Interviewee: Michael Higgins Clark
Interviewer: Tavis Smiley
Date: April 28, 2009

Mary Higgins Clark is a bestselling author of suspense novels. As of 2007, she has published 24 novels, each of them a bestseller in the United States and Europe.

Prior to her successful and prolific career as a novelist, she had secretarial jobs before working as a flight stewardess for Pan American Airlines for a year. Mary Higgins Clark gave up her job at Pan American to marry her first husband Warren Clark. She then started writing short stories in order to augment the family income.

After her husband’s cardiac arrest and death in 1959, Mary Higgins Clark wrote radio scripts for several years until she attempted to write novels upon a colleague’s suggestion. Her first novel, Aspire to the Heavens, was a fictional biography of America’s founding father, George Washington. Her first try was unsuccessful as the novel was “remaindered as it came off the press.” Despite this setback, Clark persevered and switched instead to writing mystery and suspense novels. Her first suspense thriller, Where are the Children?, was a huge success. From then on, she would be regarded as one of the most successful writers in the mystery/suspense genre. By 2007, Mary Higgins Clark has sold over 80 million copies of her novels in the U.S. alone.

At the height of her success, she decided to finish her studies by enrolling at Fordham University in 1974. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in philosophy in 1979.

Mary Higgins Clark is the recipient of many awards and accolades. She was bestowed The Women of Achievement award by the New Jersey Federation of Women’s Clubs, Gold Medal of Honor from the American-Irish Historical Society, and Irish Woman of the Year from the New York Board of Education. In addition to these awards, she was conferred the titles of Dame of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, Dame of Malta and Dame of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.

Mary Higgins Clark is now married to former Merrill Lynch Futures CEO John Conheeney.