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Black notebook: The “Queen of crime” surrenders – News Culture: Books

“The Irish people know how to tell stories. They have it in their blood! ”Met in 1999 in a chic hotel on Place Vendôme in Paris, Mary Higgins Clark sums up the secret of her talent with this succinct formula. The “Queen of Crime”, 20 novels on the shelves at the time, carefully knitted her legend, which she unwinds in front of me without a hitch: like all her heroines, she experienced fate; she worked hard before meeting the enormous success which is hers; she gets up every morning at 5 am to write, a cup of steaming tea on her desk; draws its inspiration from the daily news section; and publish one book per year until his death.

“She was unique”

The Irishwoman did not lie that day: “In secret” appeared in 2019, she died on January 31, 2020, in Naples, in the United States, “peacefully and surrounded by her family”, according to the dedicated formula . She was 92 years old. And Mary knew how to hold her character to perfection until the end, without a hair moving.

We lose track when it comes to counting the titles of his bibliography, but we risk an estimate: an account of the life of George and Martha Washington published in 1969, which makes a flop; 39 novels, one per year since “La Maison du guet” in 1975, which instantly met with resounding success; 5 stories written by four hands with his daughter Carol; 5 with Alafair Burke; collections of short stories, two children’s books and his Memoirs, “Between yesterday and tomorrow”, published in 2003.

“She was unique. No one has ever been more connected to her readers: she understood them as if they were members of her own family, “said publisher and longtime friend Michael Korda. “She knew for sure what they wanted to read, and what they didn’t want to read. And yet she managed to surprise them with each new novel. She was the Queen of suspense. “

With each publication, his admirers found themselves on familiar ground. There is always in Mary Higgins Clark a courageous, ravishing and sensitive young woman, entangled in a well-constructed intrigue, one or more sordid murders, a handsome, attractive and protective kid – sometimes apparently only – and finally, a happy ending. To the question – “Why never bloody details or sex in your stories”, the clever novelist had answered me that day of 1999: “I write the books which I would like to read. I’m not throwing stones at authors who do otherwise, but it’s not my choice. “And she said,” I like happy endings. But my characters suffered, they paid a heavy price for life. It gives me emotional satisfaction to tell such stories. ”

It is precisely this description that meets the existence of Mary, born in the Bronx on December 24, 1927, in a modest Irish family. His father, the owner of a small restaurant, died of a heart attack in his sleep, leaving his wife alone with three children. One of Mary’s brothers died of meningitis a few years later. Forced to shorten her studies, the girl worked as a typist, then as an advertising assistant, before becoming a flight attendant for PanAm.

In 1949, she married Warren Clark, director of an airline. Five children were born. On September 26, 1964, Warren died of a heart attack. Mary is 35, and finds herself strengthened in her belief that no one is ever safe from misfortune. She will stage in all her novels, as a leitmotif, this dramatic point where fate changes, she who also accused the loss of a nephew, fallen from a window at 15 months. “I write about women who have found the strength to overcome their difficulties,” she once said on France Inter. They are not saved by a prince on a white horse. In this sense, I write a little about myself. “

During these difficult years, Mary Higgins Clark paid her bills by writing radio scripts, then became vice-president of a communications company for ten years. In 1980, she founded her own company. But the one who remembers composing poems at the age of 6 still dreams of writing. After the mishap of her book on George Washington, she throws herself into suspense, and hits the target at the first try. “La Maison du guet” is instantly a bestseller. In 1977, “The Night of the Fox” made her a millionaire.

Philosopher and Catholic

However, this fighter still has some revenge on the fate to take: at 50, she enrolled at Fordham University, in New York, and obtained her degree in philosophy. In 1978, she married a lawyer, Raymond Charles Ploetz, a union that was canceled in 1996. That same year, on November 30, Mary married John J. Conheeney, a very influential businessman who died in October 2018. Mary Higgins Clark, a fervent Catholic, followed him closely, making his regular readers want to reread “Dors ma jolie” in his honor.

Created: 02.02.2020, 6:26 p.m.

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