Carol Higgins Clark, who grew up helping her bestselling author mom, Mary, has settled into the role of successful writer after a foray into acting.
By COLETTE BANCROFT
Published October 30, 2003
[Photo: Herman Estevez]
Carol Higgins Clark, above, has published seven mysteries. She says the success of her mother, Mary Higgins Clark, below, gave her publishing connections when she began writing. But her own success didn’t come easy.
[Photo: Bernard Vidal]
When Carol Higgins Clark decided about a dozen years ago to become a writer, she didn't have to look far for a role model.
Her mother, Mary Higgins Clark, is one of the bestselling suspense novelists in the world. Her 28 books have sold more than 70-million copies in the United States alone. That's a pretty big pair of pumps to step into, but daughter Carol did it.
She had plenty of inside knowledge about her mom's writing process. "I started out while I was in college, retyping my mother's work," she says. Her mother had just published her first successful book, Where Are the Children? "She had a full-time job and was trying to get her second book finished," Carol says.
"This was before the days of computers, and she said, "I don't know how I'm going to do this.' I said, "Mom, I'll help.' "
Carol did more than type a clean copy of the book that would be A Stranger Is Watching (1978). As she was working on it, she says, "We would sit around the kitchen table and talk about the characters, the plot. I'd say, "I don't really believe that; what about this?' "
After finishing college, Carol studied acting and continued working with her mother. She moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting and while there recorded several of her mother's books on tape.
The owner of the company that produced the books on tape told Carol he thought she would be good at writing mysteries herself. "That's how it got started," she says.
She knew she didn't want to try to write books like her mother's. Instead of aiming for serious edge-of-your-seat suspense, she decided to write mysteries with a comic twist.
"As an actor, I always liked comedic roles, eccentric characters. And I'm glad I have a different voice" from her mother's, Carol says, "because there are so many other comparisons."
The protagonist she came up with was Regan Reilly, a Los Angeles private investigator with a few similarities to Carol Higgins Clark, including dashing Irish good looks, a ready sense of humor and a mother who is a successful mystery writer.
Carol's first novel, Decked, set aboard a cruise ship, was published in 1992. Her seventh, Popped, takes place in Las Vegas and revolves around hot air ballooning and reality TV; it was published in September. In between came Snagged, Iced, Twanged, Fleeced and Jinxed.
"I've been so lucky, hitting on that one word with the -ed ending," she says. "People recognize the titles. I do get some weird suggestions, though."
Her next book will be set in Hawaii. "We're thinking about Leied. My mom was just afraid it would offend some people," Carol says. "But most people we've asked think it's funny. We're just going to put four titles up on the Simon & Schuster Web site and let people vote."
Carol says her mother's fame gave her name recognition and publishing connections when she began writing, but it had a downside as well. "Especially at the beginning. Some people just want to see you fail if you're the child of someone famous," she says. "They think you've had it easy.
"You might get one book published because your mother is a famous writer. But not seven books."
Carol researches and writes a book a year. Usually, she says, the book's setting comes first. She spends time there, reading newspapers and books about local history, which often suggest story lines.
Her third book, Iced, was set in Aspen, Colo. "I just enjoyed reading what it was like there over the holidays. So I went there and found my plot," she says.
Carol is the only one of her mother's five children to go into writing. One of her two brothers is a lawyer. The other works in the magazine business. One sister works on Wall Street, and the other is a judge.
Mary Higgins Clark's latest book is her first nonfiction work, a memoir titled Kitchen Privileges. It details her hardscrabble childhood, her adventures as a flight attendant and her happy first marriage to Carol's father, Warren Clark, cut short when he died of heart problems at 45.
The book ends with the sale of paperback rights for Mary's first novel and a palm reader's prediction: "You are going to be world famous. You are going to make a great deal of money."
Mother and daughter have written two holiday-themed suspense novels together, Deck the Halls and He Sees You When You're Sleeping. "We always said we wouldn't do a book together, and we ended up doing two," Carol says. "People said, "Didn't you fight?' But we had fun."
They have appeared together at literacy events sponsored by Barbara Bush and Laura Bush, and occasionally they make joint appearances such as the one scheduled for the Times Festival of Reading. "We always have a good time when we do this together," Carol says.
Even if your mother is a bestselling author with plenty of advice to offer, she says, "You're writing by yourself, and you send it out into the world. It's great to get the feedback."
AT A GLANCE
Carol Higgins Clark and Mary Higgins Clark will appear at 11 a.m. in Fox Hall.
