Review: As Time Goes By by Mary Higgins Clark (audio)

Title:As Time Goes By

Author:Mary Higgins Clark

Series:Alvirah & Willy, #10

Narrator:Jan Maxwell

Published:April 2016, Simon& Schuster Audio

Length:7 hours 32 minutes

Source:Library

In this exciting thriller from Mary Higgins Clark, the #1 New York Times
bestselling “Queen of Suspense,” a news reporter tries to find her
birth mother just as she is assigned to cover the high-profile trial of a
woman accused of murdering her wealthy husband.

Television
journalist Delaney Wright is on the brink of stardom after she begins
covering a sensational murder trial for the six p.m. news. She should be
thrilled, yet her growing desire to locate her birth mother consumes
her thoughts. When Delaney’s friends Alvirah Meehan and her husband
Willy offer to look into the mystery surrounding her birth, they uncover
a shocking secret they do not want to reveal.

On trial for
murder is Betsy Grant, widow of a wealthy doctor who has been an
Alzheimer’s victim for eight years. When her once-upon-a-time celebrity
lawyer urges her to accept a plea bargain, Betsy refuses: she will go to
trial to prove her innocence.

Betsy’s stepson, Alan Grant, bides
his time nervously as the trial begins. His substantial inheritance
hangs in the balance—his only means of making good on payments he owes
his ex-wife, his children, and increasingly angry creditors.

As
the trial unfolds, and the damning evidence against Betsy piles up,
Delaney is convinced that Betsy is not guilty and frantically tries to
prove her innocence. A true classic from Mary Higgins Clark, As Time Goes By is a thrilling read by a master of the genre.

My thoughts:I really enjoy a good Mary Higgins Clark mystery and while I haven’t picked one up in a while, I couldn’t resist this one. But it wasn’t until I was getting ready to write this review that I realized this book is actually part of a series – and it’s number 10 in that series at that! As I did a little more digging, I found out I had read 2 books in this series. Now I’m going to need to read the rest!

While this doesn’t contain the usual suspense that I‘ve come to love with a typical MHC book, I still enjoyed it. It does have a pretty decent mystery and good, engaging characters. The multiple story lines at first seem to have nothing to do with each other, but do end up coming together nicely in the end. I have to say I think this is the first time I’ve ever figured out a MHC book before…usually I make multiple guesses only to be foiled at every twist and turn! 

I really liked the characters, especially Delaney. I could feel the conflict she was experiencing – wanting to be excited about how far her career was progressing yet needing to know just where she came from. That internal struggle was consuming her and it was only natural that she would pursue it. And I loved Alvirah and how she took it upon herself to investigate Delaney’s personal issue – she and Willy are quite the interesting pair of sleuths!!!

I will definitely be looking into the rest of this series. I believe some of these books are written with Mary Higgins Clark’s daughter, Carol, because they are also part of their Regan Reilly Mystery series – ohh, the overlapping of characters and series. This is another series I need to catch up on! Have you read either of series?  

Audio thoughts:I love when I get to hear Jan Maxwell narrate and she seems to do a lot of Mary Higgins Clark’s books. She just seems to get her characters and does a great job giving each one their own unique voice. I love when I can associate a certain narrator with a certain author…some just seem to go together really well and these are two that pair nicely together!

Books in this series:

1. Weep No More, My Lady
2. The Lottery Winner
3. All Through the Night
4. Deck the Halls
5. The Christmas Thief
6. Santa Cruise: A Holiday Mystery at Sea
7. Dashing Through the Snow
8. I’ll Walk Alone
9. The Lost Years
10. As Time Goes By