From Publishers Weekly
On her own, each Clark has written reliably entertaining mystery/thrillers that occasionally exhibit storytelling magic. The authors' first collaborationDwhich also sees a collaboration by their respective publishers, as well as the teaming of two of their best-known sleuthsDis only middling, however, though it will please their many fans. Three days before Christmas, Luke Reilly, who owns a string of funeral homes, and his young female driver, Rosita Gonzalez, are kidnapped for ransom. Luke is the husband of Nora Regan Reilly, a bestselling mystery writer based somewhat on Mary Higgins Clark; both are parents to Regan Reilly, Carol Higgins Clark's series detective (Twanged, etc.). Regan gets on the case at once, but she doesn't make much headway until she pairs up with Alvirah Meegan, the cleaning woman who turned private eye after winning a $40-million lottery in Mary Higgins Clark's Weep No More My Lady. (Here, Regan and Alvirah make each other's acquaintance at a dentist's office.) Meanwhile, Luke and Rosita remain chained on a small boat offshore from New Jersey as their two bumbling kidnappers plan, execute and bobble a ransom run. The boat starts to sink. Will Luke and Rosita drown? There's probably not a reader alive who thinks they will, and it'll surprise no one when Regan and Alvirah trip over clues as big as Christmas trees to save the day. But if the novel generates little suspense, it does go down like roasted chestnuts, and fans will greatly enjoy the pairing of two favorite detectivesDand two popular writersDin a lightweight but amiably lighthearted Christmas ornament of a book. (Nov. 1) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
It's Christmas time, but C. B. Dingle has no Christmas spirit. His departed Uncle Goodloe left his fortune to the Sod, Plant, Bloom, and Blossom Society, and Dingle is distraught. He's so upset, in fact, that he's bent on revenge. The plan is to kidnap Luke Reilly, owner of the funeral home that set dear old Uncle on the garden path. But Dingle's partner, Petey, accidentally drops the ransom in the drink (the East River, to be exact), which gives the assorted investigative types--including Reilly's daughter, the PI star of several Carol Higgins Clark novels, and Alvirah Meehan, the amateur detective featured in a few Mary Higgins Clark books--a second chance to find dear Dad, which they do just in time. Happy Christmas to all. This first collaboration by the mother-daughter team is a lightweight bit of fluff that readers will speed through in no time. The writing styles mesh seamlessly, but the goofy goings-on and the coincidences (a detective name Jack Reilly--no relation!) add a layer of comedy that isn't quite in tune with the suspense, leaving readers to wonder if it's all supposed to be a big joke. No matter. Clark, the prolific mom, and Clark, the daughter, who now has several books to her credit, have enough loyal fans between them to gather a hefty readership, even if the product is a bit thin. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
San Diego Union-Tribune A seamless collaboration...a thriller that fits right into the Yuletide spirit.


Review
San Diego Union-Tribune A seamless collaboration...a thriller that fits right into the Yuletide spirit.


Review
San Diego Union-Tribune A seamless collaboration...a thriller that fits right into the Yuletide spirit.


Book Description
Mary Higgins Clark, the "Queen of Suspense," and her daughter, bestselling author Carol Higgins Clark, join forces for the first time to create an exciting and entertaining suspense novel -- the story of a kidnapping played out against a holiday setting. Deck The Halls Three days before Christmas, Regan Reilly, the dynamic young sleuth featured in the novels of Carol Higgins Clark, accidentally meets Alvirah Meehan, Mary Higgins Clark's famous lottery winner and amateur detective, at a New Jersey dentist's office. That's where it all begins. While Regan's mother, Nora, the famous mystery writer, is in the hospital with a broken leg, her husband, Luke, and his chauffeur, Rosita, are kidnapped and held for a million-dollar ransom. Together, Regan and Alvirah track the case as the inept yet dangerous kidnappers make their demands known. Meanwhile, Luke and Rosita are held captive on a houseboat on the Hudson River and a fierce winter storm is gathering force. Deck The Halls blends suspense with poignancy, laugh-out-loud humor, and all-around holiday cheer -- a Christmas classic for many seasons to come.


