Loves Music, Loves to Dance

October 27, 2008
This suspense story of a murderer whose victims are found wearing one dancing shoe was a Literary Guild main selection and spent 22 weeks on PW 's hardcover bestseller list, achieving the

April 29, 1991
Darcy Scott, the plucky heroine of Clark's disappointing latest suspense novel, is a promising young decorator whose best friend, Erin Kelley, has disappeared. At Darcy's behest, Erin had agreed to participate in research for a mutual friend's documentary on personal ads. When her body is found on an abandoned Manhattan pier, she is wearing two different shoes--her own boot and a high-heeled dancing slipper. Once the investigation into her death begins, two facts stand out: first, that this is the work of a serial killer whose MO includes adorning the victim with a dancing shoe, and second, that Erin met her killer through the personals. Guilt-ridden, Darcy sets out to meet the men Erin dated, hoping to find the killer herself. A hazardous pursuit, to say the least, but one which might thrill Clark fans, so great is the potential for terror as unwitting heroine stalks madman. Unfortunately, too much is revealed too soon and the reader, generally one step ahead of Darcy, is more frustrated than frightened. A surfeit of insignificant minor characters and one too many red herrings make the novel's sleight-of-hand ending seem very forced indeed. Literary Guild selection.

September 1, 1991
YA- -Darcy Scott and Erin Kelley, best friends since college, decide to help Nona Roberts with her research for a television documentary dealing with the types of people who place and answer personal ads. It starts out as a lark, but it turns to tragedy as Erin is found murdered after one of her dates. When her body is discovered, there is a clue that connects her death to those of seven other women in the New York area. In an attempt to find her friend's murderer, Darcy sets out to date the men Erin met through the personals. One of them could be the killer-but which one? Clark weaves a terrifying tale of life in the '90s that is sure to draw YAs into its web of suspense. Engrossing, even for reluctant readers. -Roberta Lisker, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA