Moonlight Becomes You

De: Mary Higgins Clark

Narrado por: Megan Gallagher

From Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark, a thriller “that grabs you with the first paragraph and never let’s go” (USA TODAY) about a woman desperate to uncover the truth behind her beloved stepmother’s death.

At a party in Manhattan, Maggie Holloway—one of the fashion world’s most successful photographers—is thrilled to be reunited with her beloved stepmother. A widow now, Nuala Moore is equally delighted to see her long-lost stepdaughter, and she invites Maggie to spend a few weeks at her home in Newport, Rhode Island. But when Maggie arrives, she finds Nuala murdered, apparently by a burglar.

Heartbroken, Maggie is stunned to learn she had inherited Nuala’s stunning Victorian home...and horrified when she begins to suspect that Nuala’s death was not random but part of a diabolical plot conceived by a twisted mind. When Nuala’s dear old friend, Greta Shipley, dies suddenly of supposedly natural causes, Maggie is convinced that there is a link between these two and other recent deaths among the older women of Newport. What she doesn’t realize is that she has now become a target for the killer as well, and that each clue she uncovers brings her closer to an unimaginable fate.©1997 Mary Higgins Clark; (P)2008 Simon and Schuster

Rather Dark; MHC Delivers the Goods as Usual!

MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU is a good bet if you’re looking for a romantic suspense novel. It’s a fairly typical Mary Higgins Clark entry: successful young career woman encounters a murder and must try to find the killer, and along the way finds love with an attractive man and faces serious dangers to her life. It’s probably not a spoiler to tell you that things work out okay for the heroine in the end, because this is typical of MHC’s novels… but she does put her heroine through the wringer before she gets there!

This one is a bit darker than others, and a couple of the characters are pretty weird and creepy (including a funeral director with a fixation on anything related to death). Some of the plot points stretch credibility a bit, but then it’s about having a thrilling ride and it doesn’t pay to nitpick about such things. In general, the abridgment works. The murder victim gets bumped off very soon after she is introduced, so we never get to develop much understanding of her. Ditto for the murderer(s): they seem to appear more toward the end of MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU, so their motivation is pretty straightforward and there are no serious attempts to delve into their psyches. With that said, I did not feel cheated and all of the necessary plot elements were in place to prepare me for the dénouement.

I realize that MHC is a female writer and writes for an overwhelmingly female readership, but I do admire her plotting and ability to tell a story. Abridged versions of her novels appeal to me because they remove a lot of details that don’t matter (to me): I don’t really care what the heroine was wearing, or how handsome a man is, or what wine they drank when they had dinner together! Maggie is a typical MHC heroine: a young, attractive, successful professional with some sadness and tragedy in her past. She isn’t exactly “virginal” (she is a widow), but quite well-behaved: no torrid, extraneous sex scenes here (or anywhere in MHC that I know of), so if you’re looking for that then look elsewhere. (MHC is a devout Catholic and has received several honors from the Holy See, which should tell you something.)

Megan Gallagher does a good job with the narration. She doesn’t go all-out to give each character his/her own “voice,” which is fine. She does convey the proper emotions: nostalgic without becoming sentimental, and frightened without becoming histrionic. Her diction and pace are excellent, and comprehension is not an issue for the listener with her narration.

Overall, an enjoyable listen and better than most: I’ve listened to it more than once, which should tell you something. Recommended! AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY