Mary Higgins Clark
Encyclopedia
Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark Conheeney (née Higgins; born December 24, 1927), known professionally as Mary Higgins Clark, is an American author
of suspense novels
. Each of her 42 books has been a bestseller
in the United States and various European countries
, and all of her novels remain in print as of 2007, with her debut suspense novel, Where Are The Children, in its seventy-fifth printing. She is a minority owner of the New Jersey Nets
.
Higgins Clark began writing at an early age. After several years working as a secretary
and copy editor
, Higgins Clark spent a year as a stewardess
for Pan-American Airlines
before leaving her job 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 convinced 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 leverage her love of mystery/suspense novels. Her suspense novels became very popular, and as of 2007 her books have sold more than 80 million copies in the United States alone.
Her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark
, and former daughter-in-law Mary Jane Clark
are also suspense writers.
The family lived off the earnings from their Irish pub and were fairly well-off, owning a home in the Bronx
as well as 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 Higgins was guaranteed a pension for life, and no longer needed her daughter's help to pay the bills.
) 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 fewer a week than 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 orphaned child down the steps of the airplane into the waiting arms of her adoptive mother, a scene that was heavily televised.
At the end of her year of flying, on December 26, 1949, Higgins Clark happily gave up her career to marry Warren Clark. To occupy herself, she began taking writing courses at NYU
and, with some of her classmates, formed a writing workshop in which the members would critique each other's works in progress. The workshop, which persisted for almost forty years, met weekly, and at each meeting two members would have 20 minutes each to present their latest work. The other members would then have three minutes each to offer constructive criticism.
One of her professors at NYU told the class that they should develop plot ideas by reading newspapers and asking "Suppose...?" and "What If." Higgins Clark says she still gets many of her ideas by asking those questions, along with "Why?" For her first NYU writing assignment she used this method to expand her own experiences into a short story called "Stowaway", about a stewardess who finds a stowaway from Czechoslovakia on her plane. Although her professor offered high praise for the story, Higgins Clark was continually frustrated in her attempt to find a publisher. Finally, in 1956, after six years and forty rejections, Extension Magazine agreed to purchase the story for $100.
Whilst those six years were devoid of professional milestones, on a personal level Higgins Clark and her husband were very busy. Their first child, Marilyn, was born nine months after their wedding, with Warren Jr. arriving thirteen months later, and a third child, David, born two years after his brother. Two months after Higgins Clark's short story sold, the fourth baby made her appearance and was promptly named Carol
, after the heroine in her mother's story.
After selling that first short story, Higgins Clark began regularly finding homes for her works. Through the writer's workshop she met an agent, Patricia Schartle Myrer, who represented Higgins Clark for twenty years until her retirement, and became such a good friend that Higgins Clark named her fifth and last child for her.
While Warren worked and Higgins Clark wrote, they encouraged their children to find ways to earn money as well, with all five children eventually taking professional acting and modeling jobs. Young Patty served as a Gerber baby
, while David was featured in a national United Way ad. Higgins Clark herself filmed a television commercial for Fab laundry detergent. The commercial, which aired during the I Love Lucy
show, earned her enough money that she and Warren were able to take a trip to Hawaii
.
In 1959, Warren Clark was diagnosed with severe angina, and, although he curtailed his activities on his doctor's order, he suffered within the next five years, each time returning from the hospital in poorer health. After the last heart attack in 1964 they felt that Warren would be unable to work again, so Higgins Clark called a friend who wrote scripts for radio shows to see if there were any job openings. The day that she accepted a job writing the radio segment "Portrait of a Patriot," Warren suffered a fatal heart attack. His mother, who was visiting at the time, collapsed at his bedside upon discovering that he was dead. In one night, Higgins Clark had lost her husband and her mother-in-law.
By the late 1960s, the short story market had collapsed. The Saturday Evening Post
, which in 1960 named Higgins Clark's short story "Beauty Contest at Buckingham" one of their ten best of the year, had decided to stop publishing fiction, and many of the popular ladies magazines were focusing on self-help articles instead. Because her short stories were no longer able to find a publisher, Higgins Clark's agent suggested that she try writing a full-length novel. Leveraging her research and experience with the Portraits of a Patriot series, Higgins Clark spent the next three years writing a fictionalized account of the relationship between George
and Martha Washington
, Aspire to the Heavens. It is also about George Washington and the love for his house. The book did sell, and although the advance was small, it gave Higgins Clark confidence that she could indeed finish a full-length book and find a publisher. The novel "was remaindered
as it came off the press," and, to make matters worse, four months after the publication of the novel, Higgins Clark's mother Nora Higgins died.
To ensure that her children would not have to struggle financially, Higgins Clark was determined that they should have good educations. To provide a good example she entered Fordham University
at Lincoln Center in 1971, graduating summa cum laude in 1979, with a B.A.
in philosophy. Her children followed her example. The two eldest, Marilyn and Warren, have become judges, and Patty works at the Mercantile Exchange in New York City. David is the president and CEO of Talk Marketing Enterprises, Inc, and Carol
has authored many popular suspense novels.
During this time Higgins Clark became increasingly frustrated with her employer, and, although two of her children were partially dependent on her for their college tuition, she quit her job and joined two of her former colleagues in forming their own company to write and market radio scripts. To scrape up the $5000 she needed to start the business, Higgins Clark was forced to pawn her engagement ring, and, for the eight months it took the company to become profitable, she did not receive a salary, further straining the family finances.
Higgins Clark continued writing even during these hard times. Encouraged by her agent to try writing another book, Higgins Clark returned to the suspense stories that she loved as a child and which had provided her first success as a short story writer. While she was in the midst of writing the story, her younger brother Johnny died, leaving her the sole surviving member of her family. To temporarily forget her heartache, Higgins Clark threw herself into her writing, and soon finished the novel.
Very quickly after the novel, Where are the Children? was completed, Simon and Schuster agreed to purchase it for the relatively small sum of $3000. Three months later, in July 1974, Higgins Clark received word that the paperback rights for the novel had sold for one hundred thousand dollars. For the first time in many years she had no immediate financial worries.
Where Are the Children? became a bestseller
and was favorably reviewed. Two years after its publication Higgins Clark sold her second suspense novel for $1.5 million.
She has also written several Christmas themed mystery novels with her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark
. Although popular with readers, some critics have complained that the books are of lesser quality than the bulk of Mary's work, partly because the tone is much lighter than her solo output.
and also have homes in Manhattan
, Spring Lake, New Jersey
, and Dennis, Massachusetts
.
In 1981, Higgins Clark happened to be in Washington, D.C.
the day President Ronald Reagan
was shot. Because she had a press pass she was able to join the media waiting to hear the President's prognosis. When the doctor finally arrived to start the press conference, Higgins Clark was one of the few people chosen to ask a question.
Before beginning the actual writing of her books, Higgins Clark prefers to develop an outline and perhaps detailed character biographies. Each chapter is continuously revised as she writes, so that when she is ready to move on to the next chapter, the current chapter is considered done and is sent directly to her editor. By the time the editor receives the last chapter, the book is primarily done.
Creativity abounds in Higgins Clark's office, a tower-like room featuring skylights and windows, located on the third floor of her house. Every morning after a light breakfast, Higgins Clark arrives in her office around 8 a.m. and works until about 2 pm, unless she is near the end of her book, when she might extend her schedule to work up to 17 hours per day. Once a year Higgins Clark lectures on a cruise ship, allowing her to travel and to do some writing in a more novel location.
Her hair and makeup artist is Karem Alsina, who is often credited in her novels.
Known as "The Queen of Suspense", Higgins Clark is a "master plotter" who has the ability to slowly draw out the tension while making the reader think everyone is guilty. Her novels feature strong, independent young women who find themselves in the midst of a problem that they must solve with their own courage and intelligence. The heroines come across as real people who make sensible decisions, which makes it easier for readers, who sometimes think " "that could have happened to me, or to my to daughter," to relate to the situations. Higgins Clark's books are written for adults, yet because she chooses not to include explicit sex or violence in her stories, they have become popular with children as young as twelve.
Many of the books deal with crimes involving children or with telepathy. While Higgins Clark is well aware that many people claiming to be psychics are behaving fraudulently, she believes that she has met people with genuine ESP powers. Higgins Clark's mother, on looking at a photo of her eighteen year old son in his brand new Navy dress blues told her daughter that "He has death in his eyes," and the young man died shortly after. A psychic Higgins Clark visited just as her second novel, Where Are the Children, was being published in paperback told her that she would become very famous and make a great deal of money. Although at the time she laughed off the prediction, the following week her novel reached the bestseller lists and she sold the movie rights shortly after, truly launching her career.
Spirit of Achievement Award (1994) and the National Arts Club
's Gold Medal in Education (1994). She has been awarded eighteen honorary doctorates, including one from her alma mater, Fordham University.
Her success has also been recognized by groups representing her heritage. The American-Irish Historical Society granted her the Gold Medal of Honor in 1993, and in 2001 she won the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. She has also been named a Bronx Legend (1999).
Higgins Clark has served as the Chairman of the International Crime Congress in 1988 and was the 1987 president of the Mystery Writers of America
. For many years she also served on the Board of Directors of the Mystery Writers of America. Simon and Schuster, which have published all of Higgins Clark's novels and in the late 1990s signed her to a $64-million, four book contract, have funded the Mary Higgins Clark Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America to authors of suspense fiction for each of the ten years between 2001 and 2011. The announcement that an award would be given in her honor was made at the 55th Annual Edgar Allan Poe Awards, where Higgins Clark was inducted as a Grand Master.
Her devotion to her religion has also been widely recognized. In the highest honor that can be offered to a layperson by the Pope, Higgins Clark has been made a Dame of the Order of St. Gregory the Great
, and has also been honored as a Dame of Malta and a Dame of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. The Franciscan Friars have given her a Graymoor Award (1999) and she has been awarded a Christopher Life Achievement Award
. Higgins Clark also serves as a board member for the Catholic Communal Fund and as a member of the Board of Governors at Hackensack Hospital.
Higgins Clark was inducted into Irish America magazine
's Irish America Hall of Fame
in March 2011.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
of suspense novels
Psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...
. Each of her 42 books has been a bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
in the United States and various European countries
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and all of her novels remain in print as of 2007, with her debut suspense novel, Where Are The Children, in its seventy-fifth printing. She is a minority owner of the New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
.
Higgins Clark began writing at an early age. After several years working as a secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
and copy editor
Copy editing
Copy editing is the work that an editor does to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of text. Unlike general editing, copy editing might not involve changing the substance of the text. Copy refers to written or typewritten text for typesetting, printing, or publication...
, Higgins Clark spent a year as a stewardess
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
for Pan-American Airlines
Pan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991...
before leaving her job 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 convinced her to try writing novels. Her debut novel
Debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...
, a fictionalized account of the life of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, did not sell well, and she decided to leverage her love of mystery/suspense novels. Her suspense novels became very popular, and as of 2007 her books have sold more than 80 million copies in the United States alone.
Her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark
Carol Higgins Clark
Carol Higgins Clark is an American mystery author. She is also the daughter of suspense writer Mary Higgins Clark, and has co-authored several Christmas novels with her mother.-Writing career:...
, and former daughter-in-law Mary Jane Clark
Mary Jane Clark
Mary Jane Clark in an American author of two series of suspense novels. Her first twelve books are media thrillers influenced by her three decades of experience in broadcast journalism. She plots murder mysteries investigated and solved by the characters who work at KEY News, the fictional...
are also suspense writers.
Early life
Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins was born December 24, 1927, the second child and only daughter of Irish immigrant Luke Higgins and his wife Nora, who was also of Irish descent. Mary Higgins Clark arrived less than nineteen months after the birth of her older brother, Joseph, and her younger brother Johnny followed three years later. Even as a small child, Higgins Clark 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, noting in her very first entry that "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
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
as well as a summer cottage on Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
. Although the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
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
Osteomyelitis
Osteomyelitis simply means an infection of the bone or bone marrow...
. 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
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, 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 Higgins was guaranteed a pension for life, 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 chose to attend 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 HellerJoseph Heller
Joseph Heller was a US satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His best known work is Catch-22, a novel about US servicemen during World War II...
) and to model for the company brochures with a then-unknown Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
.
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 fewer a week than 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
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
before the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
fell. On another of her flights, Higgins Clark escorted a four year old orphaned child down the steps of the airplane into the waiting arms of her adoptive mother, a scene that was heavily televised.
At the end of her year of flying, on December 26, 1949, Higgins Clark happily gave up her career to marry Warren Clark. To occupy herself, she began taking writing courses at NYU
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and, with some of her classmates, formed a writing workshop in which the members would critique each other's works in progress. The workshop, which persisted for almost forty years, met weekly, and at each meeting two members would have 20 minutes each to present their latest work. The other members would then have three minutes each to offer constructive criticism.
