Mary and Carol Higgins Clark on the family business

When Mary Higgins was 7, her mother asked her to stand on the landing of the family's brick-and-stucco home off Pelham Parkway in the Bronx and recite a new poem the little girl had written for gathered guests. Seventy-seven years and 44 books later, Mary Higgins Clark can still hear her mother's thunderous applause.

Clark's new suspense novel, "The Lost Years" (Simon & Schuster, $26.99), has just been published. And Clark's daughter Carol Higgins Clark, the only one of her five children to follow in her footsteps, has simultaneously published her 15th mystery, "Gypped" (Scribner, $25).

This dynamic duo, who also have written five mysteries together, will discuss and sign their novels at Book Revue in Huntington Wednesday night. We spoke to them both by phone.

Yes, I did, because two of my closest friends have Alzheimer's, and I've watched their personalities change. I thought that if it works within the framework of this book, I'd like to show both the sadness and the personality change that comes until there is quiet and stillness.

I think she's certainly the character that is closest to me. She has a good sense of humor. I'd actually been on a game show, "Super Password," when I was living in L.A. and pursuing acting.

Mary: We both want the same thing, and that's a good book. We're not in competition. It's always done in the spirit of cooperation.

Every word that I wrote -- and I've been writing since I could put two words together -- I was compelled to write. Can't sing, can't sew, can't dance -- but I can tell a story. And my mother thought everything I wrote was golden. With all the years of rejection slips, I always heard her voice saying, "Mary's a wonderful writer."

One reviewer said she goes for the jugular, and I go for the funny bone.