils they expect without challenging them … one whit." However, Clark's popularity remained as strong as ever among her fans. We'll Meet Again, in which a greedy head of a Connecticut H.M.O. is murdered, shot straight to the top of best-seller lists after just one week. New York Times Book Review contributor Marilyn Stasio appreciated "the diabolical plot that Clark prepares so carefully and executes with such relish," while Booklist contributor Jenny McLarin deemed We'll Meet Again "first-rate entertainment." Before I Say Goodbye, also an immediate top seller, was hailed as one of Clark's "page-turning best" by Booklist contributor Kristine Huntley. On the Street Where You Live, Clark's third novel in a row to capture the number-one slot in its first week, intrigued critics with its premise: that a serial killer from a century past might be stalking young women in a present-day New Jersey resort town. "Clark's prose ambles as usual," commented a reviewer for Publishers Weekly, "but it takes readers where they want to go—deep into an old-fashioned tale of a damsel in delicious distress."

When reviewing The Second Time Around for Booklist, Mary Frances Wilkens commented: "Clark isn't the subtlest crime writer, but she knows how to spin an intriguing tale." A Publishers Weekly contributor echoed that sentiment: "There's something special about Clark's thrillers, and it's not just the gentleness with which the bestselling writer approaches her often lurid subject matter…. Special above all is the compassion she extends to her characters—heroines, villains and supporting cast alike."

In 2004, Clark published Nighttime Is My Time. In the story, members of the high school popular crowd become the targets of a serial killer as they attend their twentieth reunion. The murderer, whose alter ego "The Owl" developed due to his nighttime killing preference, is one of many former geeks seeking revenge. "The final revelation is anticlimactic," noted one Publishers Weekly contributor, "but Clark's multitude of fans will be happy enough … to participate in the guessing game." Mary Frances Wilkens, reviewing the book for Booklist, found some of the characters to be "relatively shallow," but she concluded that "fans will enjoy the comfort of watching the Clark formula unwind yet again."

Clark followed Nighttime Is My Time with No Place Like Home. Celia Foster Nolan's past comes back to haunt her when she is given a new house by her husband as a birthday present. Little does he know that Celia is the grown-up little girl Liza Barton, who, at ten years old, shot both of her parents in the very same house. Mystery ensues as incidents, such as the death of their real estate agent, surround the couple as they move in. Marilyn Stasio, writing in the New York Times Book Review, complimented Clark's "intuitive grasp of the anxieties of everyday life that can spiral into full-blown terror."

According to Clark in an interview on the Simon & Schuster Web site, the mystery in Two Little Girls in Blue "evolved from all my research on the almost mystical bond between some identical twins." The author went on to note: "Psychic phenomena has always been an interest of mine. Then over the years I have read articles about the bonding between twins and have been fascinated by the fact that even separated at birth and raised in totally different environments, there were still remarkable similarities in the way they dressed, the colors they used in their homes. In some cases they even married men with the same first name and called their children the same names. Then when I read about the telepathy between some identical twins, a story started to form in my mind."

Two Little Girls in Blue focuses on the kidnapping of Kelly and Kathy, the three-year-old twins of Steve and Margaret Frawley. Demanding eight million dollars in ransom, the kidnappers are working under the instruction of the unknown "Pied Piper." Kelly is eventually reunited with her parents, but one of the kidnapper's girlfriends runs off with Kathy after killing another kidnapper. In the process, she leaves a suicide note claiming that one of the kidnappers killed Kathy accidentally. While the parents grieve over Kathy's loss, Kelly insists that she is communicating psychically with her sister. Eventually, investigators are convinced to continue the search. "Clues from ordinary people lead to a riveting conclusion," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor of Two Little Girls in Blue.

