Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories

By: Mary Higgins Clark

Narrated by: Jan Maxwell, Robert Petkoff

Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

A collection of short stories from the number-one New York Times best-selling "Queen of Suspense" Mary Higgins Clark, including the never-before-published novella Death Wears a Beauty Mask.

From Clark's first-ever published story (1956's "Stowaway") to classic tales, featuring "Alvirah and Willy", "My Gal Sunday", and many more, Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories gives listeners the chance to revisit the short story highlights from the "Queen of Suspense". The jewel of this collection is the novella showcasing the dazzling and dangerous world of high fashion in 1970s New York City: Death Wears a Beauty Mask, which Mary began in 1974 and put aside to write Where Are the Children?, the book that launched her career. Mary returned to Death Wears a Beauty Mask nearly 40 years later, and the result is spectacular.

Featuring the same chills and heart-pounding drama we've come to expect from a Mary Higgins Clark title, and including an exclusive author's introduction, Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories is a spine-tingling listen and glimpse into the evolution of the remarkable career of the "Queen of Suspense".

The full copyright information can be found below:

“Stowaway” ©1958 Nora Durkin Enterprises, Inc.; originally published as “Last Flight from Danubia”.
“When the Bough Breaks” ©1960 Nora Durkin Enterprises, Inc.
“Voices in the Coalbin” ©1989 Nora Durkin Enterprises, Inc.
“The Cape Cod Masquerade” ©1994 Nora Durkin Enterprises, Inc. originally published as “Death on the Cape”
“Definitely, A Crime of Passion ©1996 Nora Durkin Enterprises, Inc.
“The Man Next Door” ©1997 Nora Durkin Enterprises, Inc.
“Haven’t We Met Before?” ©2000 Nora Durkin Enterprises, Inc.
“The Funniest Thing Has Been Happening Lately” ©2002 Nora Durkin Enterprises, Inc.
“The Tell-Tale Purr” ©2009 Nora Durkin Enterprises, Inc.
The above stories have been previously published.
“Death Wears a Beauty Mask” ©2015 Nora Durkin Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved.
(P)2015 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

©2015 "Stowaway" ©1958 Nora Durkin Enterprises, Inc.; originally published as "Last Flight from Danubia." (P)2015 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Loved the stories

Love all of them, especially the last one, it was perfect, too funny as I am a cat lover and he got his just reward.

Jean

Love the fact that there is no cursing. Listened to it multiple times. Very good book.

A fun collection

This is an odd collection gathering some very different stories from across Mary Higgins Clark's career and life. Neither the definitive collection of her short stories or her most critically acclaimed. They don't match a theme. Still, I legitimately enjoyed each of these stories and several of them had wonderful tension and character work. Death Wears a Beauty Mask is essentially a novella. It is worth the price of admission for the entire audio book. It is a bit dated and clearly set in the 1970's and 1980's New York City but an interesting and tense suspense mystery. The other short stories were really well done over all and interesting. Stowaway is one of her first published works and it is a good tale of two people matching mental wits. The Alvira and Willy short story was a wonderful reintroduction of the old pair. The Tell Tale Purr is the most comedic and a strange story and bit of character work.

If you enjoy Mary Higgins Clark for how she writes, her character work, and the way she masters tension you'll find this a good collection.

Very good mystery!

Where does Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Right at the top of the list. It is a very good mystery.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories?

Loved the whole book.

What about Jan Maxwell and Robert Petkoff ’s performance did you like?

Great job.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No.

Short, so so

This book was very short. The stories were good, but they were not what I was expecting. Not something I would see reading or listening to again sadly

Must have while driving on short or long trips.

Really enjoyed it. Kept me wanting to hear more. Mary Higgins Clark has been my favorite author since where are the children.

Not the Normal

This was an okay listen. It was fun in that these were short stories written in the early years for Mary Higgins. It was disappointing in that I expected a story. My Fault, I know. That being said the shorts were okay.

Too many stories with same theme.

What was most disappointing about Mary Higgins Clark’s story?

Same theme different title

Any additional comments?

Disappointed, I'm a MHClark fan but these were too much of the same thing.

Early works by developing author equals....

.....SOME great plots but more often simplistic, even juvenile. The characters are painfully cliched: with names of John, Michael, Carol, etc. (was there a Betty?...), have professional and/or cool careers (lawyer, journalist, airline pilot, top model), are good looking (of course) and in love (also, of course!). Also the settings can be dated. Ex: When was smoking last allowed on airplanes?
IN ALL FAIRNESS one can see the author’s potential in some good plots.