All Through The Night : A Suspense Story (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "There were twenty-two days to go before Christmas, but Lenny was doing his Christmas shopping early this year..." (more)
Key Phrases: sunburst pin, blue veil, crumb cake, Higgins Clark, Sister Cordelia, Monsignor Ferris (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Fans of Mary Higgins Clark and cozy mysteries will relish this Christmas confection. Unlike her previous holiday novel, Silent Night, All Through the Night is virtually free of life-and-death crime. Rather, it is a Dickensian tale of good deeds rewarded and crimes punished.

The wintry story begins on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with 18-year-old Sondra Lewis, an aspiring violinist, tearfully leaving her baby on the steps of St. Clement's Church. Unbeknownst to her, Lenny Centino is robbing that same church on the same night, with his attention particularly on the Church's diamond inlaid chalice. He finds a buggy outside the church and uses it for cover as he flees. Only later does he realize that his take for the night includes the infant Stellina (Italian for star). The narrative then abruptly moves ahead seven years. Clark's lottery-winning protagonists, Alvirah and her husband Willy (introduced in Weep No More, My Lady) return for some amateur sleuthing. Sister Cordelia's thrift shop doubles as an after-school recreation place for neighborhood children (including a shy little girl named Star), but the building has been condemned. Bessie Maher had vowed she was leaving the house to the nun and her children. Now that she is gone, the will indicates that the tenants of the house, Vic and Linda Baker, are the true heirs. As December rushes on towards Christmas, Alvirah struggles to put things right before the children are left in the cold.

Like the best holiday stories, All Through the Night steers toward sentimentality, but it veers back on course with narrative wit and Alvirah's charm. Clark's prose is lean and her plotting is brisk. This is a mystery that would be a pleasure to share aloud with a family gathered at the fireplace for some holiday cheer. --Patrick O'Kelley

From Library Journal

Following Silent Night (S. & S., 1995), Clark's second holiday tale of suspense and sentiment opens with a young unmarried woman leaving her newborn baby on the steps of a church on Manhattan's Upper West Side. At the same time, a young man steals the church's precious chalice. Both the child and the chalice then disappear, and it's up to Alvirah, Clark's lottery winner turned sleuth, and husband Willy to solve the mystery.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Printing edition (October 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684856603
• ISBN-13: 978-0684856605
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,496,404 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A nice Christmas story, November 30, 1999

By	Beatrice (Berlin, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Through the Night (Holiday Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

"All through the Night" is a nice Christmas story with a happy ending. It is easy to read and entertaining. If you like Alvirah and Willy, go for it. If you prefer murder and breathtaking suspense, read one of Mary Higgins Clark's earlier novels.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Feel Good Story, November 29, 1999

By	Traci Bell (Edmonton Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Through the Night (Holiday Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

If you are looking for guts, gore and grit, look elsewhere. This is a mystery without a dead body. It pulls at the heart strings, and brings back my favourite Clark characters, Willy and Alvirah, who I can't get enough of. This is one of the fastest reads I have experienced, but it was heart-warming and perfect for the holiday season

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I got an advanced copy of this book. Do not bother!!!, October 27, 1998

By A Customer

Mary Higgins Clark can't need the money. I thought the Lottery Winner was awful. Then she wrote The Christmas Box and I thought "Yikes, what drivel!. This NEW Holiday book is FAR and away her worst book and that is a distinction in of itself.