One of her professors at NYU told the class that they should develop plot ideas by reading newspapers and asking "Suppose...?" and "What If." Higgins Clark says she still gets many of her ideas by asking those questions, along with "Why?" For her first NYU writing assignment she used this method to expand her own experiences into a short story called "Stowaway", about a stewardess who finds a stowaway from Czechoslovakia on her plane. Although her professor offered high praise for the story, Higgins Clark was continually frustrated in her attempt to find a publisher. Finally, in 1956, after six years and forty rejections, Extension Magazine agreed to purchase the story for $100.
Whilst those six years were devoid of professional milestones, on a personal level Higgins Clark and her husband were very busy. Their first child, Marilyn, was born nine months after their wedding, with Warren Jr. arriving thirteen months later, and a third child, David, born two years after his brother. Two months after Higgins Clark's short story sold, the fourth baby made her appearance and was promptly named Carol
Carol Higgins Clark
Carol Higgins Clark is an American mystery author. She is also the daughter of suspense writer Mary Higgins Clark, and has co-authored several Christmas novels with her mother.-Writing career:...
, after the heroine in her mother's story.
After selling that first short story, Higgins Clark began regularly finding homes for her works. Through the writer's workshop she met an agent, Patricia Schartle Myrer, who represented Higgins Clark for twenty years until her retirement, and became such a good friend that Higgins Clark named her fifth and last child for her.
While Warren worked and Higgins Clark wrote, they encouraged their children to find ways to earn money as well, with all five children eventually taking professional acting and modeling jobs. Young Patty served as a Gerber baby
Gerber Baby
The Gerber Baby is the trademark logo of the Gerber Products Company.-History:Fremont Canning Company, owned and operated by Frank Daniel Gerber and his son Daniel Frank Gerber, were looking for a baby face for its new baby-food campaign that was to start in the later part of 1928...
, while David was featured in a national United Way ad. Higgins Clark herself filmed a television commercial for Fab laundry detergent. The commercial, which aired during the I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
show, earned her enough money that she and Warren were able to take a trip to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
.
In 1959, Warren Clark was diagnosed with severe angina, and, although he curtailed his activities on his doctor's order, he suffered within the next five years, each time returning from the hospital in poorer health. After the last heart attack in 1964 they felt that Warren would be unable to work again, so Higgins Clark called a friend who wrote scripts for radio shows to see if there were any job openings. The day that she accepted a job writing the radio segment "Portrait of a Patriot," Warren suffered a fatal heart attack. His mother, who was visiting at the time, collapsed at his bedside upon discovering that he was dead. In one night, Higgins Clark had lost her husband and her mother-in-law.
Aspire to the Heavens
Higgins Clark's initial contract to be a radio scriptwriter obligated her to write 65 four-minute programs for the Portrait of a Patriot series. Her work was good enough that she was soon asked to write two other radio series. This experience of fitting an entire sketch into four minutes taught Higgins Clark how to write cleanly and succinctly, traits that are incredibly important to a suspense novel, which must advance the plot with every paragraph. Despite the security offered by her new job, money was tight in the beginning as she strove to raise five children aged five to thirteen alone. For their first Christmas without Warren, Higgins Clark's only gifts to her children were personalized poems describing the things she wished she could have purchased for them.By the late 1960s, the short story market had collapsed. The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
, which in 1960 named Higgins Clark's short story "Beauty Contest at Buckingham" one of their ten best of the year, had decided to stop publishing fiction, and many of the popular ladies magazines were focusing on self-help articles instead. Because her short stories were no longer able to find a publisher, Higgins Clark's agent suggested that she try writing a full-length novel. Leveraging her research and experience with the Portraits of a Patriot series, Higgins Clark spent the next three years writing a fictionalized account of the relationship between George
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
and Martha Washington
Martha Washington
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington is considered to be the first First Lady of the United States...
, Aspire to the Heavens. It is also about George Washington and the love for his house. The book did sell, and although the advance was small, it gave Higgins Clark confidence that she could indeed finish a full-length book and find a publisher. The novel "was remaindered
Remaindered book
Remaindered books are books that are no longer selling well and whose remaining unsold copies are being liquidated by the publisher at greatly reduced prices...
as it came off the press," and, to make matters worse, four months after the publication of the novel, Higgins Clark's mother Nora Higgins died.