In her next mystery, I Heard That Song Before, Clark tells the story of Kay Lansing and her marriage to Peter Carrington, who may be a murderer. Kay's father worked on the Carrington estate as a landscaper when Kay was little, and she meets Peter again years later when she requests use of the estate for a fundraiser. After falling in love and marrying Peter, Kay becomes suspicious that her husband may have murdered a neighbor's daughter two decades earlier. Kay's suspicions grow when police decide to reopen the cold case and then discover two bodies buried on the estate. In a review of I Heard That Song Before in Publishers Weekly, a contributor wrote that the author "deftly keeps the finger of guilt pointed in many directions until the surprising conclusion."

Clark teams with illustrator Wendell Minor for the children's book Ghost Ship: A Cape Cod Story. The story revolves around nine-year-old Thomas and his visit to his grandmother, who lives in a 300-year-old house that once belonged to a sea captain named Andrew Hallett. After hearing stories about the old days of seafaring from his grandmother, Thomas encounters the ghost of a young boy named Silas, who lived at the end of the seventeenth century and was Captain Hallett's cabin boy. Silas proceeds to tell Thomas of his seafaring adventures and how he once saved Captain Haslett's ship. "The time-travel scenario is intriguing … as are the heroics," wrote Hazel Rochman in Booklist.

Writing has become a family affair for the Clarks. Daughter Carol Higgins Clark's first novel, Decked, appeared on the paperback best-seller list at the same time as her mother's I'll Be Seeing You was departing the hardcover list after seventeen weeks. Carol Higgins Clark has also exerted some influence on her mother's writing: she is responsible for restoring to readers two of Clark's most popular characters, Alvirah, a cleaning woman who wins the lottery, and Alvirah's husband, Willy. When they first appeared in a short story, Alvirah was poisoned and Clark planned to finish her off, until Carol convinced her mother to allow Alvirah to recover. The two have since become recurring characters and are featured in The Lottery Winner: Alvirah and Willy Stories, published in 1994.

Mother and daughter also cowrote Deck the Halls, a mystery novel they cowrote that featured both Alvirah and Carol Higgins Clark's popular sleuth, Regan Reilly. Since then, the duo has published three more Christmas-themed novels together, He Sees You When You're Sleeping, The Christmas Thief, and Santa Cruise: A Holiday Mystery at Sea. The mystery in The Christmas Thief, involves the disappearance of a Christmas tree that is supposed to grace the front of Rockefeller Center. In Santa Cruise, private investigator Regan Reilly takes a three-day cruise with her husband and mother. The "Santa Cruise" is meant to raise money for charity, but two escaped felons onboard raise mayhem and set Regan off to solve another mystery. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that Santa Cruise is "full of mystery-lite cheer." Writing in Booklist, Mary Frances Wilkens referred to the mystery as "a frothy, holiday-themed whodunit."

In her 2002 memoir, Kitchen Privileges, Clark recounts her life from her poor youth in the Bronx and the loss of her first husband to her struggles to make it as a writer and her ultimate success. Commenting on Clark's relationship with her first husband, a Publishers Weekly contributor noted: "She conveys her courtship with her first husband sensitively and humorously, and writes of his death in honest, understated prose." While describing the various ups and downs of her life, the author also discusses her own writing habits and offers tips for aspiring authors. In an interview with Joel Hirschhorn for Publishers Weekly, the author said she had little trouble recalling the details of her life, noting: "I've kept diaries since I was six. Not as much now, because I'm busier, but I can look back at twelve, sixteen, or twenty-five. And the minute you open up one memory, another follows." Critics generally gave Clark good reviews for her autobiography. "Clark's many fans will find her life just as interesting as her many novels," wrote Kristine Huntley in Booklist. Diane Scharper, writing in the New York Times Book Review, commented: "Written in a lighthearted style, Kitchen Privileges is a recollection of interesting moments in a writer's life rather than a reflection on their meaning."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Bestsellers '89, number 4, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1989.

Clark, Mary Higgins, Kitchen Privileges, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002.

Newsmakers 2000, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2000.

St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, 2nd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

PERIODICALS

America, May 1, 1993, John W. Donohue, "Of Many Things," p. 2.

Book, January-February, 2003, Paul Evans, "Unsolved Mystery," p. 72.

