Washington Post Book Club: 'Where Are the Children?'
Presented by Maureen Corrigan
Special to Washington Post Book World
Thursday, May 29, 2003; Noon ET

Welcome to the online meeting of The Washington Post Book Club, a monthly program presented by the editors and writers of Washington Post Book World.

Mystery book critic Maureen Corrigan will be leading the discussion on this month's selection, 'Where Are the Children?' by Mary Higgins Clark.

Corrigan is a book critic for the NPR program "Fresh Air" and teaches literature at Georgetown University.

The transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

Lenexa, Kan.: Ms. Corrigan: The BC Event sounded like a lot of fun. Whenever I've seen MHC she says cute things like of an early rejection note: "Our readers found your heroine as dull as her husband did." Our KC Rainy Day Books proprietor, Vivien Jennings--who has hosted scores of writers--finds MHC a real favorite: "She has the most beautiful jewelry. Absolutely stunning jewels. So I can't wait to see what she has on this time. It's sort of like the Oscars."

I also think the mother-daughter (fun names) writing experience would be as good as it gets: sharing travel-research, exploring ideas, appearing together....

Karin Slaughter is off to a great start, isn't she? I've read (enjoyed) the first of her Georgian novels. I haven't read Nevada Barr yet. Care to describe the Event for those of us far away? Thank much.

Maureen Corrigan: Those of you mystery readers who couldn't make the Book Club Event missed a genuinely fun, lively, thought-provoking, and feminist-inflected discussion. (And, I don't say that because I was on the panel.)

I've found that mystery writers in general tend to be friendlier and less self-important than "literary" writers (I hate that distinction). Certainly the three writers with us that evening embodied those qualities. In person, Nevada Barr is a hoot. She was dressed that evening in what she confided to me and to Mary Higgins Clark was a Value City-type Indian-influenced outfit--bright orange. She looked beautiful. A former actress, she described her most famous acting job: hers is the voice you hear on the telephone whenever you get a wrong number! Her latest book is not an Anna Pidgeon mystery but an autobiography about finding faith. It's called, "Seeking Enlightenment, Hat by Hat." Judging from how she talked about her religious experience during the BC event, I expect the book (which is on my nightstand) is funny and touching.
Karin Slaughter, the youngest and most serious of the crowd, talked about her Southern upbringing and how the sense of community she experienced growing up could be both comforting and scary. In a small town, she noted, the frightening people know where you live and you know them. My Post collegue who specializes in suspense, Patrick Anderson,raves about her books. (They are also piled on my nightstand. I promised Karin I would read them this summer and I can't wait.)

Maureen Corrigan: For those readers who haven't dipped into "Where Are The CHildren?" lately, here's a refresher:
A young mother of two married to a very strange man goes to the store one day and leaves her children for a second in the car. When she returns, they're gone. Their bodies are later discovered. She's put on trial for their murders,but gets off on a technicality. She moves from California to Cape Cod, dyes her hair, remarries (her new husband knows her past), and has two more children. One day, they disappear from the backyard! Is the young mom to blame (does she do these awful deeds without really knowing what she's doing?) or is a stalking psychopath on the loose. As a storm wipes out power on Cape Cod the mom and the police struggle to discover the children before it's too late.
There you have it: children in peril, a flawed heroine, a terrifying threat, and the forces of nature let loose. This is the neo-Gothic formula that's made Mary Higgins Clark America's Queen of Suspense

Vienna, Va.: Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the Book Club event but how did it go?

Maureen Corrigan: I'll continue to describe the event for those who couldn't make it. (I talked about Karin Slaughter and Nevada Barr in an earlier reply, but accidently pressed the wrong button before I could get to Mary Higgins Clark!)

Mary Higgins Clark is a trooper: gracious, beautiful, self-deprecating, warm, hard-working. She told those of us on the panel that she was traveling to Lourdes, France the next day--leaving from NYC. She never stops! She does tell funny stories about getting her start as a writer and about what a dud her very first book (republished last year as Mount Vernon Love Story) turned out to be. I highly recommend her recent autobiography to all MHC fans. It's called "Kitchen Priveleges" and it describes MHC's childhood in the Bronx, her marriage, the early loss of her husband, and her unbelievable drive to be a writer at the same time she was a working mother of five young children. At the event, MHC (who looked radiant as ever in a black pantsuit accented with beautiful jewels and her trademark upsweep hair-do) talked about her reaction to negative reviews. Unlike the other panelists, she said she does read her reviews and if reviewers fault her for a common flaw, she does take their words to heart. She also talked about the writing process with her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark. (They've collaborated on a few mysteries) She told a funny story about how they were on deadline one evening and both of them were still in their bathrobes sans makeup or hairbrushing. They took a short break to watch "Survivor," which they were both addicted to. MHC said she turned to Carol and commented that the two of them looked as though they were part of the "Survivor" crew. I love that image of the two of them scrambling to meet a deadline and looking like wrecks. It really speaks to the unglamourous side of writing.

Arlington, Va.: So, where are the children?

Maureen Corrigan: You have to read the book. I'm not giving that ending away.

Washington, D.C.: Is Mary Higgins Clark still writing and do you consider this book to be her seminal work?

