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Booklists

Lists of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist , Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on the lists. Titles are generally listed alphabetically by author.

 

 

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Booklists and Suggested Reading

If You Like Mary Higgins Clark Booklist

 

Page Modified: April 5, 2008

If you like books with courageous & fiesty heroines in jeopardy, engrossing stories and lots of suspense but minimal violence . . .

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Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.

Link: Mary Higgins Clark Award

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• Breaking Faith: Brodie Farrell
  Author: Bannister, Jo
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312343019 Date: 2005
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee
  Brodie finds the perfect house for a famous rock musician and his entourage--that is, until the body of a young woman turns up on the grounds. As Brodie and the police delve into the woman's past, they find connections to the present that no one wants to believe.
  Updated 1.30.06
• See Isabelle Run
  Author: Bloom, Elizabeth
  Publisher: Mysterious $ 22.95 ISBN: 0892967854 Date: 2005
  BooklistLJ
  Combining thrills with attitude, this novel follows a jilted bride uncovering sinister secrets at a multimedia empire.
  Updated 1.23.05
• Murphy's Law
  Author: Bowen, Rhys
  Publisher: Minotaur Date: 2001 $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312282060
  Mary Higgins Clark Nominee
  Agatha Winner Best Novel
  From the creator of Constable Evan Evans comes the first novel in a delightful series set in 19th century New York, and featuring Irish sleuth Molly Murphy.
  
• Blood Junction
  Author: Carver, Caroline
  Publisher: Mysterious $ 24.95 ISBN: 0892967706 Date: 2002
  PWLibrary Journal
  The outstanding thriller from the winner of the Crime Writer's Association's Debut Dagger Award is set in the unforgiving landscape of the Australian outback. When journalist India Kane is framed for the murders of a friend and a cop, she resolves to find out why they died.
  Suggested Reading: First Fiction & Mystery Debuts | Survival | Thrillers
  Updated 8.16.02
• Absolute Certainty
  Author: Connors, Rose
  Publisher: Scribner Date: 2002 $ 24 ISBN: 0743229061
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Winner
  Martha "Marty" Nickerson is an Assistant D.A. on Cape Cod. When a young man is accused of brutally murdering a college student, Marty makes the case so solid that even public defender Harry Madigan expects a conviction. When the guilty verdict comes in, the body of another teenager is found in disturbingly similar circumstances. Certain the killer will strike again, Marty and two colleagues try to unearth the secrets of the murders.
  
