5-22-2000
Before I Say Good-bye
Mary Higgins Clark
Simon & Schuster
When Mary Higgins Clark was named a Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America at its Edgar Allan Poe awards dinner in New York on May 4th, the murmur around the dining room at the Grand Hyatt was "it's about time!" This award has gone to some more 'literary ' writers, such as Elmore Leonard and Tony Hillerman and Ruth Rendell. But no writer has raised the profile of the mystery as high as has Clark, whose newest book, "Before I Say Good-bye" was published May first and immediately shot to the top of almost all of the bestseller booklists that week.
In honor of Scary Mary's (as daughter Carol Higgins Clark calls her) twenty-fifth year as a best-selling writer, her publisher, Simon & Schuster is reissuing all her books (most of which have been made into motion pictures or mini-series), establishing a writing award in her honor, and presenting her with a $64,000,000.00 new contract. Plus a $5,000,000 signing bonus. Not bad for a little girl from the Bronx, whose storytelling habits as a girl included scaring her friends half to death with such statements as "I'm sorry, Mary Catherine, but there's a witch behind that curtain who's reaching her claws out toward you!"
In "Before I Say Good-bye" Nell MacDermott, smart, attractive columnist, has about to run for the New York congressional seat long held by her grandfather Cornelius MacDermott, when her husband's new cabin cruiser, Cornelia II, blows up in New York harbor with him and several close business associates aboard. Nell is guilt-wracked because she and Adam had a quarrel about her running for Congress. Adam is opposed to her plan, although when they married he had known of her political ambitions.
Like her great-aunt Gert, Nell possesses psychic gifts. When Nell's parents died in an accident when she was a child she had sensed their presence near her at the time. With Adam dead, her aunt begs Nell to see a medium-Bonnie Wilson-who has contacted Gert, claiming she is in touch with Adam. Still regretting her last words to Adam, Nell agrees, hoping the two may part in peace.
As the investigation into the explosion proceeds, Nell is shocked by the official confirmation that it was not an accident but the result of foul play. As Nell searches for the truth, she carries out instructions from Adam transmitted through the medium. The closer she comes to learning what happened when the boat blew up, the nearer she is to becoming the next victim of a ruthless killer. The storytelling skills of WA's newest Grandmaster have never been better.
