Imus Kids Mary & Carol Higgins Clark Because He Loves Them

Mary Higgins Clark’s new book is called The Shadow of Your Smile, and her daughter Carol’s is called Wrecked, which Imus said “pretty much describes her personal life.” But Carol corrected him.

“No,” she said carefully. “It describes how guests feel after they leave your show.”

Carol took Imus to task for saying earlier that she wasn’t funny, despite reviewers frequently complimenting the sense of humor in her Regan Reilly mystery novels.

“I said that hours ago when you weren’t supposed to be up,” Imus said, then tried to make up for it by telling Carol her five favorite songs were good. Her mother’s songs were a different story.

“Those are five songs that you ripped off for book titles!” Imus admonished Mary, who corrected him by pointing out that one of the songs, “I’ll Walk Alone,” is still in the process of being written.

She protested that those were her five favorite songs; after all, wouldn’t Imus be happy with songs if the corresponding books made him lots of money over the years?

“You’re so motivated by greed,” he said. “Which would explain why you married that crook from Merrill Lynch.”

Mary, who got her start selling short stories to publications like the Saturday Evening Post, explained that The Shadow of Your Smile is about a dying old woman who wants to expose a family secret, only to discover that doing so slates her and many others for death.   

And yes, there’s sex in her mother’s book, Carol told Imus, because he asked. Mary insisted it’s “off-camera,” and Imus was relieved, saying, “We don’t expect hard-core porn from Mary Higgins Clark.”

In Carol’s book Wrecked, Regan Reilly and her husband Jack (no relation) Reilly are celebrating their first anniversary in Cape Cod when a storm hits, a woman goes missing, and mystery ensues.

While proofreading her book with her editor one day, Carol, who had not yet read The Shadow of Your Smile, was informed that she and her mother had coincidentally chosen the same last name—Gannon—for main characters in their respective novels.

“Isn’t that weird? Isn’t that interesting?” she asked Imus, who told her exactly what it was not: funny.

-Julie Kanfer