Book Review--No Place Like Home, by Mary Higgins Clark

Mary Higgins Clark is one of my favorite authors, ever since I read her first book, Where Are the Children? when I was maybe 12 or 13. Her latest book, No Place Like Home, is one of the best, in my opinion.

At age 10, Liza Barton accidentally shot and killed her mother, in an attempt to protect her from her estranged stepfather, whom she also wounded. Her stepfather, Ted Cartwright, claimed she had done so deliberately and that she had intended to kill him as well. The shooting was ruled an accident, but many people believed Ted's version of events, and his claims that he and Liza's mother had broken up because of Liza's animosity toward him. They dubbed her "Little Lizzie" after the infamous Lizzie Borden.

Liza was adopted by distant relatives, who changed her name and moved her to California. She lived there until she attended design school back East. At age 28 she married a childless, 60-year-old widower, and they had a son. On his deathbed, her husband begged her not to tell anyone her true identity, for fear their son would be stigmatized. Liza, now called Celia, agrees to keep her secret.

Two years later, her son now four, Celia is happily remarried to a lawyer, Alex Nolan, who knows nothing about her past. On her 34th birthday, Alex, surprises her with a new house--which, unbelievably, is the house in which she shot and killed her mother and wounded her stepfather. (This is perhaps a little too coincidental to be believable, in my opinion, but that's the only negative thing I can think of to say about this book.)

Celia's unhappiness is apparent when she sees the house, but remembering her promise to her first husband, she feels she cannot tell her new husband the real reason she does not want to live there. So they move in and she tries to make the best of it, but the troubles start immediately. The house is vandalized. Celia receives prank calls. Her son hears about "Little Lizzie" in school. And then Georgette Grove, the real estate agent who sold them the house, is murdered. Celia discovers the body and becomes a suspect in her murder. Celia fights to prove her innocence in that murder, as well as uncover more about the past in an attempt to clear her name, so that she can finally tell her husband the truth about her identity. However, more murders follow, and Celia and her son are also in danger.

I did have a hunch regarding who might be behind her current troubles, and it turned out that the hunch was correct, at least regarding one of the culprits. Mary Higgins Clark always manages to throw in several unanticipated twists and turns, however, and the truth is generally rather complicated.

As with all her books, I did not want to put this one down. Known as America's Queen of Suspense, Mary Higgins Clark is one of the best in the genre. I always feel rather low once I've finished reading one of her books, though, because I know I'll have to wait a year before a new one is out.