Clark, Mary Jane (Mary Jane Behrends)

PERSONAL:

Divorced. Education: Graduate of the University of Rhode Island.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Hillsdale, NJ. Agent—Laura Dail Literary Agency, 80 5th Ave., Ste. 1503, New York, NY 10011. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., New York, NY, news writer and producer.

WRITINGS:

"KEY-TV MYSTERY" SERIES; EXCEPT AS NOTED

The Commonwealth of Independent States (juvenile nonfiction; "Headliners" series), Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 1992.

Do You Want to Know a Secret?, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Do You Promise Not to Tell?, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Let Me Whisper in Your Ear, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Close to You, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Nobody Knows, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Nowhere to Run, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Hide Yourself Away, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Dancing in the Dark, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Lights out Tonight, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2006.

When Day Breaks ("Sunrise Suspense Society" series), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2007.

Work represented in anthologies, including Naked Came the Phoenix, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2001.

ADAPTATIONS:

Books adapted for audio include Nobody Knows (unabridged; four cassettes), read by Fran Tunno, Audio Renaissance, 2002.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mary Jane Clark's first book is a history written for readers in the middle grades. As a news writer and producer, she was well qualified to write The Commonwealth of Independent States, in which she discusses the Russian Revolution, the formation of the Soviet Union, its breakup, and the former Soviet countries that chose to form the Commonwealth of Independent States. Of these republics, the founding members of Russia, the Ukraine, and Belarus get the most coverage of their historical, political, and cultural backgrounds. Separate chapters discuss the region's environmental disasters, the role of the grandmother in the Russian household, the dispute between Armenians and Azeris, the "selling" of Russian scientists, and Gorbachev after the coup. Included are color photographs and maps.

A Kirkus Reviews contributor called "particularly interesting" the discussion of Asian republics with their sixty million Muslims and dependence on cotton. The reviewer called the volume "lucid, sympathetic, well-organized, and effectively detailed: a book that gives a real sense of these diverse lands." School Library Journal reviewer Pamela K. Bomboy called the book "a precisely written, well-organized presentation."

Like her well-known former mother-in-law, Mary Higgins Clark, Clark has written a growing list of mysteries, and her first, Do You Want to Know a Secret?, benefits from her experience as a television writer and producer. The protagonist is morning coanchor Eliza Blake, a widow and mother who is achieving success at KEY-TV in New York when the evening anchor is found dead. As she finds herself sharing his assignments, others are killed, and Eliza fears for the safety of her child and herself. A Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that "the few stereotyped minor characters … don't detract from Clark's refreshing surprise ending, a very nineties version of ‘the butler did it.’"

Farrell Slater, a producer at KEY news, is burned out, and her career is dangerously close to being ended in Do You Promise Not to Tell? She feels that one big story could change that outcome, and her chance comes when Farrell discovers that the Faberge Moon Egg recently sold at auction for six million dollars is a fake. As Farrell and her cameraman become involved in the hunt for the authentic Romanov treasure, with an FBI agent close behind, they meet a Russian woman who insists that she has the real egg in her possession. An artisan is killed in his shop in Little Odessa, and other murders soon follow. Farrell discovers more than she had hoped for in seeking out the story as secrets of murder, romance, scandal, and intrigue surface. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that "the suspense never flags, and the killer's identity remains a secret long into the tale."

Let Me Whisper in Your Ear features KEY reporter Laura Walsh, who becomes a suspect when her obituaries of high-profile celebrities are ready to air before their bodies have cooled. Eliza Blake returns in Close to You, and has left her apartment for a house in the suburbs. The new home for Eliza and her daughter proves not to be a safe haven when Eliza begins receiving telephone threats and hate mail, some from stalkers who are genuinely dangerous.

Nobody Knows features Cassie Sheridan, KEY's Washington correspondent. Under pressure to produce a newsworthy story, she reveals more than she should about a manhunt for a serial rapist who dresses as a clown. One of the three victims is the daughter of the FBI director, and when Cassie reveals her identity, the young woman commits suicide. Cassie is banished to report on the weather in Sarasota, Florida, and her husband, tired of playing second fiddle to Cassie's career, files for divorce. Nothing can revive Cassie's career unless the clown-rapist, nicknamed "Emmett Doe," strikes again.

The next victim is porn star Merilee Quinones, who is not raped but is killed when she surprises the murderer in his clown makeup. Cassie becomes reconnected to the case when she meets Vincent Baylor, a boy who finds Merilee's severed hand on the beach and who has removed a ruby ring from a finger in order to use it to help his poor family, thereby putting himself, his family, and eventually Cassie in great danger. Among the things that nobody knows is the strength of the hurricane that is bearing down on the area and how it will change the course of the investigation. A Publishers Weekly contributor who reviewed Nobody Knows noted Clark's "compelling characters and intricate plotting."