Suspense genre
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
at Lincoln Center in 1971, graduating summa cum laude in 1979, with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in philosophy. Her children followed her example. The two eldest, Marilyn and Warren, have become judges, and Patty works at the Mercantile Exchange in New York City. David is the president and CEO of Talk Marketing Enterprises, Inc, and Carol
Carol Higgins Clark
Carol Higgins Clark is an American mystery author. She is also the daughter of suspense writer Mary Higgins Clark, and has co-authored several Christmas novels with her mother.-Writing career:...
has authored many popular suspense novels.
During this time Higgins Clark became increasingly frustrated with her employer, and, although two of her children were partially dependent on her for their college tuition, she quit her job and joined two of her former colleagues in forming their own company to write and market radio scripts. To scrape up the $5000 she needed to start the business, Higgins Clark was forced to pawn her engagement ring, and, for the eight months it took the company to become profitable, she did not receive a salary, further straining the family finances.
Higgins Clark continued writing even during these hard times. Encouraged by her agent to try writing another book, Higgins Clark returned to the suspense stories that she loved as a child and which had provided her first success as a short story writer. While she was in the midst of writing the story, her younger brother Johnny died, leaving her the sole surviving member of her family. To temporarily forget her heartache, Higgins Clark threw herself into her writing, and soon finished the novel.
Very quickly after the novel, Where are the Children? was completed, Simon and Schuster agreed to purchase it for the relatively small sum of $3000. Three months later, in July 1974, Higgins Clark received word that the paperback rights for the novel had sold for one hundred thousand dollars. For the first time in many years she had no immediate financial worries.
Where Are the Children? became a bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
and was favorably reviewed. Two years after its publication Higgins Clark sold her second suspense novel for $1.5 million.
Other writings
Higgins Clark's debut novel about George Washington, Aspire to the Heavens was retitled Mount Vernon Love Story and rereleased in 2002, the same year as her autobiography, Kitchen Privileges, which relied heavily on the journals she has kept all of her life. In 2006 Higgins Clark announced that she would be fulfilling one of her dreams by publishing her first children's book. Ghost Ship was published by Simon and Schuster, who have also published her suspense novels.She has also written several Christmas themed mystery novels with her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark
Carol Higgins Clark
Carol Higgins Clark is an American mystery author. She is also the daughter of suspense writer Mary Higgins Clark, and has co-authored several Christmas novels with her mother.-Writing career:...
. Although popular with readers, some critics have complained that the books are of lesser quality than the bulk of Mary's work, partly because the tone is much lighter than her solo output.
Personal life
Higgins Clark dated throughout her widowhood, and underwent a "disastrous" marriage in 1978 that was annulled several years later. In 1996, she remarried, to John J. Conheeney, the retired CEO of Merrill Lynch Futures, after they were introduced by her daughter, Patty. The couple live in Saddle River, New JerseySaddle River, New Jersey
Saddle River is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 3,152. Saddle River has the second-highest per-capita income in the state...
and also have homes in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, Spring Lake, New Jersey
Spring Lake, New Jersey
Spring Lake is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 2,993....
, and Dennis, Massachusetts
Dennis, Massachusetts
Dennis is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States; located near the center of Cape Cod. The population was 14,207 at the 2010 census.The town encompasses five distinct villages, each of which has its own post office...
.
In 1981, Higgins Clark happened to be in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
the day President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
was shot. Because she had a press pass she was able to join the media waiting to hear the President's prognosis. When the doctor finally arrived to start the press conference, Higgins Clark was one of the few people chosen to ask a question.
Before beginning the actual writing of her books, Higgins Clark prefers to develop an outline and perhaps detailed character biographies. Each chapter is continuously revised as she writes, so that when she is ready to move on to the next chapter, the current chapter is considered done and is sent directly to her editor. By the time the editor receives the last chapter, the book is primarily done.
Creativity abounds in Higgins Clark's office, a tower-like room featuring skylights and windows, located on the third floor of her house. Every morning after a light breakfast, Higgins Clark arrives in her office around 8 a.m. and works until about 2 pm, unless she is near the end of her book, when she might extend her schedule to work up to 17 hours per day. Once a year Higgins Clark lectures on a cruise ship, allowing her to travel and to do some writing in a more novel location.
