Deck the Halls/The Christmas Thief: Two Holiday Novels

by Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark

From beloved storytellers Mary Higgins Clark, America's Queen of Suspense, and her daughter, bestselling author Carol Higgins Clark, two favorite suspense novels filled with holiday cheer. Deck the Halls (first published in 2000) was the mother-daughter duo's first collaborative effort, a brilliant story of high-stakes intrigue and detection played out against a holiday setting. Christmas is only three days away when Regan Reilly, the dynamic young sleuth featured in the novels of Carol Higgins Clark, accidentally meets Alvirah Meehan, Mary Higgins Clark's sharp-witted lottery winner turned amateur sleuth, at a New Jersey dentist's office. When a call comes through on Regan's cell phone notifying her that her father and his driver, Rosita Gonzalez, are being held for $1,000,000 ransom, Alvirah insists that Regan allow her to lend a hand in gaining their release. Complicating the situation is the fact that Regan's mother, the famous mystery writer Nora Regan Reilly, has just been hospitalized with a broken leg, and a brutal winter storm is bearing down on them all. Regan must comfort her mother while trying to meet the harsh demands of her father's kidnappers, who are not just rank amateurs but also laughably inept -- making them all the more dangerous and unpredictable. In The Christmas Thief (2004), Alvirah and Regan team up again to investigate another kind of kidnapping. When an eighty-foot blue spruce is chosen to spend the holidays as Rockefeller Center's famous Christmas tree, the folks who picked the tree have no idea that attached to one of its branches is a flask chock-full of priceless diamonds that Packy Noonan, a scam artist just released from prison, had hidden there over twelve years ago. When an excited Packy breaks his parole and heads to Stowe, Vermont, to reclaim his loot, he discovers that his special tree will be heading to New York City the next morning, so he and his bumbling crew have to act fast. Meanwhile Alvirah Meehan and Regan Reilly happen to be on a weekend trip to Stowe with their families when they learn that the tree -- and Alvirah's friend Opal, who won the lottery, but lost all her winnings in Packy's scam -- has gone missing. With two novels filled with twists and turns, intrigue and danger, as well as a hearty dose of good cheer, Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark offer stories that are as breathlessly suspenseful as they are heartwarming -- Christmas classics for many holiday seasons to come.

Genres: Christmas, Mystery, Holiday, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

The #1 New York Times bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark has written thirty-eight suspense novels, four collections of short stories, a his­torical novel, a memoir, and two children’s books. With bestselling author Alafair Burke she wrote the Under Suspicion series. With her daughter Carol Higgins Clark, she has coauthored five more suspense novels. Her sister-in-law is the also author Mary Jane Clark.

Clark’s books have sold more than 100 million copies in the United States alone. Her books are beloved around the world and made her an international bestseller many times over.

Reviews

[Aruba · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

J’ai bien aimé les 2 histoires, petites préférences pour le voleur de Noël, puisqu’il reprends les protagonistes de trois jours avant Noël.

Le duo de Mary et Carol Higgins Clark fonctionne très bien, on a des personnages attachants, beaucoup de rebondissement et une intrigue intéressante.

Ce livre, nous permet de nous plonger en douceur dans l’esprit de Noël.

Ces 2 histoire m’ont un peu réconciliée avec Mary Higgins Clark, dont je n’avais lu qu’un livre que je n’avais pas aimé. J’espère que le prochain seront aussi bons.

[Jo-Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

2 Detective verhalen én kerst, heerlijk!

[Dundee Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read a holiday book, so I chose this one by Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter Carol Higgins Clark. I enjoy the way they write. This was a very easy read for a mystery/suspense novel. They introduce multiple characters, many with humorous quirks that keep it light hearted. It makes you feel like the characters are someone that you know. It is about a wealthy funeral director who gets kidnapped and it's up to his private investigator daughter, and his mystery/suspense novel writing wife to play along with the captors to provide the ransom money and save the day. If you enjoy a mystery without all of the gore, then this is for you.

[Katy Joslyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pulled this off a shelf in my house on Christmas Eve to read something Christmassy since I hadn't had a chance to do so yet; didn't read the book jacket to see what it was about. Needless to say, Christmas and crime aren't things I generally attribute with one another.

Normally I'm not the biggest fan of stories with multiple groupings of characters where their individual storylines meet together at the end but didn't mind it here.

[Chris Eirschele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two stories mixed under one cover by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark, published in 2000 and 2004. Deck the Halls and The Christmas Thief are cozy mysteries set in the spirit of the winter holidays. Keeping in line with the cozy genre, the mysteries are puzzles of a kidnapping and a theft with no obvious violence.

A perfect read for young adults, as well as adults, who want to have a quiet read for Santa arrives.

Highly recommend for an easy enjoyable read.

[Readaholic Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read The Christmas Thief. Delightful.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great books a little slow at first

[Maria Carpinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and fluffy, but a little slow at times! Overall a cute Christmas novel collection!

[Sandy Forman-Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent 2 for 1

[Julie Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

gr set

[Jennifer Lindauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy, enjoyable read.

[Sophie Laval · Rating 3 out of 5]

Autant la première histoire était super bien ficelée mais la deuxième traine trop en longueur.
Je m'y suis perdue en cours de route

[Katie (hiding in the pages) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two fun holiday mysteries by two of my favorite mystery authors. In the first story, "Deck the Halls," Alvirah Meehan meets the Reillys and Regan Reilly meets Jack Reilly. I had forgotten how they had all met, so it was fun to read that story again. Regan's father is kidnapped and held for ransom, along with his driver. In the second story, "The Christmas Thief," the Christmas tree headed for Rockefeller Square is cut down and a friend of Alvirah's disappears.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a gift so I decided to enjoy a little mystery read. It was truly light reading, but not really the kind of suspenseful mystery I had heard Mary Higgins Clark was famous for. The reader knows who did the crime from the beginning, but is watching the characters solve the mystery. I didn't actually read the 2nd story because I have more pressing things on my reading list.

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains two stories, one by Mary Higgins Clark and one by her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark. I only read the first story, Deck the Halls, written by Mary Higgins Clark. It provided mindless reading, stereotypical characters, and a happy ending. It wasn't bad, but I don't plan on reading the second story--not worth the time I'd put into it.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Modern

[Hapzydeco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two to put you in the spirit of the season.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of disappointed. Probably been reading too many mysteries.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary and Carol sure know how to write a story that keeps you interested. Super fun read, both stories.

[Marianne · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book I got for Christmas. Disappointing as it read like an outline for a book and was so repetitive.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy fun Christmas read.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read deck the halls and it was pretty good. I will read the christmas thief next year at christmas time. : )

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Merry Christmas to me, I'm glad I don't live in a tree...

These were two really fun stories; I don't think I've ever seen this ratio of characters to page numbers before. :)

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad Christmas Holiday read..

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another charming Christmas themed suspense story from this Mother/Daughter writing team. It featured Willie and Alvira, two of my favorite recurring characters as well as all of the Reillys.

[Agnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Usual chick lit: protagonist gets caught and everyone is happy at end. These are very eady reads, but well-written enought to enjoy the story.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick & very enjoyable read by the mother-daughter duo.Loved it.

[Kathy Chung · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good dose of laughter in this two books. it was like watching the 3 stooges and Charlie Chaplin shows.

I just love the combination of humor and s hint of thrill in it.

[Anne Rightler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun mysteries. Always love Mary Higgins Clark.