Mary Higgins Clark Books in Order

New York Times bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark, who passed away on January 31, 2020, at the age of 92, was a world-known crime, mystery, and thriller author. With over 50 suspense stories written to date, many readers and critics consider her the ‘queen of suspense fiction’.

Here are the Mary Higgins Clark books in order for her book series and non-series novels to date.

Where Are The Children? Books

• Where Are The Children?, 1975
• Where Are The Children Now?, 2023 (with Alafair Burke)

Alvirah And Willy Books

1. Weep No More, My Lady), 1987
2. The Lottery Winner, 1994
3. All Through the Night, 1998
4. Deck the Halls, 2001
5. The Christmas Thief, 2005
6. Santa Cruise: A Holiday Mystery at Sea , 2006
7. Dashing Through the Snow, 2008
8. I’ll Walk Alone , 2011
9. The Lost Years, 2012
10. As Time Goes By, 2016
11. All By Myself, Alone, 2017

Regan Reilly Series

co-authored with Carol Higgins Clark

1. Deck the Halls, 2001
2. Santa Cruise: A Holiday Mystery at Sea, 2006
3. The Christmas Thief, 2006
4. Dashing Through the Snow, 2008

Under Suspicion Series 

co-authored with Alafair Burke except for I’ve Got You Under My Skin

1. I’ve Got You Under My Skin, 2014
2. The Cinderella Murder, 2014
3. All Dressed in White, 2015
4. The Sleeping Beauty Killer, 2016
5. Every Breath You Take, 2017
6. You Don’t Own Me, 2018
7. Piece of My Heart, 2020
8. It Had to Be You, 2024

Short Story Collections

• The Anastasia Syndrome and Other Stories, 1989
• That’s the Ticket / Voices in the Coal Bin, 1990, with Carol Higgins Clark
• Stowaway and Milk Run, 1993
• Death on the Cape and Other Stories, 1993
• My Gal Sunday, 1996
• Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories, 2015

Short Stories

• Death at the Cape, 1989
• Lucky Day, 1989 (included in The Anastasis Syndrome)
• Terror Stalks the Class Reunion, 1990 (included in The Anastasis Syndrome)
• The Lost Angel, 1990 (included in The Anastasis Syndrome)
• The Body in the Closet, 1995
• Double Vision, 1998 (included in The Anastasis Syndrome)

Malice Domestic Anthology

• Malice Domestic 2, 1993
• More Malice Domestic, 1997, with Elizabeth Peters

Anthologies

The Adams Round Table – Edited Anthologies

Founded in 1982 by Mary Higgins Clark and Thomas Chastain

• Missing in Manhattan, 1986
• A Body is Found, 1990
• Justice in Manhattan, 1994
• Murder on the Run, 1998
• Murder in the Family, 2002
• Murder Among Friends, 2003

Standalone Novels in Publication Order

Non-Fiction Books

• Mother: Famous Writers Celebrate Motherhood, 1996, with Maya Angelou and Amy Tan
• Kitchen Privileges: A Memoir, 2002

Mary Higgins Clark Biography

Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark (1927-2020) was an American who was born in the Bronx, New York, to Irish immigrant parents.

After graduating from Saint Francis Xavier Grammar School, Mary received a scholarship for the Villa_Maria_Academy so she could continue her studies. She attended a secretarial school and later worked as a flight attendant for Pan Am, a job that allowed her to travel the world and get inspiration for her writing.

She grew up in the times of the Great Depression and while initially her family was not affected, eventually poverty hit them as well. After her father died, her mother could not find employment, so they had to rent out Mary’s room, forcing Mary to move out of the home so the family could survive.

While attending the Villa_Maria_Academy, Mary’s teachers encouraged her to start writing because they saw her talent. At 16 she sent her first stories to a magazine, but they were rejected, so she got a job as a switchboard operator at the Shelton Hotel.

Around the time her brother died in the army after contracting spinal meningitis, Mary graduated from high-school and enrolled on a partial scholarship to Wood Secretarial School. After a year, she took a job as a secretary at Remington-Rand, while studying advertising and promotion in evening classes.

In 1949 she became a flight attendant, and worked for Pan Am for one year traveling to numerous countries around the globe. At the end of 1949, she married Warren Clark and resigned from her job. Now that she had time on her hands, she enrolled in several writing courses at NYU.

When her husband became sick and died of a heart attack in 1959, Mary Higgins Clark had to go back to work. She initially worked as a radio scriptwriter, while writing her first book, Aspire to the Heavens, a fictionalized biography of George Washington which she published it in 1968 under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, which was a name she borrowed from Agatha Christie.

In 1971 she enrolled at Fordham University at Lincoln Center, from where she graduated summa cum laude in 1979, with a BA in philosophy. In 1988, Mary Higgins Clark served as the chairman of the International Crime Congress, and she was the 1987 president of the MWA.

The book became a bestseller, which made Mary Higgins Clark a well known published author. Her suspense novels have received numerous awards and have been translated into many languages selling millions of copies all around the world. Reading her books in order means catching up to her two popular series, Alvirah & Willy and Under Suspicion, the first which includes 11 books and the second five books.

Throughout her career, Mary Higgins Clark wrote more than 50 suspense novels and otherwise, many of which were adapted for film and television. She also co-authored novels with other authors, including her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark, and authors like Alafair Burke. She was also known for her philanthropy, supporting causes such as literacy and education. In 2000, she established the Mary Higgins Clark Award, an annual award given to mystery authors.

Mary Higgins Clark passed away on January 31, 2020, at the age of 92.

Mary Higgins Clark Awards and Nominations

• A Stranger Is Watching received the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (Police Literature Grand Prize) in 1980
• Double Vision was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best Short Story in 1989
• The Craddle Will Fall received the Colorado Blue Spruce Award in 1990
• Mary Higgins Clark received the Horatio Alger Award Recipient in 1997
• Mary Higgins Clark received the Edgar Award Grand Master in 2000
• Kitchen Privileges was nominated for the Agatha Award in the Non-fiction category in 2002
• I Heard That Song Before received the Romantic Times Book Reviews in the The Reviewers’ Choice Award – Contemporary Mystery category in 2007
• She received the Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2010
• Mary Higgins Clark received the Christopher Award in the Christopher Life Achievement Award in 2013
• The author was included in the New York State Writers Hall of Fame in 2014