Booklist, October 15, 1994, Emily Melton, review of The Lottery Winner: Alvirah and Willy Stories, p. 371; April 1, 1995, review of Let Me Call You Sweetheart, p. 1355; July, 1995, Stephanie Zvirin, review of The International Association of Crime Writers Presents Bad Behavior, p. 1874; September 15, 1995, Emily Melton, review of Silent Night, p. 116; April 15, 1996, review of Moonlight Becomes You: A Novel, p. 1394; April, 1998, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of You Belong to Me, p. 1277; September 15, 1998, Kathleen Hughes, review of All through the Night, p. 172; April 15, 1999, Jenny McLarin, review of We'll Meet Again, p. 1468; April 15, 2000, Kristine Huntley, review of Before I Say Goodbye, p. 1500; November 1, 2000, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Deck the Halls, p. 492; April 15, 2001, Kristine Huntley, review of On the Street Where You Live, p. 1508; April 15, 2002, Kristine Huntley, review of Daddy's Little Girl, p. 1363; November 15, 2002, Kristine Huntley, review of Kitchen Privileges, p. 546; May 1, 2003, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of The Second Time Around, p. 1538; April 1, 2004, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of Nighttime Is My Time, p. 1330; March 1, 2006, Kristine Huntley, review of Two Little Girls in Blue, p. 43; December 15, 2006, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of Santa Cruise: A Holiday Mystery at Sea, p. 26; March 1, 2007, Hazel Rochman, review of Ghost Ship: A Cape Cod Story, p. 88.

California Bookwatch, June, 2006, review of Two Little Girls in Blue.

Cosmopolitan, May, 1989, review of While My Pretty One Sleeps, p. 50.

English Journal, December, 1979, review of A Stranger Is Watching, p. 80.

Entertainment Weekly, November 3, 1995, Vanessa V. Friedman, review of Silent Night, p. 61; December 15, 2006, Whitney Pastorek, review of Santa Cruise, p. 92.

Good Housekeeping, November, 1996, Leah Rozen, "A Perfect Matchup for a Mystery Queen," pp. 23-24.

Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2000, review of Deck the Halls, p. 1519; April 1, 2002, review of Daddy's Little Girl, p. 438.

Library Journal, February 1, 1998, Rex E. Klett, "Murder on the Run," p. 116; March 1, 1999, Adrienne Furness, review of All through the Night, p. 126; July, 2002, Michael Rogers, review of Mount Vernon Love Story, p. 128.

M2 Best Books, August 29, 2006, "Mary Higgins Clark to Release Children's Book."

Newsweek, June 30, 1980, Walter Clemons, review of The Cradle Will Fall, p. 65.

New Yorker, June 27, 1994, review of Remember Me, p. 91.

New York Times, December 6, 1989, Herbert Mitgang, review of The Anastasia Syndrome and Other Stories, p. B2; May 22, 2000, Alex Kuczynski, "Can Mary Higgins Clark Lure Her Faithful to E-Books?," p. 1.

New York Times Book Review, November 14, 1982, review of A Cry in the Night, p. 15; May 2, 1993, review of I'll Be Seeing You, p. 22; May 5, 1996, review of Moonlight Becomes You, p. 29; December 15, 1996, review of My Gal Sunday, p. 25; June 29, 1997, Kimberly Marlowe, review of Pretend You Don't See Her, p. 21; April 19, 1998, Marilyn Stasio, review of You Belong to Me, p. 30; May 23, 1999, Marilyn Stasio, review of We'll Meet Again; April 16, 2000, Marilyn Stasio, review of Before I Say Goodbye, p. 32; January 5, 2003, Diane Scharper, review of Kitchen Privileges, p. 17; April 10, 2005, Marilyn Stasio, "Blues Clues," p. 27.

Oil Express, June 16, 2003, "Heating Oil ‘Roll-Up’ Firm Swindled Investors," p. 1.

