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Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter Carol Higgins Clark have the Rockefeller Center tree at the center of their third holiday suspense novel. As the Rockefeller Center tree is one of the best-known symbols of all things Christmas, it's easy for readers to get wrapped around the action that unfolds.
The story features Mary's series characters --- Alvirah Meehan, a lottery winner who has turned amateur sleuth, and her husband Willy --- and Regan Reilly, Carol's private investigator character and her fiancé, Jack. They are traveling to Vermont in anticipation of the holiday season to visit a tree that has been given to Alvirah. Along for the ride is Opal, another lottery winner whose winnings were lost in a bad deal with a scammer named Packy Noonan. She has never forgiven Packy for what he did to her, and as the holidays approach she is feeling mighty sorry for herself. Alvirah invites her along hoping to cheer her up.
As these New Yorkers head north to enjoy Vermont, an older couple there is readying themselves to watch their eighty-foot blue spruce get cut down as it has been selected to be the Rockefeller Center tree. The tree is full of many memories for them, and thus these days are filled with their recollections of earlier years.
These two groups of characters get linked together by the release of Packy from prison. He breaks parole with a mad dash from St. Patrick's Cathedral where he jumps into a waiting car being driven by two of his scammer accomplices. Their destination: Vermont to find a cache of diamonds that has been hidden in a tree there so they can all head to Brazil and live the good life. You can guess what tree they are in.
Written with humor as well as suspense, the tale gets more and more involved as Opal is kidnapped, the tree is cut down by the thieves, and assorted other characters all get drawn into the tale.
Yes, it's a tad farfetched and all neat and packaged, but it's also a fun escapist holiday read. It's perfect to curl up with next to the fire when the house is laden with gift wrap and ribbons and you just do not feel like dealing with it. It's great reading while the cookies are baking. It's a book you pick up once the guests leave and you just want to unwind.
Aside here: I have spent time with both Mary and Carol and have found them always to be such fun to be around. Reading this book, I am drawn once again into the very special relationship that the two of them have. I saw them on the "Today Show" talking about how they wrote the book. They sat there discussing the plot and they were finishing each other's sentences. As they bantered back and forth I could hear how they must have chatted as they wrote. Picturing them made reading the book all the more fun.
--- Reviewed by Carol Fitzgerald
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