Mary Higgins Clark Popular Books

Mary Higgins Clark Biography & Facts

Mary Higgins Clark (born Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins; December 24, 1927 – January 31, 2020) was an American author of suspense novels. Each of her 51 books was a bestseller in the United States and various European countries, and all of her novels remained in print as of 2015, with her debut suspense novel, Where Are the Children?, in its 75th printing. Higgins Clark began writing at an early age. After several years working as a secretary and copy editor, she spent a year as a stewardess for Pan-American Airlines before leaving to marry and start a family. She supplemented the family's income by writing short stories. After her husband died in 1964, Higgins Clark worked for many years writing four-minute radio scripts until her agent persuaded her to try writing novels. Her debut novel, a fictionalized account of the life of George Washington, did not sell well, and she decided to exploit her love of mystery/suspense novels. Her suspense novels became very popular, and have sold more than 100 million copies in the United States alone. Her former daughter-in-law Mary Jane Clark is also a writer, as was her daughter Carol Higgins Clark. Early life Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins was born on Christmas Eve 1927, although some sources mistakenly cite 1929 as the year, the second child and only daughter of Nora C. (Durkin) and Luke Joseph Higgins. Her father was an Irish immigrant and her mother was American-born, also of Irish descent. The United States census gives her age in April 1940 as 12, which indicates her year of birth is 1927, as that was her age at her last birthday, the question asked by census enumerators.She was born about a year and a half after the birth of her older brother, Joseph. Her younger brother John, followed three years later. Even as a small child, she was interested in writing, composing her first poem at age seven and often crafting short plays for her friends to enact. She began keeping a journal when she was seven years old, noting in her first entry, "Nothing much happened today."The family lived off the earnings from their Irish pub and were fairly well-off, owning a home in the Bronx and a summer cottage on Long Island Sound. Although the Great Depression began when Higgins Clark was still a baby, her family was initially not affected, and even insisted on feeding the men who knocked on their door looking for work. By the time Higgins Clark was ten, however, the family began to experience financial trouble, as many of their customers were unable to pay the bar tabs they had run up. Higgins Clark's father was forced to lay off several employees and work longer hours, spending no more than a few hours at home each day. The family was thrown into further turmoil in 1939, when young Mary returned home from an early Mass to discover that her father had died in his sleep.Nora Higgins, now a widow with three young children to support, soon discovered that few employers were willing to hire a 52-year-old woman who had not held a job in over fourteen years. To pay the bills, Higgins Clark was forced to move out of her bedroom so that her mother could rent it out to paying boarders. Six months after their father's death, Higgins Clark's older brother cut his foot on a piece of metal and contracted severe osteomyelitis. Higgins Clark and her mother prayed constantly for him, and their neighbors came en masse to give blood for the many transfusions the young boy needed. Despite the dire predictions of the doctors, Joseph Higgins survived. Higgins Clark credits his recovery to the power of their prayers.When Higgins Clark graduated from Saint Francis Xavier Grammar School, she received a scholarship to continue her education at the Villa Maria Academy, a school run by the nuns of the Congregation de Notre Dame de Montreal. There, the principal and other teachers encouraged Higgins Clark to develop her writing, although they were somewhat less than pleased when she began spending her class time writing stories instead of paying attention to the lesson. At sixteen, Higgins Clark made her first attempt at publishing her work, sending an entry to True Confessions, which was rejected.To help pay the bills, she worked as a switchboard operator at the Shelton Hotel, where she often listened in to the residents' conversations. In her memoir she recalls spending much time eavesdropping on Tennessee Williams but complained that he never said anything interesting. On her days off, Higgins Clark would window shop, mentally choosing the clothes she would wear when she finally became a famous writer.Despite Higgins Clark's contribution to the family finances, the money her mother earned babysitting was not enough, and the family lost their house and moved into a small three-room apartment. When Joseph graduated from high school in 1944, he immediately enlisted in the Navy, both to serve his country during war and to help his mother pay her bills. Six months after his enlistment he contracted spinal meningitis and died. Although the family mourned Joseph's death deeply, as his dependent, Nora was guaranteed a life pension and no longer needed her daughter's help to pay the bills. Early career Soon after Joseph died, Higgins Clark graduated from high school and attended Wood Secretarial School on a partial scholarship. After completing her coursework the following year, she accepted a job as the secretary to the head of the creative department in the internal advertising division at Remington Rand. She soon enrolled in evening classes to learn more about advertising and promotion. Her growing skills, as well as her natural beauty, were noticed by her boss and others in the company, and her job was expanded to include writing catalog copy (alongside future novelist Joseph Heller) and to model for the company brochures with a then unknown Grace Kelly.Although she enjoyed her job, Higgins Clark's imagination was sparked by an acquaintance's casual comment, "God, it was beastly hot in Calcutta." Inspired to become a flight attendant like her acquaintance, Higgins Clark underwent rigorous interviews to earn a position as a flight attendant (then known as stewardess) for Pan American Airlines, making five dollars less a week than in her secretarial job. Her supervisor at Remington Rand hosted a goodbye dinner for her, and Higgins Clark invited her neighbor, Warren Clark, whom she had admired for years, to be her date. By the end of the evening Warren Clark had informed her that he thought she should work as a stewardess for a year, and then they should be married the following Christmas. Higgins Clark accepted the somewhat unorthodox proposal.For most of 1949, she worked the Pan Am international flights, traveling through Europe, Africa, and Asia. One of her flights became the last flight allowed into Czechoslovakia before the Iron Curtain fell. On another of her flights, Higgins Clark escorted a four-year-old orphan down the steps of the airplane into the waiting arms .... Discover the Mary Higgins Clark popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Mary Higgins Clark books.