People, July 20, 1987, Campbell Geeslin, review of Weep No More, My Lady, p. 12; June 26, 1989, Susan Toepfer, review of While My Pretty One Sleeps, p. 27; January 29, 1990, Susan Toepfer, review of The Anastasia Syndrome and Other Stories, p. 28; November 2, 1992, Michael A. Lipton, "Murders, They Write: Actress Carol Higgins Clark and Her Mother, Mary, Are Two Very Mysterious Women," p. 79; May 9, 1994, Susan Toepfer, review of Remember Me, p. 35; June 5, 1995, Susan Toepfer, review of Let Me Call You Sweetheart, p. 35; May 27, 1996, Susan Toepfer, "A Clean-cut Case," p. 36; December 16, 1996, Kim Hubbard, "Once More, with Feeling; Crowning Success with Romance Mary Higgins Clark Takes a Groom," 54-56.

PR Newswire, February 25, 2003, "Best-selling Author and Literacy Advocate Mary Higgins Clark to Receive the 2003 Christopher Life Achievement Award; Higgins Clark Only the Seventh Recipient of the Life Achievement Award in the Christopher Awards' 54-Year History … Emmy and Newbery Medal Winners and Tony Award and Golden Globe Nominees to Present TV, Book and Film Awards."

Progressive, May, 1978, review of A Stranger Is Watching, p. 45.

Publishers Weekly, May 19, 1989, Elizabeth Hill O'Neill, "Mary Higgins Clark; the ‘Queen of Suspense’ Talks about Her $11 Million Contract, Her Irish Heritage and the Research behind Every Book," p. 64; April 11, 1994, review of Remember Me, p. 54; February 27, 1995, review of Let Me Call You Sweetheart, p. 89; September 11, 1995, review of Silent Night, p. 74; October 14, 1996, review of Silent Night, p. 81; March 30, 1998, review of You Belong to Me, p. 70; September 14, 1998, review of All through the Night, p. 52; October 30, 2000, review of Deck the Halls, p. 47; April 2, 2001, review of On the Street Where You Live, p. 41; April 30, 2001, Dick Donahue and Daisy Maryles, "Clark's Spark Marks," p. 20; April 15, 2002, review of Daddy's Little Girl, p. 43; May 13, 2002, review of Mount Vernon Love Story, p. 51; July 1, 2002, Daisy Maryles, "An Unlikely MHC Hit," p. 18; November 4, 2002, review of Kitchen Privileges, and Joel Hirschhorn, "Novel Advice: Write What You Know," p. 75; April 7, 2003, review of The Second Time Around, p. 47; March 22, 2004, review of Nighttime Is My Time, p. 62; November 29, 2004, Daisy Maryles, "A Clark Duet Scores," p. 12; April 4, 2005, Daisy Maryles, "Nighttime Is Clark's Time," p. 14; March 28, 2005, review of No Place Like Home, p. 56; February 27, 2006, review of Two Little Girls in Blue, p. 34; October 30, 2006, review of Santa Cruise, p. 39; February 26, 2007, review of Ghost Ship, p. 89; March 26, 2007, review of I Heard That Song Before, p. 68.

School Library Journal, April, 2007, Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, review of Ghost Ship, p. 96.

USA Today, January 31, 2006, "Literary Excellence Runs in These Families," p. 4.

Wall Street Journal, May 29, 1996, review of Moonlight Becomes You, p. A16; December 7, 1998, Tom Nolan, review of All through the Night, p. A28; December 11, 2000, Tom Nolan, review of Deck the Halls, p. A38.

Washington Post, October 18, 1982, Maude McDaniel, review of A Cry in the Night, p. C3.

ONLINE

Powells.com,http://www.powells.com/ (January 12, 2001), Dave Welch, "Mary Higgins Clark Reveals."

Simon & Schuster Web site,http://www.simonsays.com/ (September 5, 2007), biography of author and interview with author.

Writers Write,http://www.writerswrite.com/ (January 12, 2001), "A Conversation with Mary Higgins Clark."