• Demolition Angel
  Author: Crais, Robert
  Publisher: Doubleday Date: 2000 $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385495846
  KirkusPWLibrary Journal
  Dilys Nominee
  Mary Higgins Clark Nominee
  On the heels of the bestselling and critically acclaimed L.A. Requiem, Crais returns to the City of Angels with the most ambitious novel of his career, a stand-alone thriller featuring a complex and engaging female protagonist. When Carol Starkey, a bomb squad technician, survives an explosion designed to kill her, she is pitted against a frighteningly brilliant mastermind for the modern age.
• Authorized Personal Only
  Author: D'Amato, Barbara
  Publisher: Forge Date: 2000 $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312865643
  PW
  Mary Higgins Clark Winner
  While Chicago cop Suze Figueroa spends her work day tracking down an elusive serial killer, she has no idea that a much more personal danger lives under her own roof, eating her food, handling her gun, and watching her loved ones. Strips of yellow tape may keep curious bystanders away from crime scenes, but nothing so simple can protect Suze and her family from the menace that has invaded the safety of their home.
• Perfect Sax
  Author: Farmer, Jerrilyn
  Publisher: Morrow $ 22.95 ISBN: 0380978903 Date: 2004
  Lefty Nominee (humorous mystery)
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee
  A sour note is struck at a hot L.A. gala when a priceless saxophone is stolen from the auction, a body is discovered, and Madeline Bean starts to suspect a killer may be gunning for her, too.
  Updated 2.3.05
• See Jane Run
  Author: Fielding, Jane
  Publisher: Morrow $ 20 ISBN: 0688088678 Date: 1991
  PWKirkus
  Updated 5.22.06
• Tell Me No Secrets
  Author: Fielding, Joy
  Publisher: Morrow $ 20 ISBN: 0688088686 Date: 1993
  PW
  A gripping new novel from the bestselling author of See Jane Run. Still haunted by the inexplicable disappearance of her mother eight years ago, a no-nonsense prosecutor loses control of her life when her client vanishes into thin air, death threats arrive in the mail, and a killer begins to stalk her every move.
  Updated 5.22.06
• Missing Pieces
  Author: Fielding, Joy
  Publisher: Doubleday $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385485212 Date: 1997
  Kirkus
  Keenly observed psychological detail and breathtaking suspense combine to make this the best novel yet from the author of See Jane Run and Don't Cry Now. When her half-sister announces that she is going to marry a man on trial for the killings of thirteen women declared missing in the Palm Beach area, family therapist Kate Sinclair finds the carefully constructed edifice of her past beginning to break apart.
  Updated 5.10.06
• Deceit
  Author: Francis, Clare
  Publisher: Soho $ 24 ISBN: 1569472394 Date: 2001
  PW
  A tense, twisty thriller with an appealing heroine by a bestselling author. The sudden loss of her husband forces Ellen Richmond to cope with matters she has never had to face. She's learning Harry's secrets, but only one person knows what really happened to Harry.
  Updated 5/17/01
• The Killing Hour
  Author: Gardner, Lisa
  Publisher: Bantam $ 23.95 ISBN: 0553802526 Date: 2003
  PW
  As a heat wave of epic proportions descends, the game begins again. Two girls have disappeared . . . and the clock is ticking. Rookie FBI agent Kimberly Quincy knows she'll have to break some rules to beat an exactingly vicious criminal at a game he's had time to perfect.
  Suggested Reading: Thrillers
  Updated 7.1.03
• The Drowning Tree
  Author: Goodman, Carol
  Publisher: Ballantine $ 24.95 ISBN: 0345482114 Date: 2004
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee
  In her newest work, the critically acclaimed author of The Lake of Dead Languages and The Seduction of Water demonstrates how old secrets never truly remain buried.
  Updated 2.3.05
• Penumbra
  Author: Haines, Carolyn
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312351607 Date: 2006
  LJ
  In this literary thriller, a young woman with a white mother and a black father finds herself uniquely placed to solve a kidnapping in 1950s Mississippi.
  Suggested Reading: Historical Crime Fiction
  Updated 1.31.06
• The Stone Forest
  Author: Harper, Karen
  Publisher: Mira Date: 2002 $ 6.50 ISBN: 1551669099
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee
  Jenna Kirk has no memory of what happened to her twin sister, Amanda, who disappeared 16 years ago. Desperate to uncover the truth about that night, Jenna returns to her childhood home in Stone County, Indiana. Soon after arriving, Jenna suspects someone is trying to frighten her away. With the help of two high school friends, Jenna begins to piece together a disturbing puzzle.
• Dark Angel
  Author: Harper, Karen
  Publisher: Mira $ 7.50 ISBN: 0778321797 Date: 2005
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Winner
  Harper delivers the final chapter in her Maplecreek Amish trilogy. Convinced that her adopted infant daughter has been switched with another child, Leah Kurtz turns to Dr. Mark Morelli, who has come to study the genetic disease that plagues Leah's community.
  Updated 1.30.06
• Scent of a Killer
  Author: Heggan, Christiane
  Publisher: Mira $ 6.50 ISBN: 0778320057 Date: 2004
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee
  When her ex-husband is murdered, Jenna Mayerson decides to investigate. With the help of PI Frank Renaldi, Jenna delves into a deadly game of corporate espionage.
  Updated 2.3.05
• The Debt Collector
  Author: Hightower, Lynn
  Publisher: Delacorte PubDate: 2000-11 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385323603
  Mary Higgins Clark Nominee
  In The Debt Collector, Hightower chillingly captures the collision of a horrific crime with the ordinary lives of its victims. And while one family has been wiped out by savage killers, the life of a good cop is at risk now. Because as Sonora Blair moves down a trail full of shocking surprises and unpaid debts, she now knows one thing for sure: how close she is getting to the edge.
• Shadow Valley
  Author: Hunter, Gwen
  Publisher: Mira $ 6.99 ISBN: 0778321304 Date: 2005
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee
  While on a photography shoot in the Appalachian Mountains, a mother and daughter are accosted by a stranger, who kidnaps the daughter. Soon, the hunt is on to stop a sadistic abductor from following through on his promise to kill the girl.
  Updated 1.30.06
• Ricochet
  Author: Jacobs, Nancy Baker
  Publisher: Five Star Date: 2003-12 $ 25.95 ISBN: 1594140766
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee
  RICOCHET is a twisty tale of love gone wrong and danger around every corner. Annabel Nettleton marries impulsively and gives birth to a son, but she soon begins to suspect her husband Dylan is not the wonderful and romantic man she thought she'd married. When a private investigator specializing in locating missing heirs shows up at the Nettletons' California home, Dylan is far from overjoyed at the prospect of inheriting millions. Instead, he turns violent, directing his unexpected rage at his wife. He disappears briefly but, upon returning from a morning outing with her toddler son, Annabel finds Dylan dead - lying in their bed with one of her kitchen knives embedded in her chest. Annabel soon finds herself accused of murder, a little boy is kidnapped, and she comes close to dying in an arson fire. The complex plot grows more and more suspenseful as Annabel scrambles to learn the secrets of Dylan's mysterious past, to clear her name, and to save the kidnapped youngsters while her own life and that of her young son are in constant peril. - Publisher Marketing
• False Witness
  Author: Kelly, Lelia
  Publisher: Kensington Date: 2000 $ 23 ISBN: 1575664909
  Mary Higgins Clark Nominee
  While investigating a messy murder, whip-smart attorney Laura Chastain is desperate to find a crucial witness in a trial where the price of justice could mean the difference between life or death.
• Summer of Storms
  Author: Kelman, Judith
  Publisher: Putnam Date: 2001 $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399146741
  Mary Higgins Clark Winner
  Anna Jamieson is haunted by the unsolved murder of her five-year-old sister, Jewel, when she was only three. Thirty years later, Anna still carries mental pictures of that stormy summer night -- composites that remain grainy and indistinct. But now Anna has returned to the scene of this horrendous crime and events are about to unfold which will make her fuzzy memories all too frighteningly clear.
  
