Fame & Fortune: Mary Higgins Clark Art imitates life in latest whodunit. By Bonnie Siegler, Bankrate.com
Bankrate: What was the real turning point in your life?
Mary Higgins Clark: Probably "Where Are The Children," my first successful novel. That was in 1975. I had been writing short stories and there was no market for them. I couldn't make any money. I was writing radio shows to support the kids but I missed the printed word terribly.
Bankrate: What is your favorite Mary Higgins Clark novel?
Mary Higgins Clark: I enjoyed "Remember Me" a lot because I included a lot of Cape Cod history. I'm a history buff. But I also enjoyed "On The Street Where You Live" because I had done research on my home in Spring Lake and even used some similar names to the residents. One woman I met at St. Catherine's Church said "Oh thank you for using my name in your book, but why did you have to strangle me?" And the only streets that I misnamed deliberately were the ones where a woman's body was found because I didn't want anyone to start digging up their backyard.
Bankrate: Do any of your novels mirror your own life?
Mary Higgins
Clark: Every writer puts some of herself
and her own experiences or her friends' experiences
into it. When you're creating a character, it
happens. Sometimes, I've gone back to the eighth
grade and written about a person. I never take
a person exactly and put them on the page, but a mannerism,
a gesture, a way of speaking.
Bankrate: You're very active in the literacy program. Why do you think literacy has taken such a backseat in learning now?
Mary Higgins Clark: There are too many people who are not reading and there's no question that the attraction of the computer has sometimes taken kids away from learning the joys of reading. The literacy program is for people who never learned how to read at all. Good teachers are assigning books, though.
Bankrate: What can parents do to encourage their children to read?
Mary Higgins Clark: I think setting aside a reading time for them -- set aside a time of day for reading and give them reading material from school lists. And parents of young children should know that if you read to them, you will give them the joys of reading.
Bankrate: Did you always read to your children?
Mary Higgins Clark: Yes, I read to them, but I worked all the time too. My mother was always reading to them and doing homework with them. I remember reading "Charlotte's Web," and that was a big favorite around the house. I remember not missing one of those Nancy Drew mysteries. Now Harry Potter makes reading fun for the kids.
Bankrate: If you were to give a title to your Spring Lake home, what would it be?
Mary Higgins Clark: That's an interesting question. My nickname as a child was Mares. When I bought this house, I had a sign made "Mares' Nest." The definition of Mares Nest is: A mystery, a place of great confusion. And I think that fits perfectly.
Bonnie Siegler is a freelance writer living in Los Angeles.
Photo: Retna Ltd.
