Mary Higgins Clark, author of 21 worldwide bestsellers, and her daughter Carol Higgins Clark, author of four bestselling novels have joyfully decked the halls for their readers with an exciting tale played out against a Christmas setting.
It is obvious the "ladies" had little trouble writing in tandem. The combined voices flow as smooth as maple syrup over waffles, and the story told is filled with trademark suspense, and intrigue spiced up with a dash of holiday cheer.
In "Deck the Halls" Regan Reilly, a private investigator based in Los Angeles, returns to her parents' home in New Jersey for the Christmas holidays. She finds her mother, famous mystery writer Nora Regan Reilly, in the hospital with a broken leg, and her father Luke Reilly, a funeral home owner, at her mother's bedside.
Luke informs his daughter that he has a funeral to attend, and a dental appointment to keep. He leaves the hospital with his driver, Rosita Gonzalez, the mother of two small boys. Luke fails to show up for either appointment. Later, Regan receives a phone call that erases her holiday spirit. It seems her father and Rosita have been kidnapped and are being held for a million-dollar ransom.
Throughout the ordeal, the reader knows that C. B. Dingle and Petey the Painter, two bungling kidnappers, anticipating a life of luxury and gorgeous women in Brazil, are the "Grinches." These two neophyte criminals are a bagful of misadventures, and good for more than one "ho ho ho."
The motivation behind the kidnapping of Luke (Rosita was just in the wrong place at the wrong time) is revenge. C. B. believes Luke to be responsible for his rich uncle, Cuthbert Boniface Goodloe, leaving his fortune to the Seed-Plant-Bloom-and-Blossom Society of New Jersey. Now Petey the painter, who is a turkey short of a feast, is in on the caper strictly because the job he did for Luke's funeral home was not acceptable, plus C. B. has offered him a large cut of the ransom.
Readers will be pleasantly surprised to find added to the plot one Alvirah Meehan, the famous lottery winner and amateur detective who has appeared in several previous books by Mary H. Clark. Alvirah is a daredevil of the first waters, and keeps her husband Willy in a perpetual state of anxiety with her risky lifestyle.
Among the rather large cast of players in this "ting-a-ling" tale are Ernest Bumbles, President and Chairman of the aforementioned Blossom Society, and Alvin Luck, would-be mystery writer and major fan of Nora Reilly. Watch out for Alvin, he plays a key part in aiding Regan and Alvirah in the ultimate resolution of the story.
What would a good suspense tale be without a couple of stalwart cops? To round out the characters, the authors presents Jack Reilly (no kin to Nora and Luke), the charismatic head of the NYPD Major Case Squad, and Fred Torres, policeman, law student and a recent date of Rosita's, who finds himself plunged into an unexpected role due to her kidnapping.
How Alvirah and Regan outwit the kidnappers and get Luke and Rosita home for Christmas makes for not exactly an edge-of-the-seat suspense tale, but it does bring a lump-in- the-throat poignancy, and contains some laugh-out-loud humor that even St. Nicholas himself would cheer.
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(Jones is a published writer & literary critic)
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