Loves Music, Loves to Dance [Import] [Hardcover]

Mary Higgins Clark (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Century; New Ed edition (September 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0712617248
• ISBN-13: 978-0712617246
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (116 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,613,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite books!!!!!!!!!!!, September 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Loves Music, Loves to Dance (Mass Market Paperback)

This was a wonderful book by MHC. I had to stop reading it when I was alone in my house. It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole book. Darcy and Erin have been best friends since college and now they both live in NY. The two of them start answering personal ads as a favor to a friend. Erin and Darcy have fun comparing who they meet until the day Erin mysteriously disappears. Her body is found on an abandoned pier. She is oddly wearing a dancing slipper on her foot. Though the police disagree, Darcy knows Erin was murdered by the person Erin answered the personal ad to. Darcy is determined to find Erin's killer. Little does she know, Darcy is the next victim!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!, March 24, 2005

By 

Raj "raj_thatsme" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Loves Music, Loves to Dance (Mass Market Paperback)

Being a fan of Mary Higgins Clark's books, I decided to buy this book to see whether it would be as good as her others. After reading it, I must say that I am not disappointed at all with this book.

`Loves Music, Loves To Dance' is about Darcy Scott and Erin Kelly, who are best friends, and decide to answer some personal ads, as sort of an experiment for their TV producer fried Nona Roberts, who is doing a segment on what type of people place personal ads. Unknowing to them, there is a serial killer who places his ads on the paper, and kills women who answers his `special ad'. Unfortunately for Erin and Darcy, they both send responses to this guy, not knowing who he really is. A few days later, Erin is found brutally murdered, with a dancing shoe on one feet and an ordinary shoe on the other, which is the way the serial killer leaves all his victims. Feeling guilty and determined on catching the killer, Darcy decides to meet the dates that Erin went out with through the personals ( which was not a problem since they both responded to the same ads).

As the story progresses, we are introduced to many suspects who could be the killer. There's Gus Boxer, the disgusting superintendent of the building where Erin worked; Doug Fox (Doug Fields) who was a suspect to a previous murder and was one of Erin's dates through the ads; Jay Stratton, who hired Erin Kelly to design jewelry for a customer; and Len Parker, a weirdo who follows all his dates he meets though the personals, including Erin and now Darcy.

Mary Higgins Clark did a wonderful job writing `Loves Music, Loves To Dance'. It has suspense, romance, horror, and a surprising climax; everything that you would want to read in a good thriller. It is fast-paced and keeps the reader interested throughout. All in all, it's a good read. Once you start reading, you will be completely absorbed in the book that you won't notice the time fly.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A LESSON TO BE LEARNED, August 19, 2000

By 

Karen Boml "Kiki" (Hudson, NH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Loves Music, Loves to Dance (Mass Market Paperback)

Most of us have not only have favorite authors whose books are "auto" buys for us, but most of us also could name our most favorite book by said author....(i.e. Harvest if my most favorite Tess Gerritsen book)..............Well, Love's Music, Love's to Dance has always (and will forever remain) my most favorite MHC book!!! This book kept me on the edge of my seat..........a madman who likened himself to the great Fred Astaire, and his victims to his dancing partner, Ginger Rogers......this is one of those books that actually made goosebumps appear on my arms! Erin and Darcy, best friends,move to NYC together. While each one of them has their own career, they decided to help a tv producer who was doing a documentary on newspaper personal columns....a study as to what type of people place and answer these ads; their experiences, good or bad.... In six weeks of meeting people, they each had some funny stories to tell.....it all seemed so innocent.,...until the night Erin disappeared after meeting someone who placed an ad....Her body was found on a pier in Manhattan, and she was wearing one of her shoes, and one very fancy high heel shoe..... Darcy delves into finding out who killed her best friend...not knowing that she is the murderer's next victim! This book is typical MHC style..........plethora of characters to keep us guessing .......... a building up of tension as the pages fly by.......... a twisted ending......... This book has been recommended soooooooo many times by me to soooo many people.........I've lent out my two copies and I bought quite a few for presents.....no matter how great her other books are, this is THE one that's at the top of my list!! Oh, by the way, don't count on going to bed at night, until you finish the book..........it's one you can't put down!!