Maureen Corrigan: Absolutely!!! MHC is still writing. She's got a brand-new suspense story out (featuring a financial reporter named Carly De Carlo. . . the title will come to me in a second. Anyway, it's good.) She also published an autobiography last fall called "Kitchen Priveleges" which is very, very good.
I do consider "Where Are The CHildren" to be her seminal work in the sense that it established her formula--essentially a revamping of the traditional Gothic plot. In MHC's version, however, the female heroines save themselves. They're also likeable because they're not superwomen--they're flawed and they often have a terrible taste in men. . . . at least the first time around.

Somewhere, USA: How long have you reviewed mysteries? And why did you choose the genre?

Maureen Corrigan: I've reviewed mysteries as a columnist for The Washington Post since 1994. I've been sporadically reviewing mysteries for other venues, including "Fresh Air," for even longer.

I love mysteries--beginning with an early fixation on the Nancy Drew books in which a girl finally got to do something in fiction. I think mysteries are an incredibly flexible literary genre. The good ones tell a story, offer social criticism, and explore metaphysical questions about good and evil. I also like the series-ness of a lot of mysteries, which allows readers to see how a character changes over time.

Lenexa, Kan.: Thanks for the nice recap--would have been fun to have been there. Some things I esp. liked about the novel (Comments?):

The gripping title, the Gothic past overtaking the present. The villain was nicely concealed. Probably like most readers I assumed Courtney Parrish was a fattened up, disguised Rob Legler.

The MHC motif, as you mentioned, of the distressed heroines finding the coiled, resilient strength--esp. when her children are at risk--that superscends gender.

The nice plot--the Gothic lookout tower/widow's walk. I agree it is interesting how distaff writers have pioneered/excelled with the Gothic novel. Did the Fielding/Dickensian coincidences bother you any?

Police Chief Coffin on Nancy Eldredge's art (he had noticed her "sketching around town, but never dreamed she was any good."): "Most women he knew who did that sort of thing usually ended up framing stuff that looked like exhibits from Show and Tell."

Maureen Corrigan: Yes, "Where Are the Children?" has a lot going for it. I think MHC's novels in general (and I haven't read all of them; she's written a ton) are attractive especially because 1) she knows how to tell a story and 2) her heroines make whopping mistakes and they're not superwomen, but, ultimately, they take a deep breath and combat evil--especially when the life of a child is at stake. Certainly in her own life (as she describes it, without editorializing, in her autobiography), MHC had to rely on herself to get through widowhood and raising 5 children and pushing to attain a writing career.
The coincidences in "Where Are The CHildren?" didn't annoy me--maybe because they're artful enough to be surprising.

Maryland: Reading your review in the Post reminds me of the recent post-partum depression cases of mothers killing their own children and loved ones. Do you think that Clark hinted to such a disease in her books?

Maureen Corrigan: No, I don't think postpartum depression was on MHC's mind. The children who are murdered in that novel are not infants or babies. She mentioned at the Book CLub event that the novel was inspired by an infamous case in New York in the early 1960s in which a single mother regularly locked her two young children in a bedroom at night. Then, one night, they disappeared. The evidence in that case strongly pointed to the mother as the murderer, but she got off on a technicality. MHC said she reimagined the mother in her book as being innocent--someone who was "gaslighted" into believing she might have murdered her children.

Norfolk, Va.: Wow - this book has stuck with me since I snuck it out of my mom's room when I was in my teens - I did a double take when I saw "Where are the Children" - thought maybe there was something new I missed. What made you pick such an old book? It's a classic, sure - but why go back? Now I'll have to read it again - the plastic bags are coming back!

Maureen Corrigan: Well, I chose "Where Are the CHildren?" precisely because it's an old, some would say "classic" book. In fact, MHC's publishers reissued it last year in classic, hardback format.

I wanted to focus on it because it's the novel that establishes MHC's revision of the traditional Gothic formula: Women in peril who save themselves as well as the children in peril.

Bethesda, Md.: How many books have Mary Higgins Clark wrote? Do you know if there is a new one underway?

Maureen Corrigan: I haven't counted all of them, but I'm sure there are MHC websites that have. THere is always a new novel underway--MHC is tireless and she's said she doesn't intend to stop writing. She loves what she does.

Silver Spring, Md.: You mention that you were into mystery stories as a child reading Nancy Drew. What are some of the current kid myster books that you recommend? What do you think about the Limeney Snicket series?

Maureen Corrigan: I'm not that familiar with current children's mystery books. I know some of my college students talk glowingly about the
"Encyclopedia Brown" books. My Washington Post colleague, Michael Dirda, would probably be a better source of information about newer children's mysteries. I still vote for the classic Nancy Drews.

Lenexa, Kan.: I enjoyed the humor in the inevitable conflict (contempt) between the police department and the outsider professions. At one point a frustrated policeman (Bernie Mills) muses: "Now they were talking about running a check on Nancy's first husband. Wait till he told this to Jean." (his wife).

I couldn't locate the 1985 film version. Did you like it? Thanks.

Maureen Corrigan: I agree. I think humor is a key factor in why MHC's novels are so successful. In person, she's also very funny and doesn't seem to take herself too seriously.
I haven't located the movie either. It doesn't seem to be in the local video stores. Apparently MHC has a walk-on role in it.

Maureen Corrigan: Signing off. Thanks!
Maureen Corrigan

washingtonpost.com:

That wraps up today's show. Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion.

Stay Tuned to Live Online:
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• 2 p.m. Dirda on Books: Intrepid Book World editor Michael Dirda
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