Her hair and makeup artist is Karem Alsina, who is often credited in her novels.
Popular reception
As of 2007, Higgins Clark has written twenty-four suspense novels, which have sold over 80 million copies in the United States. All of her suspense novels have been best-sellers, and as of 2007 all are still in print, including Where are the Children?, which is in its 75th printing. In 2001, the hardcover edition of Higgins Clark's On the Street Where You Live was Number One on the New York Times Hardcover Bestseller list at the same time that the paperback version of her novel Before I Say Good-bye reached Number One on the New York Times Paperback Besteller list. Her books are also number one bestsellers in France, and have earned her the distinction of being named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in France in 2000. She has also been honored in France with the Grand Prix de Literature Policier (1980) and the Deauville Film Festival Literary Award (1999).Known as "The Queen of Suspense", Higgins Clark is a "master plotter" who has the ability to slowly draw out the tension while making the reader think everyone is guilty. Her novels feature strong, independent young women who find themselves in the midst of a problem that they must solve with their own courage and intelligence. The heroines come across as real people who make sensible decisions, which makes it easier for readers, who sometimes think " "that could have happened to me, or to my to daughter," to relate to the situations. Higgins Clark's books are written for adults, yet because she chooses not to include explicit sex or violence in her stories, they have become popular with children as young as twelve.
Many of the books deal with crimes involving children or with telepathy. While Higgins Clark is well aware that many people claiming to be psychics are behaving fraudulently, she believes that she has met people with genuine ESP powers. Higgins Clark's mother, on looking at a photo of her eighteen year old son in his brand new Navy dress blues told her daughter that "He has death in his eyes," and the young man died shortly after. A psychic Higgins Clark visited just as her second novel, Where Are the Children, was being published in paperback told her that she would become very famous and make a great deal of money. Although at the time she laughed off the prediction, the following week her novel reached the bestseller lists and she sold the movie rights shortly after, truly launching her career.
Critical reception
Higgins Clark has won numerous awards for her writing. In addition to those previously referenced, she has won the Horatio Alger Award (1997) and the Passionists' Ethics in Literature Award (2002), as well as the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva UniversityYeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
Spirit of Achievement Award (1994) and the National Arts Club
National Arts Club
The National Arts Club is a private club in Gramercy Park, New York City, New York, USA. It was founded in 1898 to "stimulate, foster, and promote public interest in the arts and to educate the American people in the fine arts". Since 1906 the organization has occupied the Samuel J...
's Gold Medal in Education (1994). She has been awarded eighteen honorary doctorates, including one from her alma mater, Fordham University.
Her success has also been recognized by groups representing her heritage. The American-Irish Historical Society granted her the Gold Medal of Honor in 1993, and in 2001 she won the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. She has also been named a Bronx Legend (1999).
Higgins Clark has served as the Chairman of the International Crime Congress in 1988 and was the 1987 president of the Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
. For many years she also served on the Board of Directors of the Mystery Writers of America. Simon and Schuster, which have published all of Higgins Clark's novels and in the late 1990s signed her to a $64-million, four book contract, have funded the Mary Higgins Clark Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America to authors of suspense fiction for each of the ten years between 2001 and 2011. The announcement that an award would be given in her honor was made at the 55th Annual Edgar Allan Poe Awards, where Higgins Clark was inducted as a Grand Master.
Her devotion to her religion has also been widely recognized. In the highest honor that can be offered to a layperson by the Pope, Higgins Clark has been made a Dame of the Order of St. Gregory the Great
Order of St. Gregory the Great
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great , was established on September 1, 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election.It is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See...
, and has also been honored as a Dame of Malta and a Dame of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. The Franciscan Friars have given her a Graymoor Award (1999) and she has been awarded a Christopher Life Achievement Award
Christopher Award
The Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...
. Higgins Clark also serves as a board member for the Catholic Communal Fund and as a member of the Board of Governors at Hackensack Hospital.
Higgins Clark was inducted into Irish America magazine
Irish America magazine
Irish America magazine is a bi-monthly periodical that aims to cover topics relevant to the Irish in North America including a range of political, economic, social, and cultural themes. The magazine’s inaugural issue was published in October 1985...
's Irish America Hall of Fame
Irish America Hall of Fame
Irish America Hall of Fame The Irish America Hall of Fame was founded by Irish America magazine in November 2010. It recognizes extraordinary figures in the Irish American community who have had a profound effect on the Irish in America and strengthened the bonds between the United States and...
in March 2011.