• Grave Endings
  Author: Krich, Rochelle
  Publisher: Ballantine $ 24.95 ISBN: 0345468104 Date: 2004
  Calavera Winner (Left Coast geographical area)
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Winner
  Crime writer Molly Blume is determined to solve the six-year-old mystery of her best friend's death in this sequel to Krich's national bestseller, Dream House.
  Updated 2.3.05
• A Bloodhound to Die For
  Author: Lanier, Virginia
  Publisher: HarperCollins Date: 2003-08 $ 23.95 ISBN: 0060193883
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee
  In the sixth novel in this popular, award-winning mystery series, Georgia peach Jo Beth Sidden returns with her delightfully fast-on-their-feet bloodhounds. - Publisher Marketing.
  
• The Samurai's Daughter
  Author: Massey, Sujata
  Publisher: HarperCollins Date: 2003-03 $ 24.95 ISBN: 0066212901
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee
  The sixth book in the Agatha and Macavity Award-winning mystery series is a witty and suspenseful story that takes its young sleuth into the world of war reparations and family secrets.
  
• The Body in the Lighthouse
  Author: Page, Katherine Hall
  Publisher: HarperCollins Date: 2003-05 $ 23.95 ISBN: 038097844x
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee
  Death takes a holiday in this captivating new mystery in the Agatha Award-winning series. Faith Fairchild heads for their island cottage off the coast of Maine, where something evil is afoot.
  
