
Kitchen Privileges
Memoirs of a Bronx Girlhood
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Narrated by:
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Mary Higgins Clark
About this listen
Along with all Americans, citizens of the Bronx suffered during the Depression. So when Mary's father died, her mother opened the family home to boarders and placed a discreet sign next to the front door that read, "Furnished Rooms. Kitchen Privileges."
The family's struggle to make ends meet; her days as a scholarship student in an exclusive girls academy; the death of her beloved older brother in World War II; her marriage to Warren Clark; writing stories at the kitchen table; finally selling the first one for $100, after six years and 40 rejections, all these experiences figure into Kitchen Privileges.
Her husband's untimely death left her a widowed mother of five young children. Determined to care for her family and to make a career for herself, she wrote scripts for a radio show. In her spare time she began writing novels. Where Are The Children? became an international best seller and launched her career.
When asked if she might consider giving up writing for a life of leisure, Marv has replied, "Never. To be happy for a year, win the lottery. To be happy for life, do what you love."
©2002 Mary Higgins Clark (P)2002 Simon & Schuster, Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Ellie Cavanaugh was only seven years old when her 15-year-old sister, Andrea, was murdered near their home in a rural village in New York's Westchester County. There were three suspects: Rob Westerfield, 19-year-old scion of a wealthy, prominent family whom Andrea has been secretly dating; Paul Stroebel, a 16-year-old schoolmate, who had a crush on Andrea, and Will Nebels, a local handyman in his 40s.
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At the heart of Mary Higgins Clark's stunning new novel of suspense is a brutal murder: that of Gary Lasch, a respected and successful young Greenwich, Connecticut, doctor and hospital and HMO head. He was found dead at his desk at home, his skull crushed by a blow with a Remington bronze sculpture, a prized piece from his art collection. The news strikes Greenwich society like a thunderbolt - as does the news that Molly Carpenter Lasch, the doctor's young wife, has been arrested for her husband's murder.
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Lottery winner
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Nancy Harmon long ago fled the heartbreak of her first marriage, the macabre deaths of her two little children, and the shocking charges against her. She changed her name, dyed her hair, and left California for the windswept peace of Cape Cod. Now remarried, she has two more beloved children, and the terrible pain has begun to heal - until the morning when she looks in the backyard for her little boy and girl and finds only one red mitten. She knows that the nightmare is beginning again....
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Classic MHC
- By Empress Karen on 05-20-19
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Daddy's Gone A Hunting
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the family-owned furniture firm, including the mansion where priceless antiques are kept, explodes into flames in the middle of the night, Kate must escape to save her life. But the suspicious circumstances point to her involvement. Was the explosion set deliberately? Why was Kate, a gorgeous CPA for one of the biggest accounting firms in the country, on the premises at that hour? And why was Gus, a retired and trusted employee, with her?
-
-
Love the mystery but...
- By elena stockton on 11-23-17
-
Daddy's Little Girl
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- Narrated by: Jan Maxwell
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ellie Cavanaugh was only seven years old when her 15-year-old sister, Andrea, was murdered near their home in a rural village in New York's Westchester County. There were three suspects: Rob Westerfield, 19-year-old scion of a wealthy, prominent family whom Andrea has been secretly dating; Paul Stroebel, a 16-year-old schoolmate, who had a crush on Andrea, and Will Nebels, a local handyman in his 40s.
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Daddy's Little Girl
- By Sandra R. Cryer on 12-13-08
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We'll Meet Again
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- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the heart of Mary Higgins Clark's stunning new novel of suspense is a brutal murder: that of Gary Lasch, a respected and successful young Greenwich, Connecticut, doctor and hospital and HMO head. He was found dead at his desk at home, his skull crushed by a blow with a Remington bronze sculpture, a prized piece from his art collection. The news strikes Greenwich society like a thunderbolt - as does the news that Molly Carpenter Lasch, the doctor's young wife, has been arrested for her husband's murder.
-
-
The Perfect Mystery
- By Revel Marlow on 03-11-13
-
A Stranger Is Watching
- By: Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ronald Thompson knows he never killed Nina Peterson...yet in two days, the state of Connecticut will take his life, having found him guilty via due process of law. But Thompson's death will not stop the pain and anger of Nina's husband, Steve. Thompson's death will not still the fears of Nna's six-year-old son, Neil, witness to his mother's brutal slaying. Only time, perhaps, will heal their wounds. But in the shadows, a stranger waits, a cunning psychopath who has killed before, who has unfinished business at the Peterson home....
-
-
Worth revisiting - classic MHC with great narrator
- By Pam Cadd on 07-05-19
-
The Lottery Winner
- Alvirah and Willie Stories
- By: Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: Jean Stapleton
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Needing a break from the big city, Alvirah and WIlly escape to Cape Cod - only to meet a would-be heiress framed for murder in "Death on the Cape." When Alvirah and Willy seek the tranquillity of the Cypress Point Spa, it's the perfect getaway - until a jewel thief turns up in "The Lottery Winner." Back in Manhattan, the search for a neighbor's missing newborn makes for a suspense-filled Christmas in "Bye, Baby Bunting."
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Lottery winner
- By James on 04-04-09
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My Gal Sunday
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Moonlight Becomes You
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At a party in Manhattan, Maggie Holloway - one of the fashion world's most successful photographers - is thrilled to be reunited with her beloved stepmother. A widow now, Nuala Moore is equally delighted to see her long-lost stepdaughter and invites Maggie to spend a few weeks at her home in Newport, Rhode Island. But when Maggie arrives, she finds Nuala murdered, apparently by a burglar. Heartbroken, Maggie is stunned to learn she had inherited Nuala's stunning Victorian home...and horrified when she begins to suspect that Nuala's death was not random, but part of a diabolical plot conceived by a twisted mind.
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One of her best!
- By Amazon Customer on 12-04-18
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Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories
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Performance
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Story
A collection of short stories from the number-one New York Times best-selling "Queen of Suspense" Mary Higgins Clark, including the never-before-published novella Death Wears a Beauty Mask.
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Must have while driving on short or long trips.
- By rhonda on 08-02-15
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On The Street Where You Live
- By: Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: Jan Maxwell
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A young woman is haunted by two murders that are closely linked -- despite the 110 years that separate them.
Following the breakup of her marriage and her pursuit by an obsessed stalker, criminal defense attorney Emily Graham accepts an offer to work in a major Manhattan law firm. Feeling a need for roots, she buys her ancestral home in New Jersey, which her family sold in 1892, after the disappearance of young Madeline Shapley, one of Emily's forebears.
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awesome
- By Anonymous User on 11-19-18
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Santa Cruise
- A Holiday Mystery at Sea
- By: Carol Higgins Clark, Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: Carol Higgins Clark
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner turned amateur sleuth; recently "hitched" private detective Regan Reilly; and their husbands Willy and Jack, are guests on the Royal Mermaid's maiden voyage, the Santa Cruise. The cruise is Commodore Randolph Weed's gift to a select group of people who in the last year made the world a better place. What he doesn't know is that his ne'er-do-well nephew, Eric, has smuggled two escaping criminals on board.
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I love the holiday spirit, mystery and humor
- By Christiane on 07-01-17
By: Carol Higgins Clark, and others
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The Melody Lingers On
- By: Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: Jan Maxwell
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
As the sole assistant to a famous upscale interior designer, Lane Harmon, mother to five-year-old Katie, is accustomed to visiting opulent homes around the tristate area. A born optimist, Lane finds the glimpse into these gilded worlds fascinating and loves the reward of exceeding the expectations of their often-demanding owners. When she is called to assist in redecorating a modest townhouse in Bergen County, she knows the job is unusual.
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Enjoyable topical and great narration!
