Mary Higgins Clark (December 24, 1927 – January 31, 2020), universally celebrated as the undisputed "Queen of Suspense," was a monumental American novelist whose gripping psychological thrillers have sold over 100 million copies in the United States alone. Raised in the Bronx, New York, she worked as a switchboard operator and a Pan American flight attendant before enduring the sudden tragic passing of her young husband, which drove her to write short stories at her kitchen table down before dawn to support her five children. After an early historical fiction attempt, she pivoted to psychological mystery with her 1975 breakout masterpiece, Where Are the Children?, an instant blockbuster that permanently launched her career and went on to see dozens of consecutive printings. Renowned for crafting tightly plotted, family-centered puzzles featuring resilient women triumphing over mortal danger, her extensive bibliography spans fifty-one consecutive national bestsellers, including A Stranger Is Watching, Remember Me, and her 2002 memoir, Kitchen Privileges. A master of high-level literary collaboration, she authored five popular holiday thrillers alongside her late daughter, novelist Carol Higgins Clark, and teamed up with Alafair Burke to write the blockbuster Under Suspicion cold-case television-producer franchise, which continued to thrive posthumously with the releases of Piece of My Heart and It Had to Be You. In recognition of her unparalleled institutional impact on the mystery community, she was chosen as the Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, decorated as a Dame of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, and honored by the Edgar Awards through the permanent creation of the Mary Higgins Clark Award.
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