• The Truth Hurts
  Author: Pickard, Nancy
  Publisher: Pocket Date: 2002 $ 24 ISBN: 0743412036
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee
  When true-crime author Marie Lightfoot first reads the email message, she assumes it's merely a sick joke. The man writes that he loves her work, and that he and Marie seem to have a lot in common--because he is a killer much like the ones Marie writes about. And now he wants to give Marie the "opportunity" to understand murder from the inside . . . by becoming his next victim.
  
• Virgin of Small Plains
  Author: Pickard, Nancy
  Publisher: $ ISBN: 0345470990 Date: 2006
  Some of the leading citizens of Small Plains, Kansas, are determined to keep the truth buried when a long-ago murder resurfaces with devastating and deadly consequences.
  Updated 5.22.06
• Plain Truth
  Author: Picoult, Jodi
  Publisher: Pocket Date: 20005 $ ISBN: 0671776126
  Mary Higgins Clark Nominee
  With her "remarkable ability to make us share her characters' feelings" (People), the celebrated author of Keeping Faith explores the complex choices of the heart faced by a young Amish woman.
• Perhaps She'll Die
  Author: Preston, Marcia
  Publisher: Intrigue Date: 2001-07 $ 23.95 ISBN: 1890768332
  Mary Higgins Clark Nominee
  Macavity Best First Novel Nominee
  When Chantalene returns to her hometown to solve the mystery of her father's lynching, she must also unravel the mystery of her Mother's disappearance over fifteen years ago. Shrouded in shame and secrecy, the townspeople resent Chantalene's meddling and history threatens to repeat itself if she doesn't leave town immediately. But then her prime suspect is slaughtered, and Chantalene must reevaluate who is friend and foe in a once familiar small town, where no one is who they appear to be. - from the Intrigue web site.
  
• Song of the Bones: A Chantalene Mystery
  Author: Preston, M.K.
  Publisher: Corvus Date: 2003 $ 24.95 ISBN: 1890768545
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Winner
  When Oklahoma postmistress Thelma Patterson must find her long-lost husband to settle a business deal, she asks Chantalene Morrell and attorney Drew Sanders for help. But their case quickly turns deadly when a killer makes his presence known.
• Field of Darkness
  Author: Read, Cornelia
  Publisher: Mysterious $ 22.95 ISBN: 089296023x Date: 2006
  KirkusBooklistLJ
  A tough-talking, shotgun-toting debutante gets in over her head investigating a pair of cold case murders in this assured, thrilling first novel.
  Note: Darker in tone and a bit more grisly than Clark readers may be used to, but Madeline Dare (aka Bunny) is a strong heroine and has an ironically amusing voice and is a very intriguing character. The story is compelling and suspenseful.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars | Debuts
  Updated 3.20.06
• Murder of a Sweet Old Lady
  Author: Swanson, Denise
  Publisher: Signet Date: 2001 $ 5.99 ISBN: 0451202724
  Mary Higgins Clark Nominee
  This second title in the Scumble River mystery series begins with the death of school psychologist Skye Denison's beloved grandmother, found dead in her bed. An autopsy proves she was murdered, and Skye is determined to find out who could have done the deadly deed.
• The Bad Witness
  Author: Van Wormer, Laura
  Publisher: Mira Date: 2002 $ 23.95 ISBN: 1551669528
  Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee
  From the author the New York Times Book Review called "a master of suspense" comes the fourth title to feature Sally Harrington, the smart, spunky heroine who just can't seem to keep out of trouble.
  
• Beautiful Lies
  Author: Unger, Lisa
  Publisher: Crown $ 23 ISBN: 0307336689 Date: 2006
  PWBooklist
  In this sexy, fast-paced literary thriller, Unger takes readers on a breathtaking ride in which a young New York writer's good deed has terrible consequences and leaves her running for her life.
  Updated 3.6.06

Additional Authors: Mary Jane Clark, Iris Johansen, Barbara Michaels, Patrica MacDonald, Karen Robards.
Classic Authors: Mary Stewart, Phillis Whitney.

 

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