Daddy's Gone A-Hunting - Softcover

Clark, Mary Higgins

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1849837066 ISBN 13: 9781849837064

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2013

Synopsis

In her latest novel Mary Higgins Clark, the beloved, bestselling "Queen of Suspense," exposes a dark secret from a family's past that threatens the lives of two sisters, Kate and Hannah Connelly, when the family-owned furniture firm in Long Island City, founded by their grandfather and famous for its fine reproductions of antiques, explodes into flames in the middle of the night, leveling the buildings to the ground, including the museum where priceless antiques have been on permanent display for years. The ashes reveal a startling and grisly discovery, and provoke a host of suspicions and questions. Was the explosion deliberately set? What was Kate-tall, gorgeous, blond, a CPA for one of the biggest accounting firms in the country, and sister of a rising fashion designer-doing in the museum when it burst into flames? Why was Gus, a retired and disgruntled craftsman, with her at that time of night? What if someone isn't who he claims to be? Now Gus is dead, and Kate lies in the hospital badly injured and in a coma, so neither can tell what drew them there, or what the tragedy may have to do with the hunt for a young woman missing for many years, nor can they warn that somebody may be covering his tracks, willing to kill to save himself . . .

About this title

About the Author

Mary Higgins Clark is the author of thirty-one suspense novels; three collections of short stories; a historical novel, and a memoir. She is the co-author with her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark, of five holiday suspense novels.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Daddy’s Gone A Hunting 1

Thursday, November 14

At four o’clock in the morning, Gus Schmidt dressed silently in the bedroom of his modest home on Long Island, hoping not to disturb his wife of fifty-five years. He was not successful.

Lottie Schmidt’s hand shot out to fumble for the lamp on the night table. Blinking to clear eyes that were heavy with sleep, she noticed that Gus was wearing a heavy jacket, and demanded to know where he was going.

“Lottie, I’m just going over to the plant. Something came up.”

“Is that why Kate called you yesterday?”

Kate was the daughter of Douglas Connelly, the owner of Connelly Fine Antique Reproductions, the furniture complex in nearby Long Island City where Gus had worked until his retirement five years earlier.

Lottie, a slight seventy-five-year-old with thinning white hair, slipped on her glasses and glanced at the clock. “Gus, are you crazy? Do you know what time it is?”

“It’s four o’clock and Kate asked me to meet her there at four thirty. She must have had her reasons and that’s why I’m going.”

Lottie could see that he was clearly upset.

Lottie knew better than to ask the question that was on both their minds. “Gus, I’ve had a bad feeling lately. I know you don’t want to hear me talk like this, but I sense something dark is going to happen. I don’t want you to go.”

In the shadowy 60-watt light of the night table lamp they glared at each other. Even as Gus spoke, he knew deep down he was frightened. Lottie’s claim to be psychic both irritated and scared him. “Lottie, go back to sleep,” he said angrily. “No matter what the problem is, I’ll be back for breakfast.”

Gus was not a demonstrative man but some instinct made him walk over to the bed, lean down, kiss his wife’s forehead, and run his hand over her hair. “Don’t worry,” he said firmly.

They were the last words she would ever hear him say.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1849837066
• ISBN 13: 9781849837064
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352