On the Street Where You Live

  • What happened during the years before you became a professional writer?

  “After completing secretarial school, I worked for a couple of years in an advertising agency. Then one day, a friend—a Pan Am stewardess—spoke seven words that changed my life: ‘God, it was beastly hot in Calcutta.’ I decided that I, too, wanted to see the world and signed up as a Pan Am stewardess. My run was Europe, Africa and Asia. I was in a revolution in Syria and on the last flight into Czechoslovakia before the Iron Curtain went down. I flew for a year and then got married to Warren Clark, a neighbor, on whom I had a crush since I was sixteen.”

  • When did you start your writing career?

  “After I was married, I signed up for a writing course at New York University. There, I got advice from a professor which has always served me well. He said: ‘Write about what you know. Take a dramatic incident with which you are familiar and go with it.’ I thought of my experience on the last flight to Czechoslovakia and gave my imagination free rein. ‘Suppose,’ I reflected, ‘the stewardess finds an eighteen-year-old member of the Czech underground hiding on the plane as it is about to leave.’ The story was called ‘Stowaway.’ It took six years and forty rejection slips before I sold it to Extension magazine in 1956 for one hundred dollars. I framed that first letter of acceptance.”

  • You were widowed at an early age, with five young children. Did that discourage you from pursuing your goal?

  “No, on the contrary. To help fill the gap, I decided to concentrate on writing. My children ranged in age from thirteen down to five. Because of his heart condition, Warren wasn’t insurable, so I had to work. Just a few hours before he died of a heart attack, I had called a friend who did radio script writing. She had often asked me to join her company in writing for radio and I began writing radio shows. But that wasn’t enough. I wanted to write books.”

  • How did you find time to write books while raising five children and holding a job?

  “When my children were young, I used to get up at five and write at the kitchen table until seven, when I had to get them ready for school. For me, writing is a need. It’s the degree of yearning that separates the real writer from the ‘would-bes.’ Those who say ‘I’ll write when I have time, when the kids are grown up or when I have a quiet place to work’ will probably never do it.”

  • What are your children doing at present?

  “One daughter, actress-writer Carol Higgins Clark, is the author of five suspense novels: Decked, Snagged, Iced and Twanged, published by Warner Books, and Fleeced, published by Simon & Schuster/Scribner in October 2001. We have coauthored two holiday suspense novels, Deck the Halls, published by Scribner in October 2000, and He Sees You When You’re Sleeping, published by Scribner in November 2001. My daughter Marilyn is a superior court judge, and my daughter Patty is an executive assistant at the Mercantile Exchange. My son Warren, a lawyer, is a municipal court judge; my son David is an executive with Wellesley, a venture capital investment firm.”

  • What was your first book?

  “A biographical novel about George Washington, Aspire to the Heavens, inspired by a radio series I was then writing called Portrait of a Patriot, vignettes about presidents. Published by Meredith Press in 1969, it is currently available in audio and as an e-Book. It will be reissued by Simon & Schuster and in a special hardcover edition by Historic Mount Vernon in June 2002 with a new title, Mount Vernon Love Story.

  • What made you turn to the field of mystery and suspense?

  “One of the best clues about what to write is what one likes to read. I decided to see if I could write a suspense novel. It was like a prospector stumbling on a vein of gold. I wrote Where Are the Children? It was my first bestseller and a turning point in my life and career. Originally published by Simon & Schuster in 1975, it is in its seventy-fifth printing in paperback and was recently reissued in hardcover as a Simon & Schuster Classic.”

  • What is the premise of Where Are the Children?

  “In New York, there was a sensational case in which a beautiful young mother was on trial for murdering her two small children. I didn’t write about that case, but imagined: Suppose your children disappear and you are accused of killing them—and then it happens again. Where Are the Children? is about a woman whose past holds a terrible secret. Nancy Harmon had been found guilty of murdering her two children and only released from prison on a legal technicality. She abandons her old life, changes her appearance and leaves San Francisco, to seek tranquillity on Cape Cod. Now she has married again, has two more young children, but lives in fear that someone will recognize her. Then one morning when she looks for her children, she finds only a tattered mitten and knows that the nightmare is beginning again.

  “The theme of a missing child struck a personal chord in me. Once, when we moved to a new home, my youngest daughter Patty was briefly missing. That’s when I experienced the panic any mother feels under these circumstances.”

  • What stimulated you to write A Stranger Is Watching?

  “The book brings out the issue of capital punishment, from the viewpoints of a victim and an objective observer.

  “Steve Peterson’s wife, Nina, has been murdered by a man who had changed her flat tire. Two years later, an innocent nineteen-year-old boy is about to be executed for the crime. Steve, an advocate of capital punishment, is involved with Sharon Martin, an opponent of the death sentence. Their different views on this issue, however, are an obstacle to their relationship. Then one day, Sharon and Neil, Steve’s six-year-old son, are abducted by the psychopath who had murdered Nina. They are held in a room in the bowels of Grand Central station, with a bomb rigged to the door.”

  • The Cradle Will Fall deals with women victimized by a ruthless doctor. Is medicine a subject of particular interest to you?

  “Yes. Particularly the subject covered in this book—medical research in fertility. The so-called test-tube baby had just been born in England and there were many arguments about the legal and ethical aspects of in-vitro fertilization. One article predicted that there would soon be surrogate mothers and host mothers. I thought, Suppose a brilliant doctor is experimenting with his patients’ lives in his desire to make a breakthrough; and I was on my way with the book.

  “In The Cradle Will Fall, Dr. Edgar Highley, a highly respected gynecologist and fertility specialist, runs an expensive clinic in a New Jersey hospital, where he is considered to achieve miracle cures for infertile women. Katie DeMaio, a young prosecutor and widow of a judge, comes to the hospital after a minor car accident. That night, from her window, she sees a man load a woman’s body into the trunk of a car. Katie, who is heavily sedated, thinks she is having a nightmare. Released the next day, she becomes suspicious of a suicide case that to her looks more like a murder. While initial evidence points elsewhere, the medical examiner establishes a trail leading to Dr. Highley. He suspects that the famous doctor’s work was more than controversial—that it was deadly. Before he can tell Katie, she has left the office for the weekend and an appointment for surgery with Dr. Highley, who had seen her at the window on that fateful night. At the time I wrote this novel, one of my daughters was an assistant prosecutor. She was the source of in-house advice about the legal aspects of this novel.”

  • A Cinderella story gone wrong is the theme of A Cry in the Night. What inspired this novel?

  “I was thinking about the fact that in our society so many single mothers are struggling to raise children alone and most of them would love to meet ‘Prince Charming.’

  “Jenny MacPartland is a beautiful young divorcée, working in a New York art gallery and struggling to support her two little girls. There, she meets Erich Krueger, a newly discovered Midwest artist, who has come into fame and fortune. Married within a month, Jenny is sure she will grow to love living on Erich Krueger’s Minnesota farm, until lonely days and eerie nights strain her nerves to the breaking point and a chain of terrifying events threatens her marriage, her children and her life. br />
  “The book was made into a television film, starring my daughter, actress-writer Carol Higgins Clark, released in the United States in 1992.”

  • Stillwatch is set in Washington. What drew you to this milieu?

  “The 1984 election was coming up. I anticipated the Democrats ‘talking’ a woman vice president and decided to beat them to it. You can imagine my glee when, just as the book was coming out, Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate.

  “In this novel, there are two women pitted against each other. Pat Traymore comes to Washington to produce a television program on Senator Abigail Jennings, about to be appointed vice president. Pat’s task is to ‘humanize’ the senator—to shed light on aspects of her life unknown to the public. As Pat delves into Abigail’s past, she learns of facts that could destroy Abigail just as she is on the verge of attaining her goal. Pat has also come to Washington for unfinished business of her own—to uncover secrets of her past. She moves back into her childhood home, the scene of a terrible crime never explained. Pat does not realize that her quest may cost her life.