Best Seller Mary Higgins Clark Books of 2024

  • Christmas Cupcake Murder synopsis, comments

    Christmas Cupcake Murder

    Joanne Fluke

    Beloved New York Times bestselling author and Queen of the Culinary Mystery Joanne Fluke delivers the next mouthwatering Hannah Swensen Holiday Mystery, as December turns Lake Eden...

  • All Dressed in White synopsis, comments

    All Dressed in White

    Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke

    The second in the thrilling New York Times bestselling series from Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, follows television producer Laurie Moran as she investigates the cold case ...

  • A Cry In the Night synopsis, comments

    A Cry In the Night

    Mary Higgins Clark

    When Jenny MacPartland meets the man of her dreams while working in a New York art gallery, she's ecstatic. Painter Erich Krueger whose exquisite landscapes are making him a huge ...

  • It Had to Be You synopsis, comments

    It Had to Be You

    Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke

    In the latest thrilling entry of the bestselling Under Suspicion series by Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, television producer Laurie Moran investigates the...

  • If You Were Here synopsis, comments

    If You Were Here

    Alafair Burke

    From New York Times bestselling author Alafair Burke comes a suspenseful, tightly plotted story of friendship, lies, and betrayal.Journalist McKenna Jordan is chasing the late...

  • The Sleeping Beauty Killer synopsis, comments

    The Sleeping Beauty Killer

    Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke

    The third thrilling novel in the Under Suspicion series by #1 New York Times bestselling author and “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke follows television prod...

  • Decked synopsis, comments

    Decked

    Carol Higgins Clark

    The daughter of a successful mystery writer and a P.I. with pizzazz, Regan Reilly is attending her class reunion at St. Polycarp's England, when the longdead body of her former roo...

  • After The Night synopsis, comments

    After The Night

    Linda Howard

    The New York Times bestselling author of Open Season weaves a sizzling novel of love and hate between the girl from the wrong side of the tracks and the town’s wealthy and powerful...

  • Bones of the Lost synopsis, comments

    Bones of the Lost

    Kathy Reichs

    #1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with her sixteenth riveting novel featuring forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan, whose examination of a young girl kille...

  • The Girl Who Was Taken synopsis, comments

    The Girl Who Was Taken

    Charlie Donlea

    The bestselling author of Twenty Years Later delivers a chilling thriller where nothing is at it seems and each reveal is more shocking than the last…right up to the jawdropping fi...

  • Gypped synopsis, comments

    Gypped

    Carol Higgins Clark

    When Regan Reilly returned to the West Coast, where she began her career as a PI, she never imagined that her unsuccessful appearance on a game show seven years earlier would throw...

  • Cinnamon Roll Murder synopsis, comments

    Cinnamon Roll Murder

    Joanne Fluke

    New York Times Bestseller: A baker in smalltown Minnesota finds the heat is on after a musician is murdered…   When bakery owner Hannah Swensen hears that the Cinnamon Roll Si...

  • Manhattan Mayhem synopsis, comments

    Manhattan Mayhem

    Mary Higgins Clark, Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, Thomas H. Cook & T. Jefferson Parker

    From Wall Street to Harlem, the borough of Manhattan is the setting for allnew stories of mystery, murder, and suspense, presented by bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark and feat...

  • Never Tell synopsis, comments

    Never Tell

    Alafair Burke

    This addictive thriller from New York Times bestselling author Alafair Burke draws its details from the author’s own experiences as a criminal law professor and deputy district att...

  • Inherit the Dead synopsis, comments

    Inherit the Dead

    Lee Child

    This New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller is a collaboration between twenty bestselling mystery novelists who have joined forces to create a spellbinding story of love, betrayal...

  • Bones Are Forever synopsis, comments

    Bones Are Forever

    Kathy Reichs

    #1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs, a producer of the Fox hit show Bones, is back with her fifteenth “pulsepounding” (Publishers Weekly) novel featuring North Americ...

  • Hitched synopsis, comments

    Hitched

    Carol Higgins Clark

    "Like an Agatha Christie incarnation, Carol Higgins Clark knows how to pull out the whodunit stops" (Ottawa Citizen) in this entertaining mystery in the bestselling Regan Reilly se...