Fiction
- 1968 Aspire To The Heavens (reissued in 2000 as Mount Vernon Love Story)
- 1975 Where Are The Children?
- 1977 A Stranger is WatchingA Stranger Is WatchingA Stranger Is Watching is a suspense novel by Mary Higgins Clark.-Plot summary:The main characters in the novel are Steve Peterson...
- 1980 The Cradle Will Fall
- 1982 A Cry in the Night
- 1984 Stillwatch
- 1987 Weep No More, My Lady
- 1989 While My Pretty One Sleeps
- 1989 The Anastasia Syndrome and Other Stories
- 1990 Voices in the Coal Bin (short story, only available as an audio book with Carol Higgins Clark's That's the Ticket)
- 1991 Loves Music, Loves to Dance
- 1992 All Around the Town
- 1993 I'll Be Seeing You
- 1993 Death on the Cape and Other Stories
- 1993 Milk Run and Stowaway (Two stories. Like Voices in the Coal Bin, never officially published out of anthologies)
- 1994 Remember Me
- 1994 The Lottery Winner and Other Stories
- 1995 Let Me Call You Sweetheart
- 1995 Silent Night
- 1996 Moonlight Becomes You
- 1996 My Gal Sunday: Henry and Sunday Stories
- 1997 Pretend You Don't See HerPretend You Don't See HerPretend You Don't See Her is a 2002 TV movie based on the novel by Mary Higgins Clark.-Story:Lacey Farrell, a young rising star on Manhattan's high-powered and competitive real estate scene is in the course of selling a luxurious apartment when she becomes the witness to a murder and hears the...
- 1998 You Belong to Me
- 1998 All Through The Night
- 1999 We'll Meet Again
- 2000 Before I Say Good-Bye
- 2000 Deck the Halls (with daughter Carol Higgins Clark)
- 2001 On The Street Where You Live
- 2001 He Sees You When You're Sleeping (with daughter Carol Higgins Clark)
- 2002 Daddy's Little GirlDaddy's Little Girl (novel)Daddy's Little Girl is a 2002 novel written by author Mary Higgins Clark. It is Clark's twenty-sixth published novel. The novel revolves around a dark and chilling story of murder, and its effects years later on the man convicted of the crime and the woman who helped convict him...
- 2003 The Second Time Around
- 2004 Nighttime Is My Time
- 2004 The Christmas Thief (with daughter Carol Higgins Clark)
- 2005 No Place Like HomeNo Place Like Home (novel)No Place Like Home is a thriller novel written by Mary Higgins Clark and published in 2005.-Plot summary:The story starts with 10 year old Liza Barton accidentally shooting and killing her mother and shooting and injuring her stepfather Ted...
- 2006 Two Little Girls in Blue
- 2006 Santa Cruise (with daughter Carol Higgins Clark)
- 2007 Ghost Ship: A Cape Cod Story
- 2007 I Heard That Song BeforeI Heard That Song BeforeI Heard That Song Before is a suspense novel by American author Mary Higgins Clark.-Synopsis:The daughter of a landscaper for the wealthy Carrington family, six year old Kay Lansing sneaks away from her father's side one morning, and overhears a woman blackmailing a man for money. When she tells...
- 2008 Where Are You Now?Where Are You Now? (novel)Where Are You Now? is a suspense novel by Mary Higgins Clark.-Synopsis:Ten years ago, 21-year-old Charles MacKenzie, Jr. walked out of his apartment without a word and has never been seen again. He does, however, call his mother annually on Mother's Day to assure her of his health and safety,...
- 2008 Dashing Through the Snow (with daughter Carol Higgins Clark)
- 2009 Just Take My HeartJust Take My HeartJust Take My Heart is a romantic suspense novel by Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter, Carol. It was released in print and Audio CD on April 7, 2009.-Critical reception:...
- 2010 The Shadow of Your Smile
- 2011 I'll Walk Alone
Non-Fiction
- 1993 Mother Salut (with Amy TanAmy TanAmy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Her most well-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 35 languages...
and Maya AngelouMaya AngelouMaya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...
) - 2001 Kitchen Privileges, A Memoir'
Movie adaptations
- 1982 A Stranger Is WatchingA Stranger Is Watching (film)A Stranger is Watching is a 1982 film directed by Sean S. Cunningham. The screenplay was written by Earl Mac Rauch and Victor Miller, based on the novel by Mary Higgins Clark.-Plot:...