  “In Stillwatch, I deal with two women’s relationship to their past: one determined to learn the truth at all costs, the other for whom emergence of the truth will mean the end of her dreams. In creating the setting, I was aided in part by my friend, Francis Humphrey Howard, sister of the late Senator Hubert Humphrey, who introduced me to Washington life.”

  • Weep No More, My Lady takes place in a luxurious spa. Why did you choose this setting for a suspense novel?

  “It used to be that only the rich could afford to go to spas. Today, with the widespread interest in health and beauty, there are affordable spas all over the country. An intriguing thought crossed my mind: Suppose a killer in a wet suit is stalking the grounds of one of these spas.

  “The plot of Weep No More, My Lady revolves around the mysterious death of stage and screen star Leila LaSalle. Was her fall from her penthouse terrace suicide or murder? This is the question plaguing her sister, beautiful Elizabeth Lange. Min, an old friend of Leila’s, is the owner of luxurious Cypress Point Spa. She invites Elizabeth to the spa, where she encounters a cast of characters each of whom had a motive for killing her sister—and one who is now trying to murder her.

  “Alvirah, the cleaning woman who has won a forty-million-dollar lottery, and her husband Willy, a plumber, made their debut in this novel. Alvirah came to Cypress Point Spa not only to relax and enjoy herself, but to write a gossip column for the New York Globe. The killer stalking Elizabeth, the main protagonist, decides to get Alvirah out of the way. His scheme fails, though, and she provides important clues to his identity.”

  • When you first introduced Alvirah Meehan as a character in Weep No More, My Lady, did you plan to make her and her husband Willy ongoing characters in your work?

  “No—on the contrary. I intended to kill off Alvirah in Weep No More, My Lady. My daughter Carol Higgins Clark prevailed on me to keep her alive. Alvirah and Willy became the protagonists of The Lottery Winner: Alvirah & Willy Stories and my novel All Through the Night.

  “Alvirah and sleuth Regan Reilly, protagonist of Carol’s Regan Reilly series, join forces in our coauthored suspense novel Deck the Halls.”

  • Your novel While My Pretty One Sleeps is set in the world of high fashion. How did you get such intimate knowledge of the fashion world?

  “I grew up hearing about the world of fashion from my mother, who had been the bridal buyer at B. Altman. I also wrote a syndicated radio show, Women Today, for which I regularly interviewed designers and fashion editors and attended fashion events. It gave me the chance to see both the glamour and the agony of the fashion industry.

  “Ethel Lambston, prominent gossip writer, is about to rock the fashion industry with an exposé revealing the secrets of top fashion designers. The story opens with Ethel’s killer driving, in a blinding snowstorm, to a state park in Rockland County, N.Y., to bury Ethel’s body. The first to notice Ethel’s disappearance is Neeve Kearney, beautiful young owner of an exclusive Madison Avenue boutique where Ethel bought all her clothes. She lives with her father, Myles Kearney. A retired police commissioner, he has never forgiven himself because his wife was murdered after he ignored a threat to her life. Neeve becomes deeply involved in the investigation of Ethel’s murder. She also becomes a target for the killer.

  “In While My Pretty One Sleeps, I have included themes based on my view of family relations. I created a strong father-daughter relationship because I am tired of books about parents and children at each other’s throats. I got along well with my parents and I get along fine with my children. The book also has a strong love story reflecting my belief that some people are meant for each other.”

  • The Anastasia Syndrome and Other Stories, a novella and short stories, reflects your interest in history, psychology and supernatural phenomena. What are these stories about?

  “The historical novella, The Anastasia Syndrome, was inspired by the true story of Anna Anderson, the woman who claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia—a claim debated and tried in court for over fifty years and which remains, to this day, an enigma.

  In The Anastasia Syndrome, Judith Chase, a renowned historical writer, is living in London and becoming traumatized by early childhood memories of bombing raids during World War II, in which she was orphaned. She goes to a prominent psychiatrist for help and becomes the victim of his experiments in regression. She is regressed not only to her childhood tragedy, but to 1660, the era of the Civil War in England. In this regression process, she absorbs the persona of murderous Lady Margaret Carew, a woman with a mission of vengeance. In her persona of Lady Carew, Judith becomes the subject of a massive hunt by Scotland Yard.

