No Place Like Home

No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark

Review by Gerti

One of the better Mary Higgins Clark books, even though one of the "surprises" was pretty evident from the beginning. It involves a woman names Celia whose husband buys her a house for her birthday, a house in which she killed her mother when she was a child and bore a different name. I accept the fact that a child who becomes famous for a crime would want to change her name in order to reclaim her anonymity, but I don't see a husband EVER buying a house for wife that she hadn't seen and approved. And a house with such a terrible history for her? Too great a coincidence to believe, and that makes him an immediate suspect in my book!

Celia, however, has no such suspicions, even though creepy things start happening almost immediately. Those include someone vandalizing the lawn in front of the house and their heavy wooden front door, works which prove to be more than the actions of teenage ne'er-do-wells. Then the realtor who sold the house to her husband is found dead near some spilled paint that was used to write "Little Lizzie's Place. Beware!" on the lawn. Liza Barclay was Celia's childhood name, and the press dubbed her "Little Lizzie" after infamous parent killer Lizzie Borden. But in Liza's case, she accidentally shot her mother, Audrey, while trying to protect her from Ted Cartwright, her sexy but violent stepfather.

Celia hasn't told her new husband, Alex Nolan, about her past, but any fan of old movies know this plot - where the creepy husband tries to make his rich new wife feel like she's losing her mind, possibly even get her convicted of some crime. And that's where it's headed in this book, as the bodies begin to pile up, and Celia seems to be strangely close to each location! After the realtor, the lawn boy is found shot to death, then a riding instructor of Celia's who is also linked to her father and stepfather. One local detective in on the verge of matching Celia's fingerprints to those of Little Lizzie, but luckily, the Morris County prosecutor thinks the finger-pointing has gone too far and that Celia may in fact be more victim than crazed criminal.

All through the plot twists, Celia tries desperately to remember what her mother shouted while fighting with her stepfather, and when it finally comes back to her, she is able to put the pieces together herself. A bullet pulled from a tree decades ago and a yellowing press clipping also help knit the story together, and soon all the non-deceased baddies are behind bars, including Celia's current spouse, who just wanted her for her money.

A fun book to read, like most of Clark's efforts. "No Place Like Home" would make great reading around Halloween, when all the spooky vandalism would fit right into the season of ghosts and goblins. I'm glad I bought this book at a local book sale.