The Blurb:

“At age eighty-three and in failing health, Olivia Morrow knows she has little time left. The last of her line, she faces a momentous choice: expose a long-held family secret, or take it with her to her grave. Olivia has in her possession letters from her deceased cousin Catherine, a nun, now being considered for beatification by the Catholic Church. These letters reveal that, at the age of seventeen, Catherine gave birth to a son and gave him up for adoption and they identify the father as Alex Gannon, a world-famous doctor, scientist and inventor of medical patents. Now, two generations later, thirty-one year old paediatrician, Dr. Monica Farrell, Catherine’s granddaughter, stands as the rightful heir to what remains of the Gannon family fortune. But in telling Monica who she really is and getting what is lawfully hers, Olivia would have to betray Catherine’s wishes and reveal the story behind Monica’s ancestry. But as the pressure of Olivia’s impending choice weighs down on her, little does she realize that Alex Gannon’s grand-nephews – who are currently exploiting the Gannon inheritance to fund their profligate lifestyles – will stop at nothing to silence Olivia and prevent Monica from learning the secret, even murder.”

What I thought:

What an absolulute treat reading a Mary Higgins Clark book is! I always know I’m in for a good read when I pick up the Queen of Suspenses books.

In this book, her latests (published last month), thirty-two year old Dr Monica Farrell is at the centre of a  plot to keep her from what is rightfully hers. Although she doesn’t know it (as her father was adopted as a baby and never knew his real family) she is heir to The Gannon Corporation, run by a quartet of greedy, cheating men who will stop at nothing to make sure Monica doesn’t find out that the corporation belongs to her, including murder.

Monica, who is a Pediatrician at a Manhattan Hospital, recieves a tip that an elderly lady, Olivia Morrow, may have some information regarding her fathers birth family and agrees to meet her at her appartment. However, when she arrives the next day she is too late; Olivia is already dead. When several others also turn up dead, and Monica herself appears to be the next target, it’s the old race against time to see who will triumph.

 As with all her books, Higgins Clark, manages to entice you to keep turning those pages by way of short chapters and no uneccessary detail. There is, however, one thing that does bother me at the end which I can’t really go into here as it may spoil the book for some people. It is something that is revealed in the letters at the end of the book and if anyone reads this and wants to discuss please do contact me as I would like to see if the same thing bothers you as it did me.

That said, this book still gets full marks from me. I have been ill the last 2 days and MCH’s books are exactly the tonic I need.

Simon and Schuster kindly sent me my copy of this book for review. Thank you!

I will be posting my interview with Mary Higgins Clark this weekend so please look out for that!