Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark Conheeney (née Higgins; born December 24, 1929), 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 remained 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 had 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.
Read more about Mary Higgins Clark: Early Life, Early Career, Aspire To The Heavens, Suspense Genre, Other Writings, Later Life, Movie Adaptations, Television Adaptations
Famous quotes containing the words mary, higgins and/or clark:
“A fallen tree does not rise again.”
—Hawaiian saying no. 2412, ‘lelo No’Eau, collected, translated, and annotated by Mary Kawena Pukui, Bishop Museum Press, Hawaii (1983)
“Politics is a choice of enemas. You’re gonna get it up the ass, no matter what you do.”
—George V. Higgins (b. 1939)
“In the beginning, I wanted to enter what was essentially a man’s field. I wanted to prove I could do it. Then I found that when I did as well as the men in the field I got more credit for my work because I am a woman, which seems unfair.”
—Eugenie Clark (b. 1922)