- 1986 Where Are The Children?Where Are The Children?Where Are the Children? is a 1986 film based on the novel of the same name by Mary Higgins Clark.-Plot:On her birthday, San Francisco resident Nancy Harmon's two kids Peter and Lisa disappear, later to be found dead. The police wrongly accuse a devastated Nancy of being the killer...
- 2002 We'll Meet AgainWe'll Meet Again (2002 film)We'll Meet Again is a 2002 film, based on the novel of the same name by Mary Higgins Clark.-Plot:Socialite Molly Lasch is released from prison after serving a six-year sentence for the murder of her husband, Dr. Gary Lasch. Now, with the help of Fran, an investigative reporter, Molly sets out to...
- 2002 Lucky Day
- 2002 All Around them
Television adaptations
- 1983 The Cradle Will Fall
- 1987 Stillwatch
- 1992 Weep No More, My Lady
- 1992 Double VisionDouble Vision-About Double Vision:Double Vision is an Asian provider of new media content, applications and services. Established in 1985, it has production hubs in Malaysia and Indonesia. Double Vision produces over 1,400 hours of television programming per year in various languages and genres for the regional...
- 1992 A Cry in the Night (starring daughter Carol Higgins Clark)
- 1992 Terror Stalks the Class Reunion
- 1995 Remember MeRemember Me- Songs :* "Remember Me" * "Remember Me" , 2001* "Remember Me" , 1998* "Remember Me" , 2002* "Remember Me" , 1970* "Remember Me" - Songs :* "Remember Me" (Blue Boy song)* "Remember Me" (British Sea Power song), 2001* "Remember Me" (Journey song), 1998* "Remember Me" (Hoobastank song), 2002*...
(Clark appears as the character Mary) - 1997 Let Me Call You SweetheartLet Me Call You Sweetheart"Let Me Call You Sweetheart" is a popular song, with music by Leo Friedman and lyrics by Beth Slater Whitson. The song was published in 1910 and first recorded by The Peerless Quartet....
- 1997 While My Pretty One Sleeps (Clark appears as the character Mary)
- 1998 Moonlight Becomes YouMoonlight Becomes You*"Moonlight Becomes You" , a 1942 popular song by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke*Moonlight Becomes You , a 1994 album by Willie Nelson*Moonlight Becomes You , a 1998 TV-movie starring Donna Mills...
- 2001 You Belong to MeYou Belong to Me (2001 film)You Belong to Me is a film adaptation of the novel written by Mary Higgins Clark. Lesley-Anne Down and Tony DeSantis star in the film. The film is directed by Paolo Barzman....
- 2001 Loves Music, Loves to DanceLoves Music, Loves to DanceLoves Music, Loves to Dance is a novel by Mary Higgins Clark. It was one of Publishers Weekly's top 10 bestselling novels of 1991. The novel was adapted into a film in 2001.- Movie :...
- 2002 He Sees You When You're Sleeping (directed by David WinningDavid WinningDavid Winning is a Canadian and American dual Citizen film and television director, screenwriter, producer, editor, and occasional actor. Although Winning has worked in numerous film and TV genres, his name is most commonly associated with science fiction, thrillers and drama.-Biography:Winning...
) - 2002 Pretend You Don't See Her
- 2002 Lucky Day
- 2002 Haven't We Met Before?Haven't We Met Before?Haven't We Met Before? is a 2002 mystery film starring Nicollette Sheridan, Page Fletcher, Anthony Lemke and Daniela Amavia. It was directed by René Bonniére and written by Mary Higgins Clark and John Rutter....
- 2002 All Around The Town
- 2004 I'll Be Seeing YouI'll be Seeing You (2004 film)I'll Be Seeing You, also known as Mary Higgins Clark's I'll Be Seeing You, is a 2004 television film based on the novel by Mary Higgins Clark starring Alison Eastwood and Mark Humphrey.-Story:...
- 2004 Before I Say Good-Bye
- 2004 Try to RememberTry to Remember (TV Movie)Try to Remember, is a 2004 Mystery Television movie based on a novel by Mary Higgins Clark that was shot back in 2003 on location in Moose Jaw & Saskatchewan of Canada.-Cast:...