  “The other four stories deal with such themes as obsession and supernatural phenomena. Obsessive love is the theme of ‘Terror Stalks the Class Reunion.’ A supernatural phenomenon occurs in ‘Double Vision.’ ‘Lucky Day’ begins with a premonition of imminent danger. ‘The Lost Angel’ is a Christmas story in which a mother’s intuition becomes the overpowering force in the search for a lost child.

  “The book reflects an intense personal interest in such phenomena as sixth sense and thought transference.”

  • What prompted you to choose the world of personal ads as a background for Loves Music, Loves to Dance?

  “People in all walks of life are turning to personal ads to find romance or companionship. Personal ads are risky, but they are big business in America. The scary aspect is that you are taking on faith what a stranger tells you—his name, his job, his marital status, his background. Women can fall prey to sexual harassment, rape, even murder.

  “I attended a lecture by an FBI agent while I was Chairman of the International Crime Congress in 1988. When he talked about a serial killer who enticed his victims through personal ads, the words ‘loves music, loves to dance’ walked through my mind, and the seed for the book was planted. The speaker that day was Robert Ressler, Manager of Behavioral Forensic Sciences, who has since retired from the FBI. As the FBI’s top criminologist and serial murder and violent crime expert, Robert Ressler had conducted original research in violent criminal behavior and interviewed some of the most notorious criminals, such as David Berkowitz, the ‘Son of Sam Killer’; Ted Bundy, killer of over thirty-five women; Richard T. Chase, the ‘Vampire Killer’; John Wayne Gacy, Chicago killer of thirty-three boys; and Charles Manson. Robert Ressler acted as my consultant on Loves Music, Loves to Dance.

  “Loves Music, Loves to Dance revolves around a serial killer who uses personal ads to entice his victims. Erin Kelly, a talented young jewelry designer and her best friend, Darcy Scott, a decorator, have been dating men through personal ads. They were helping a friend, a television producer, to research a documentary on the kinds of people who place and answer personal ads and their experiences. Darcy had persuaded the reluctant Erin to participate. One day, Erin is missing. Soon after, her body is found on an abandoned Manhatta
n pier. On one foot is her own shoe, on the other a high-heeled dancing slipper. Guilt-stricken over Erin’s death, Darcy decides to meet the men Erin dated, to find her killer. What Darcy does not realize, what she cannot know until it is too late, is that she has been targeted as the killer’s next victim.

  “Loves Music, Loves to Dance was made into a television film by PAX-TV and premiered in the United States on November 25, 2001.”

  • All Around the Town deals with a young woman with multiple personalities who is accused of murder. How did you get the idea for this book?

  “It emanated from the request for an autograph. A friend of my daughter Carol’s came to visit, an art therapist from the National Center for Treatment of Dissociative Disorders in Denver, specializing in the treatment of multiple personality disorder. She wanted me to sign a book for one of her patients. When I asked for the name, she hesitated and said: ‘Now which one of her personalities reads your books?’ This aroused my interest and led to my writing this book.

  “Laurie Kenyon, the main protagonist in All Around the Town, a twenty-one-year-old college senior, is accused of murdering her English professor, Allan Grant. When he is found stabbed to death, her fingerprints are everywhere—on the door, on the curtain, on the knife. Arraigned on a murder charge, Laurie has no memory of the crime. Traumatized by abuse she suffered after she was kidnapped at the age of four and held for two years, she has developed multiple personalities. Laurie, the host personality, does not know that others co-exist with her, nor is she aware that one of her alternates, Leona, has been writing Allan Grant crazed love letters and secretly entering his home.

  “Bic Hawkins, Laurie’s abductor, an unsavory drifter, had been scratching out a living singing in taverns and as a fundamentalist preacher. Now he has become a celebrated television evangelist. Before releasing her, Bic had threatened six-year-old Laurie with death if she ever talked about what he had done to her and, terrified, she erased the experience from her mind.