Let ME Call You Sweetheart [Import] [Hardcover]

Mary Higgins Clark (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd (May 6, 1996)
• ISBN-10: 0671718932
• ISBN-13: 978-0671718930
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)

More About the Author

If I were to define myself in one sentence, I would say, "I'm a nice Irish Catholic girl from the Bronx."

I was a Christmas Eve baby all those years ago, the second of the three children of Nora and Luke Higgins. Mother was pushing forty when they married and my father was forty-two. My older brother was named Joseph. Nineteen months later I, Mary, was born. Three and a half years later, my little brother, John, came along.

We lived in a very nice section of the Bronx on a street off Pelham Parkway. I loved our house. I still love it. After my father died, when I was eleven, my mother had to sell it.

I went to Saint Francis Xavier Grammar School. Two years ago I went back and was Principal for a Day. Escorted by two of the tiniest children, I was led into the auditorium while the whole student body sang "Hello Mary. You're back where you belong." I still tear up thinking about it.

I was awarded a scholarship to Villa Maria Academy which is in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx, otherwise I couldn't have afforded to set foot in it.

I went to Woods Secretarial School and at eighteen had my first full-time job as Secretary to the creative director of Remington Rand's in-house advertising agency. If I were making that choice now I would have gone to college even though God knows we needed the income. On the other hand the three years I spent in Remington Rand was a tutorial in advertising which served me well when I was widowed with five small children. Another plus was that I left Remington to be a flight stewardess with Pan American Airways and when my contemporaries were seniors in college, I was flying to Europe, Africa and Asia.

Warren Clark and I were married on December 26, 1949 and had five children in the next eight years; Marilyn, Warren, David, Carol and Patricia. Warren died of a heart attack in 1964. The highest compliment I can pay my kids are that they are like him.

I sold my first short story when I was twenty-eight. It was alled 'Stowaway'. It had been rejected forty times before a magazine in Chicago bought it for one hundred dollars.

My first book was about George Washington. It was published in 1969 and disappeared without a trace. Three years ago Simon and Schuster co-published it with the Mount Vernon Historical Society and retitled 'Mount Vernon Love Story', it became a bestseller.

My first suspense novel 'Where Are the Children' was bought in 1974 for three thousand dollars by Simon and Schuster. Thirty-three books later, I'm still with S&S.

Time to wind up - at least for the present. As soon as I sold 'Children' I enrolled in Fordham College. Went there for five years at night and earned a B.A. in Philosophy. Summa cum laude, if you please.

I never thought I'd marry again but ten years ago I threw a cocktail party on St. Patrick's day. My daughter, Pat, urged me to invite John Conheeney. Her opening words about him were, "Have I got a hunk for you!" He came to the party and we were married eight months later.

I'm Honorary Chairman of FraXa Research. My grandson, David, has the Fragile X syndrome, which is the second leading cause of retardation after Downs Syndrome. Basically the brain of the people who have it can't send out the proper signals because there's a kind of short circuit in the synapses that carry the signals. We raise money for research with the goal of finding a medication that will work around that short circuit. I go all over the country to the fund-raisers as new chapters of FraXa are opened.

I'm always asked to name my favorite book. They're ALL my favorites. If there is one book that is very special to me, it is my memoir 'Kitchen Privileges' because writing it made me relive my early life including those first struggles to become a writer. I think 'Kitchen Privileges' is both tender and funny and it's me.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Let Me Call You Sweetheart, November 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Let Me Call You Sweetheart (Hardcover)

Let Me Call You Sweetheart, by Mary Higgins Clark, was well written, but was not her best book. I found myself getting confused by the continuous scene changes. I enjoyed the book, but I have read better. This mystery had a good plot and Clark was very descriptive. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes mysteries, but before reading this I would try one of Clark's other books.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Its Another One Of The Thrillers That You Can Never Forget, February 18, 2002

By 

Casey Anne Macaulay (Bavaria Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let Me Call You Sweetheart (Mass Market Paperback)

LET ME CALL YOU SWEETHEART is definetly a thriller thet I will never forget. From the moment you start it till the last page I was sucked into the life of Kerry McCgrath as she unravels the winding twisted mystery of the murder of Suzzanne Reardon, which happened almost 10 years before. At her daughters appointment at her plastic suergen she sees a fimiliar face on TWO different woman this makes her quite suspitios and as she gets closer to the answer the more and more danger she puts herself in.....

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping, a great thriller!, March 22, 2001

By 

"ziggyz_queen" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let Me Call You Sweetheart (Mass Market Paperback)

I recently read this, and I could not put it down! It was extremely gripping and very exciting. As a resident the area of Bergen County where the book takes place, it was also a lot of fun to read about my home. It's kind of exciting to think that people in California are reading about your area!

The plot centers around Kerry McGrath, whose daughter, Robin, must go to plastic surgeon Charles Smith after a car accident. This leads to Kerry's reopening of a ten-year-old murder case. Her investigation is helped by a man named Geoff Dorso, the lawyer of the convicted in that case. It's a truly thrilling read.

With elements of suspense, romance and humor, this book is perfect for any fan of mysteries! Or just any Bergen County resident. :0)