  • The Lottery Winner synopsis, comments

    The Lottery Winner

    Mary Higgins Clark

    Mary Higgins Clark, the bestselling “Queen of Suspense,” returns with Alvirah Meehanone of her most beloved charactersin these six dazzling, intertwined, and thrilling tales of sle...

  • Stillwatch synopsis, comments

    Stillwatch

    Mary Higgins Clark

    Intrigue abound in the Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark's Stillwatch, as a young journalist uncovers secrets from the past that could destroy her.I told you not to come...Slipp...

  • Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry synopsis, comments

    Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry

    Mary Higgins Clark

    An electrifying thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author and “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark!When investigative journalist Gina Kane receives an email from a “CRya...

  • Every Breath You Take synopsis, comments

    Every Breath You Take

    Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke

    The New York Times bestselling Under Suspicion series by the “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke returns with this gripping mystery following television produc...

  • Mobbed synopsis, comments

    Mobbed

    Carol Higgins Clark

    Now in mass market, New York Times bestselling author Carol Higgins Clark delivers the fourteenth installment in her crowdpleasing Regan Reilly mystery series, this one set on the ...

  • Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories synopsis, comments

    Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories

    Mary Higgins Clark

    A oneofakind mystery collection that showcases the immense storytelling talent #1 New York Times bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark has honed over her tremendous careerincluding...

  • The Cradle Will Fall synopsis, comments

    The Cradle Will Fall

    Mary Higgins Clark

    A “superbly plotted” (Los Angeles Times) pageturning classic from the undisputed Queen of Suspense and #1 New York Times bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark.A minor road accident...

  • Carol Higgins Clark Boxed Set - Volume 1 synopsis, comments

    Carol Higgins Clark Boxed Set - Volume 1

    Carol Higgins Clark

    Three complete novels from the Regan Reilly mystery series: Zapped, Cursed, and Wrecked.Join Regan Reilly as she takes on NYC during a blackout, returns to LA to help a friend out ...

  • The Better Sister synopsis, comments

    The Better Sister

    Alafair Burke

    A Washington Post and Sun Sentinel Best Book of the Year“One hell of a riproaring read.” Seattle Review of Books“Cunning. . . . Get ready to be led down the garden path to a c...

  • No Place Like Home synopsis, comments

    No Place Like Home

    Mary Higgins Clark

    In a riveting and unputdownable thriller from the Queen of Suspense, a young woman is ensnared into returning to a place she had wanted to leave behind foreverher childhood home.At...

  • Santa Cruise synopsis, comments

    Santa Cruise

    Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark

    America’s Queen of SuspenseMary Higgins Clarkjoins forces with her daughter Carolbestselling author of the Regan Reilly mysteriesin this fastpaced novel set on a special holiday cr...

  • Deck the Halls synopsis, comments

    Deck the Halls

    Mary Higgins Clark

    In their first acclaimed work of collaboration, Mary Higgins Clark, the Queen of Suspense, and her daughter, bestselling author Carol Higgins Clark, create an exciting and entertai...

  • Moonlight Becomes You synopsis, comments

    Moonlight Becomes You

    Mary Higgins Clark

    From Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark, a thriller “that grabs you with the first paragraph and never lets go” (USA TODAY) about a woman desperate to uncover the truth behind he...

  • The Ex synopsis, comments

    The Ex

    Alafair Burke

    “Superb…. Equal measures superlative mystery and crack courtroom thriller reminiscent of the great John Lescroart or the William Diehl classic "Primal Fear.” We literally never kno...

  • The Christmas Thief synopsis, comments

    The Christmas Thief

    Mary Higgins Clark

    Mary Higgins Clark, America's Queen of Suspense, and her daughter, bestselling mystery writer Carol Higgins Clark, have again joined forces to create a suspenseful and humorous hol...

  • Just Take My Heart synopsis, comments

    Just Take My Heart

    Mary Higgins Clark

    The bestselling Queen of Suspense delves into a legal battle over the guilt or innocence of a man accused of murdering his wife, while weaving in an eerie, littleunderstood but doc...

  • The Wife synopsis, comments

    The Wife

    Alafair Burke

    “This might be the most gripping, insightful work from the bestselling author Alafair Burke yet. She poses a seemingly impossible, if undeniably compelling, challenge: a woman must...

  • The Cinderella Murder synopsis, comments

    The Cinderella Murder

    Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke

    In this collaboration between “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark and bestselling author Alafair Burke, “the snappy pace, layered characters, and many plot surprises will keep r...

  • Piece of My Heart synopsis, comments

    Piece of My Heart

    Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke

    In the latest thrilling collaboration from #1 New York Times bestselling author and “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, television producer Laurie Moran must ...

  • The Melody Lingers On synopsis, comments

    The Melody Lingers On

    Mary Higgins Clark

    A headlinemaking finance scandal and a breathtaking tale of deception collide in #1 New York Times bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark’s finest thriller yet.As the sole assistant...