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.

-28-

Listen to My Summer Lair @ W • T • F

Also published on Medium.