Download Description
Joining forces for the first time, mother and daughter suspense superstars bring the best of their unique and beloved personal styles to this masterfully told tale of intrigue and deception. "Deck the Halls" begins when Regan's father, Luke Reilly, mysteriously disappears just before Christmas. For help, Regan turns to her parents' neighbors, with whom she shares a talent for detection.


About the Author
Mary Higgins Clark is the author of twenty-two worldwide bestsellers. She lives with her husband, John Conheeney, in Saddle River, New Jersey.

ANNOTATION

Once it becomes apparent that Luke Reilly is not going to keep his appointment, Alvirah offers the deeply troubled Regan a lift home. When a call comes through on Regan's cell phone, telling her that her father and his driver, Rosita Gonzalez, are being held for $1,000,000 ransom, Alvirah insists that Regan allow her to lend a hand in trying to gain their release, for while Regan may be a licensed private detective, based in Los Angeles, Alvirah has many valuable contacts among the ranks of New York's law enforcement community.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Joining forces for the first time, mother and daughter suspense superstars Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark bring the best of their unique and beloved personal styles to this masterfully told tale of intrigue and deception. Combining Carol Higgins Clark's popular Regan Reilly, and Mary Higgins Clark's Willy and Alvirah, featured in her earlier bestsellers The Lottery Winner and All Through the Night, Deck the Halls begins when Regan's father, Luke Reilly, mysteriously disappears just before Christmas. For help, Regan turns to her parents' neighbors, Willy ad Alvirah, with whom she shares not only a talent for detection, but an unusually accommodating genius of a dentist.

Together, as New York City prepares for Christmas, this colorful cast attempts to find Luke. Soon they discover that Luke is not just missing, but kidnapped along with the driver of the taxi in which he was riding, a single mother, and held for ransom by his partner's angry, disinherited son.

The result is a fast-moving cliffhanger for the Christmas season and a double dose of thrills for fans of Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Tessa Quayle, a beautiful young lawyer, is posted to Nairobi as the wife of British diplomat Justin Quayle. In the course of the voluntary work in which she becomes involved, she uncovers a trail of intentional malfeasance by the vast pharmaceutical multinational KVH, which is fast-tracking a new TB drug using Africans as guinea pigs. She first calls on the British government to intervene and then decides to take her evidence to Richard Leakey. Le Carr 's latest novel opens with Tessa's being murdered on her way to Leakey. Tessa was accompanied by her friend Arnold Bluhm, whom the official investigation finds guilty of her murder. But Tessa's husband begins his own probe, following her trail of contacts around the world. Le Carr 's ability to draw characters in depth, coupled with his unparalleled plotting and the authority with which he describes settings as various as Nairobi, Elba, Switzerland, and Canada, makes this a propulsive narrative and a lesson in the realities of a world run not by governments but by corporations. Highly recommended.--David Dodd, Marin Cty. Free Lib., San Rafael, CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Christmas is a time for family togetherness, so it figures that this first collaboration between bestselling Mary Higgins Clark (Before I Say Good-Bye, p. 404, etc.) and her daughter Carol (Twanged, 1998, etc.) tosses together so many regulars from both authors that there's barely room for the crooks. And a hapless pair of perps they are. Spurned heir C.B. Dingle is wrongly convinced that chain mortician Luke Reilly persuaded his late uncle to leave most of his fortune to a gardening league. His dimwitted partner, painter Petey Commet, seems to have sucked too much lead from the chartreuse he used on one of Luke's reception rooms. When they kidnap Luke in revenge, grabbing his part-time driver Rosie Gonzalez as well, and stash them on a houseboat moored in Edgewater, New Jersey, while they wait for a million-dollar ransom, these two hopeless duffers go up against not only Luke's family—his world-famous mystery writer wife Nora and his shamus daughter Regan—but against lottery-winning ex—cleaning lady Alvirah Meehan and her husband Willy as well. The mother-and-daughter authors—who are so obviously on the same wavelength that even though the abduction plot and some of the dialogue seem recycled from their earlier books, everything blends together in seamless inconsequence—produce a holiday rout for the forces of junior-league evil undisturbed by any hint of real villains, real detectives, or real suspense. Admire the shipshape carpentry as the preposterous story purrs along while still delivering fewer thrills than most fruitcakes.