Nowhere to Run involves an anthrax scare. Medical segment producer Annabelle Murphy is the mother of twins and wife of a New York firefighter who is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome following the events of September 11, 2001. She is unaware that an overzealous medical reporter has procured a vial of anthrax until he goes on air with it and warns that it can be obtained by nearly anyone. When the authorities arrive, however, it is discovered that the poison has been removed and replaced with powdered sugar. Traces of anthrax show up at the office, a friend dies, and Annabelle proceeds to discover the truth about the anthrax prank. A Kirkus Reviews critic called "Clark's sixth dispatch from KEY News her best."

Hide Yourself Away was described as being "a nice mix of mystery and domestic drama" by Booklist reviewer Mary Frances Wilkens. Grace Callahan is in a custody battle for her eleven-year-old daughter. She has just completed her college education and is working in the newsroom, which is populated by other interns who are younger. Some of them will do anything to get the plum stories with the ultimate prize being the job of assistant news producer. The story in this case is about human remains that have been discovered in a tunnel that was used by the Underground Railroad and is located beneath the Newport News estate where the crew is working. The victim, Charlotte Wagstaff Sloane, has been missing for fourteen years, and after her body is discovered, her daughter, who may have witnessed her murder, is also killed.

Dancing in the Dark was called "a gripping story chock-full of edge-of-your-seat suspense" by Library Journal reviewer Jo Ann Vicarel. News correspondent Diane Mayfield travels to Ocean Grove, New Jersey, to interview Leslie Patterson, who claims she was kidnapped and held for three days. With her husband in federal prison for misappropriation of funds, Diane is now her family's sole breadwinner, and she decides to cancel her plans for a Grand Canyon trip and instead take her children and her sister with her to the Jersey shore. Police suspect a hoax because Leslie was known to be neurotic and anorexic and to practice self-mutilation, but after Diane arrives, another young woman is taken. "Clark's latest competent showing will intrigue her eager fans," concluded a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

In Lights out Tonight, KEY entertainment reporter Caroline Enright travels to the Berkshires in Massachusetts, where she meets her new husband, Nick, to enjoy a theater festival and to see Caroline's stepdaughter Meg, who is an apprentice in a play featuring well-known actress Belinda Winthrop. Their relationship has been strained by Meg's grief over the death of her natural mother and her father's marriage to Caroline. When the star of the play goes missing, however, the two women join forces to find Belinda. Romantic Times Books Reviews Web site contributor Sheri Melnick wrote: "Mystery fills the pages as the author's succinct writing style leads readers on a white-knuckle ride."

When Day Breaks begins Clark's "Sunrise Suspense Society" series. KEY coanchor Constance Young planned to leave for another job, but before she can do so, she is killed. The list of suspects is long, and Eliza and cameraman B.J. D'Elia beat the police to the first clue. Wilkens wrote that "the combination of network-news melodrama and a frothy whodunit plot should prove irresistible."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 15, 1993, Janice Del Negro, review of The Commonwealth of Independent States, p. 1046; October 15, 1998, Diana Tixier Herald, review of Do You Want to Know a Secret?, p. 407; July, 1999, Emily Melton, review of Do You Promise Not to Tell?, p. 1926; August, 2002, Melanie Duncan, review of Nobody Knows, p. 1929; June 1, 2003, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of Nowhere to Run, p. 1709; May 15, 2004, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of Hide Yourself Away, p. 1600; June 1, 2006, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of Lights out Tonight, p. 42; June 1, 2007, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of When Day Breaks, p. 47.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 1992, review of The Commonwealth of Independent States, p. 1569; July 15, 2002, review of Nobody Knows, p. 973; June 15, 2003, review of Nowhere to Run, p. 819; June 1, 2004, review of Hide Yourself Away, p. 506; June 1, 2005, review of Dancing in the Dark, p. 611; May 15, 2007, review of When Day Breaks.

Library Journal, August, 2003, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of Nowhere to Run, p. 128; June 15, 2005, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of Dancing in the Dark, p. 57.

Publishers Weekly, September 7, 1998, review of Do You Want to Know a Secret? p. 81; June 28, 1999, review of Do You Promise Not to Tell? p. 52; July 1, 2002, review of Nobody Knows, p. 54; July 28, 2003, review of Nowhere to Run, p. 79; July 12, 2004, review of Hide Yourself Away, p. 46; June 13, 2005, review of Dancing in the Dark, p. 33; May 15, 2006, review of Lights out Tonight, p. 48; April 30, 2007, review of When Day Breaks, p. 139.

School Library Journal, January, 1993, Pamela K. Bomboy, review of The Commonwealth of Independent States, p. 110.

ONLINE

Bookreporter.com,http://www.bookreporter.com/ (July 29, 2007), interview.

HarperCollins Web site,http://www.harpercollins.com/ (December 12, 2007), interview.

Mary Jane Clark Home Page,http://www.maryjaneclark.com (December 12, 2007).

Romantic Times Book Reviews Online,http://www.romantictimes.com/ (December 12, 2007), Toby Bromberg, review of Close to You; Sheri Melnick, reviews of Dancing in the Dark, and Lights out Tonight.