Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner turned amateur sleuth, joins forces once again with private detective Regan Reilly to solve a Christmas mystery. This time they must track down the beautiful ninety-foot tree that is hijacked on its way to Rockefeller Center for the Christmas season. What they do not know is that a hole in the trunk of the tree contains the fortune in priceless gems that Packey Noonan, a scam artist just released from prison, had hidden there twelve years ago. What they do know is that this particular tree is irreplaceable. It has been chosen because it was in the forest near the Vermont home of Maria von Trapp, and the Christmas festival in Rockefeller Center is geared to the fortieth anniversary of the film The Sound of Music. The rumor is that Maria von Trapp loved to sing songs from the film under that tree.
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From Publishers Weekly
Mother and daughter Clark, each a bestseller in her own right, have produced a singularly slight and unmemorable tale with their third holiday suspense novel (after 2001's He Sees You When You're Sleeping). This time the villainy centers on an 80-foot Vermont spruce earmarked for the traditional Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center. Unbeknownst to the tree's owners, its branches contain millions of dollars' worth of diamonds, secreted there more than a decade earlier by con man Packy Noonan to conceal the proceeds of an investment scam. One of the scam's victims happens to be vacationing near the site of the planned tree-cutting, along with Alvirah and Willy Meehan, who successfully resolved a kidnapping in their previous caper. When Packy is finally paroled, he heads straight for the treasure, enmeshing him, his confederates, the Meehans and a bevy of other characters in vandalism, abduction and other crimes. Unfortunately, there's no mystery concerning who's doing what or why and little sense of menace or suspense. Classic mystery fans may be amused by the contemporary take on Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons," but many readers, including those devoted to the Clarks' solo efforts, will be disappointed.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Mary Higgins Clark’s books are worldwide bestsellers, with more than 100 million copies sold in the U.S. alone. Visit her on the web at MaryHigginsClark.com.
Carol Higgins Clark is the author of fourteen previous bestselling Regan Reilly mysteries. She is coauthor, along with her mother, Mary Higgins Clark, of a bestselling holiday mystery series. Also an actress, Carol Higgins Clark studied at the Beverly Hills Playhouse and has recorded several of her mother's works as well as her own novels. She received AudioFile's Earphones Award of Excellence for her reading of Jinxed. She lives in New York City.
Carol Higgins Clark is the author of fourteen previous bestselling Regan Reilly mysteries. She is coauthor, along with her mother, Mary Higgins Clark, of a bestselling holiday mystery series. Also an actress, Carol Higgins Clark studied at the Beverly Hills Playhouse and has recorded several of her mother's works as well as her own novels. She received AudioFile's Earphones Award of Excellence for her reading of Jinxed. She lives in New York City.
Her website is www.carolhigginsclark.com.
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Amazon.com:
3.2 out of 5 stars
46 reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Up To The Clarks' Usual Standards
Nov 18 2004
By D. Bell
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Christmas Thief, Mary & Carol Higgins Clark's annual Christmas fluff, is, as usual, as fast and easy read. It is, however, quite forgettable once you've done reading. Alvirah Meehan, the former cleaning lady whose life was changed when she won the lottery, and her husband Willy are heading to Stowe, Vermont, for a long weekend with their friends Nora Reagan Reilly, the detective novelist, her funeral director husband, their detective daughter Reagan Reilly, and her fiancee Jack (no relation) Reilly. Alvirah invites her friend Opal, a lottery winner who gave her money to a con man and lost it all. Besides skiing, they are looking forward to watching the cutting down of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Packy, the con man who has been in jail for the last twelve years, and his two henchmen Benny and JoJo are also heading there to retrieve a flask of diamonds, his ill-gotten gains from his scam, from the giant blue spruce where he hid it before he was apprehended and sent to prison. Naturally their paths cross and, of course, Alvirah, Reagan, and their families save the day.
This is a short book, which isn't bad for an evening if there are no good programs on television or a brief car trip. I was not happy that we didn't see much of the Meehans or the Reillys.
Opal is a sympathetic character, as is Milo, the "poet" who helped Packy and his gang but didn't know he was doing anything illegal. Packy is rather nasty, so it's good to see him get his comeuppance. And the tree's owners are too obsessive about the tree and its fate. That just doesn't ring true.
I'm not sorry I bought the book, and the Amazon price was right, but it's nothing that will stick with me over the long run.
This is a short book, which isn't bad for an evening if there are no good programs on television or a brief car trip. I was not happy that we didn't see much of the Meehans or the Reillys.
Opal is a sympathetic character, as is Milo, the "poet" who helped Packy and his gang but didn't know he was doing anything illegal. Packy is rather nasty, so it's good to see him get his comeuppance. And the tree's owners are too obsessive about the tree and its fate. That just doesn't ring true.
I'm not sorry I bought the book, and the Amazon price was right, but it's nothing that will stick with me over the long run.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Should be listed under Young Adult Fiction
Nov 28 2004
By EdHopper
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I'm glad that I only checked this out from the library. Her stories have really seemed to lack substance recently and this is no exception. No suspense in this one. From reading the book jacket, most of her fans could have wrote this for her. These recent books are so watered down recently, they don't qualify to even be in the adult section of the store. Boring!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Christmas Thief was a fast read..
Jan 29 2005
By Carly Rae
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This was my first Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark book. I was pretty happy with it but I did think it could have been better. The plot was centered around the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center involving the Meehans, the Reillys, and some ex-convicts. Some parts were utterly unbeleivable. It was a different storyline that seemed pretty orginal but as I read below it's not their best work.
I am looking forward to reading their other books, seperately and jointly. It was a fast, fun read and hey, it occupied my time during Jury Duty!
I am looking forward to reading their other books, seperately and jointly. It was a fast, fun read and hey, it occupied my time during Jury Duty!
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3.2 out of 5 stars
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