Review: I've Got You Under My Skin by Mary Higgins Clark

I've Got You Under My Skin by Mary Higgins Clark
Publication: April 2014, Simon & Schuster, 320 pages
My Source: I borrowed a copy from the library.

Description: When Laurie Moran's husband was brutally murdered, only three-year-old Timmy saw the face of his father's killer. Five years later his piercing blue eyes still haunt Timmy's dreams. Laurie is haunted by more: the killer's threat to her son as he fled the scene: Tell your mother she's next, then it's your turn . . .

Now Laurie is dealing with murder again, this time as the producer of a true-crime, cold-case television show. The series will launch with the twenty-year-old unsolved murder of Betsy Powell. Betsy, a socialite, was found suffocated in her bed after a gala celebrating the graduation of her daughter and three friends. The sensational murder was news nationwide. Reopening the case in its lavish setting and with the cooperation of the surviving guests that night, Laurie is sure to have a hit on her hands. But when the estranged friends begin filming, it becomes clear each is hiding secrets... small and large.

And a pair of blue eyes is watching events unfold, too...

My Review: I've been a fan of this author's for years. What I really like about her books, is that I keep guessing and changing my mind about who did it right up until the very end. In fact, with this one, my son asked me if I had figured it out yet and I said, "No--I still have 15 pages left." Most of the suspects seem to have a shady side or reasons why they really could have done it, so it makes for a fun mystery. The other thing I really like is her books aren't gory. Yes, there's always a murder; yes, there are things that go on that aren't pleasant, but it's never graphic.

This story was a little different in there were two murders and while unrelated, there was a tie connecting them. I loved watching how the connection was made--it wasn't what I expected. Laurie's husband was murdered at the park in front of her young son and a threat against her and her son was given. Now, a few years later, she is doing a tv show on unsolved cases. There was a murder of a socialite 20 years earlier that wasn't ever solved. She attempts to bring back the "key players" to recreate the scene to see if any information surfaces.

I liked Laurie. She is very bright and really thinks things through. She goes the extra mile in life--both with research and mothering. I can only imagine how hard it would be to live with that threat over my head and still try to live life day to day.

Content: murder (not descriptive) and suicide (memories of finding someone, not descriptive), a few swear words (MUCH less than her earlier books), mention of sexual abuse (more implied and no details given) and affairs (again, skimmed over, no details).

 

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About the Author:
 Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark Conheeney, best known as Mary Higgins Clark, (b December 24, 1927 in the Bronx, New York) is an American author of suspense novels. Each of her twenty-four suspense novels has been a bestseller in the United States and various European countries, and all of her novels remain in print as of 2007, with her debut suspense novel, Where Are The Children, in its seventy-fifth printing.

Clark began writing at an early age. After several years working as a secretary and copy editor, Clark spent a year as a stewardess for Pan-American Airlines before leaving her job to marry and start a family. She supplemented the family's income by writing short stories. After her husband died in 1959, Clark worked for many years writing four-minute radio scripts, until her agent convinced her to try writing novels. Her debut novel, a fictionalized account of the life of George Washington, did not sell well, and she decided to leverage her love of mystery/suspense novels. Her suspense novels became very popular, and as of 2007 her books have sold more than 80 million copies in the United States alone.

Her work dwells primarily on a central theme: the psychological trauma endured and overcome by her strong female characters. Clark, known as the "Queen of Suspense", was also the inspiration for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America. She is the mother of author Carol Higgins Clark and formerly the mother-in-law of author Mary Jane Clark.