The Melody Lingers On

Follow The Money

Mary Higgins Clark is the grande dame of suspense--the author of more than 50 novels and at 87, she is still writing.

Regular readers say her latest The Melody Lingers On is not one of her better ones, but she has picked a contemporary subject and added a dash of romance to it.

Parker Bennett was a financial wiz, who made billions from the investments of middle-class people. When he was reported dead in a sailing accident, hundreds of families lost their savings, some their homes and retirement funds.

The circumstances of his accident were mysterious and his body was never found, giving rise to the suspicion that he had faked his death and vanished with a fortune. Bennett’s wife Anne and son Eric suffer the consequences of his crime. The FBI are still investigating Bennett’s disappearance.

 Elaine "Lane" Harmon works for Glady Harper, a snooty interior decorator.  Lane is given the assignment of doing up Anne Bennet’s townhouse, where she has to move after giving up her luxurious mansion. Lane and Eric are attracted to each other, and when he tells her he had nothing to do with his father’s fraud, she believes him.

While their relationship grows, detectives work hard on the case, a man called Ranger, who lost his wife because of Parker Bennett is obsessed with revenge and a social climbing Countess knows more than she lets on.

The plot had more potential than Clark is able to get out of it, and there is some lazy plotting here—would a really smart crook leave important information on a piece of paper in his wallet, for instance, or leave the number of his secret account taped on a toy rather than memorizing it?

Lane Harmon is not a very interesting heroine either and has little to do with how the plot develops—in fact she comes across as a self-centered fool when she refuses to help the FBI.

There is very little suspense and the tone more chick-lit (Glady Harper is right out of The Devil Wears Prada) than thriller, but it’s a quick and enjoyable read.

The Melody Lingers On

By Mary Higgins Clark

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Pages:  320