Mary Higgins Clark, the bestselling mystery author and "Queen of Suspense," died Friday at the age of 92 at her home in Florida of natural causes, her publisher, Simon & Schuster announced.
“She was unique. Nobody ever bonded more completely with her readers than Mary did," her longtime editor Michael Korda said in statement posted to the author's website. "She understood them as if they were members of her own family. She was always absolutely sure of what they wanted to read—and, perhaps more important, what they didn’t want to read—and yet she managed to surprise them with every book. She was the Queen of Suspense, it wasn’t just a phrase; she always set out to end each chapter on a note of suspense, so you just had to keep reading. It was at once a gift, but also the result of hard work, because nobody worked harder than Mary did on her books to deliver for her readers."
Two of her novels, "Where Are the Children?" and "A Stranger Is Watching," were both turned into feature films, while many other of her works were adapted for television. The international bestselling author had more than 100 million copies of Clark's books in-print in the U.S. alone.
"I feel privileged to have enjoyed forty-five years of her friendship, and saddened that I will no longer be able to pick up the phone and hear her say, ‘Michael, I think I’ve figured out how to make this story work.’ She was a joy to work with, and to know," Korda wrote.
Clark wrote books that often featured women triumphing over danger with the simple goal to keep the readers reading.
In her memoir, Clark wrote she was inspired to begin writing her first book after seeing a recent story about the trial of a young woman who was accused of murdering her children.
"It seemed inconceivable to most of us that any woman could do that to her children," Mary Clark wrote in her memoir. "And then I thought: Suppose an innocent young mother is convicted of the deliberate murder of her two children; suppose she gets out of prison on a technicality; and then suppose seven years to the day, on her 32nd birthday, the children of her second marriage disappear."
She sent that manuscript, titled "Die a Little Death" to her agent in 1974 and the rest, as they say, was history. It became her first-bestseller and led to her incredible run of success.
Clark was born Dec. 24, 1927 and was raised by her mother after her father died when she was only 11. She went on to have a storied career beyond her writing, including time spent at an advertising agency and working for Pan American Airlines as a flight attendant in 1949. She began writing and selling short stories to magazines in 1956 for just $100, according to a biography provided by her publisher.
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