So what we’re not gonna talk at all that Mary Higgins Clark died (on January 31, 2020)?!
She was John Grisham before there was a John Grisham.
To be fair I stopped reading her around the early 90s. Her stuff from the late 70s and all through the 80s is incredible.
Tales like…
A Stranger Is Watching
The Cradle Will Fall
A Cry in the Night
Murder in Manhattan
Terror Stalks The Class Reunion (excellent title!!)
While My Pretty One Sleeps
Those all sound like most excellent 70s/80s titles for an American era ruled by unchecked beliefs of razor blades inserted in Halloween apples and playing Dungeons & Dragons would summon Satan. Duh. Common Knowledge. (They also sound like heavy metal song titles/albums.)
By the early 90s I left her for Sue Grafton and never went back. Sue Grafton was my mystery writer June Carter Cash: I’d found the one who would make me happy and I’d spend the rest of my life with.
When I’d heard Mary passed away I felt bad. It’d been years since we were last together and ah…I haven’t really thought about her. Still, it’s sad to see her go.
She was 92; cranked out over 50 books. She did The Work and leaves behind an astonishing contribution to our pop culture.
I’m also partly sad because I still miss Sue Grafton. As readers, we develop relationships with characters…and occasionally with writers. What a journey its been as a book nerd.
“What have I become
My sweetest friend?
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way.”
Goodbye Mary Higgins Clark.
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