- By Renee on 06-23-15
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Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry
- By: Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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When talented journalist Penelope “Casey" Harrison starts to research a piece about the #MeToo movement that includes an incident in her own life that she has been trying to put out of her mind for years, she does not realize the young man who drugged and assaulted her at a fraternity house party in college is now a wealthy, powerful industrialist on the eve of a merger that will make him a billionaire - and who will do anything, even murder, to cover his tracks.
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Great listen!
- By Kim on 11-16-19
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Before I Say Good-Bye
- By: Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: Jan Maxwell
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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America's "Queen of Suspense" delves into the mystery of psychic powers in her gripping thriller, Before I Say Good-Bye.
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Clark Getting Stale?
- By Patricia B Tripoli on 11-21-03
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Terror Stalks the Class Reunion
- By: Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: Sally Kirkland
- Length: 1 hr and 55 mins
- Abridged
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Performance
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Lovely young Kay Crandall has come back for the reunion of a high school where she once taught. But Kay cannot guess that the happy occasion is about to turn into a nightmare - as she falls into the hands of a madman who wants to make her into his wife - and his victim. From The Anastasia Syndrome, Mary Higgins Clark's best-selling collection of short fiction, Terror Stalks the Class Reunion is a riveting, unabridged audio production.
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I've Got You Under My Skin
- By: Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: Jan Maxwell
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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In this suspenseful audiobook from the number-one New York Times best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark, a Manhattan ER doctor is brazenly murdered in front of his young son in a city playground. Five years later, his killer is still at large. Meanwhile his widow, Laurie Moran, is now an award-winning TV producer. Still haunted by her husband's murder, she has been raising their son alone. Laurie and her TV crew have just received the green light to produce a new cold-case series.
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Enjoyable to listen to
- By Cammy J on 02-04-15
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The Second Time Around
- By: Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: Jan Maxwell
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Nicholas Spencer, charismatic head of a company involved in the development of an anticancer vaccine, suddenly disappears. His private plane crashes en route to Puerto Rico, but his body is not found. Early results of the vaccine seemed highly promising. Yet, coinciding with Nicholas Spencer's disappearance comes news that the FDA is denying approval. Then follows the shocking revelation that Spencer had looted huge sums of money - including the lifetime savings of people who had risked everything.
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Another success
- By Cammy J on 07-18-16
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The Shadow of Your Smile
- By: Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: Jan Maxwell
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Shadow of Your Smile, worldwide best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark weaves a spellbinding thriller revolving around a long-held family secret that threatens to emerge and take the life of an unsuspecting heiress.
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Not her best
- By Brandon on 04-19-10
What listeners say about Kitchen Privileges
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- jeannelaurel
- 02-28-24
Love this her
I have been a huge fan of MHC’s stories for years. This autobiography gave great insight into trials and triumphs.
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Overall
- William R Kitchin II
- 10-09-21
A splendid biography.
A sure delight on a long drive to Michigan from GEORGIA. Sublimely read with sincere emohasis.
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- Julia M.
- 02-09-20
A great read
I’ve always been Hey Mary Higgins Clark fan and I have read all of her novels. I hadn’t read this one yet, and with her recent passing I decided to give it a try and I enjoyed it so much. Mary never disappoints!
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- Donna Rullo
- 09-25-20
A Heart Warming Memoir - Five Stars!
I enjoyed Mary’s memoir very much! Not only did she grab my heartstrings of the days gone by and of her life as a girl of the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and beyond; hearing her tell of those days in her own voice was an emotional experienced or me. Her tone and endearing NY accent is the voice of my own mother, now deceased. Her memoir was a treat to listen to as it gave me an earful of stories I no longer get to hear since my mother is gone.
Rest In Peace Mary! I’m sure you and my mother love the sweet “air” of heaven better than the air in the Bronx! Be blessed!
Donna Masotto
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- Dolores Hylkema
- 01-24-19
I’ve read and re-read your books
Mary my dear....thank you for using your God given talent to writing ....and you’ve kept your books clean and not gruesome. I truly have read and re-read them through many years. My next re-read for the third time is Mount Vernon Love Story. Blessings
Dolores
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