All By Myself, Alone by Mary Higgins Clark is a 2017 Simon & Schuster publication.

It seems it has been a while since I touched base with Alvirah and Willy, so it felt good to hear from them again.

In this eleventh installment in the series, Alvirah and Willy are celebrating their forty-fifth wedding anniversary by taking a cruise aboard a new luxury cruise liner, so opulent it could rival the Titanic.

Also on board is: Celia, who is there to give a series of lectures, but who is also trying to forget her ex-fiance, a con man who stole money from her friends, and has now implicated her in his plot- and ‘Lady Em’, an elderly woman carrying a priceless emerald she plans to donate to the Smithsonian.

But, once they are out to sea, Lady Em is found dead and the emerald is missingÂ…


I enjoyed this one, which was little change of pace for our favorite lottery winners, because it was set aboard a cruise ship, which created the opportunity to introduce a variety of different characters, and of course the murderer has to be on board!!

There is no shortage of suspects or surprise developments along the way. I canÂ’t say Alvirah and Willy were as hands on in the investigation as they sometimes are, and I felt CeliaÂ’s story was the more prominent one, but they make their fair share of contributions to the story.

For those unfamiliar with the Alivrah and Willy mysteries, they are always fun, very light, whodunits. With the exceptions of some mild language and adult themes, these stories are clean, and go very easy on the violence, making them a great choice for mystery fans of all ages and tastes. In fact, they could easily be categorized as ‘cozy mysteries’.

If you are familiar with the series, you know what to expect and will find this one on par with the previous installments.

Others, who may be expecting a novel along the lines of ClarkÂ’s stand -alone books or similar to her collaboration with Alafair Burke, may feel a little confused by its much lighter tones. So, I feel I should stress that these are very easy to read, are not terribly deep, and perhaps they should simply be enjoyed, taken at face value, and not over- analyzed.

Overall, I found this installment to be one of the better ones in the series and think fans of the author or of Alvirah and Willy, or cozy style mysteries, will want to check this one out.
3.5 stars
2017 crime e-book ...more122 s Sara the Librarian801 591

Okay enough is enough. I want Mary Higgins Clark to go on record and admit that one of the grade school aged grandchildren she's always thanking in her acknowledgements is now writing her books because if a third grader did not write this book I will eat my socks!

Beautiful Celia Kilbride was not always by herself, alone. She was once with someone, together.

Unfortunately that someone turned out to be a Bernie Madoff knockoff who swindled her and a lot of her friends out of money and in an effort to avoid her problems she has decided to give lectures on a luxurious cruise ship on the history of gems that are about as insightful as the book jacket summary for this yawn a minute "mystery." But wackiness ensues when she becomes embroiled in an international jewel thief's efforts to steal a magical necklace once worn by Cleopatra from my grandmother when she was getting on in years and kept making cracks about minorities in a weird faux British accent and waxing poetic about the "good old days" when people knew their place in the world and she had lots of money.

Fortunately there are lots of other subplots to bore you to tears including but not limited to; my grandmothers assistant (is she trying to put one over on my grandmother!?!?!?!), a creepy butler (ohhhh he's creepy!), a guy who wants my grandmother to give her necklace back to Egypt because tomb robbing is bad (he's handsome and good!), a couple who HATE each other (married people are supposed to be happy! They must be bad guys!) and some other stuff I cannot remember.

This book is awful. Everything about it is just awful. Please don't read it.

I'm begging you.mystery phoning-it-in99 s Monnie1,484 779

Well-developed, intriguing characters. Interesting plot, albeit with no mind-bending surprises. What's not to ?

Not much, from my point of view. No, it won't jack up your blood pressure nor keep you anywhere from the edge of your seat. In fact, it's about as close to a "cozy" mystery as you can get without actually crossing that line (although some readers might argue that it does). In short, it's a perfect summer read - on the beach or, in my case, while enjoying spring weather on our back deck as it comes (finally) to our little corner of the world in northeast Ohio.

Admittedly, it got a bit repetitive in spots, and there were a couple of incidents that challenged credibility. As the story progressed, the more it brought to mind the old game of Clue: Colonel Mustard did it with a knife in the library. Or was it Professor Plum with candlestick in the kitchen? Still, overall it was a fun read - just don't expect a complex psychological mystery that will keep you awake nights.

The Queen Charlotte, a new, uber-luxurious ocean liner, had just set off on its maiden voyage from the Hudson River to Southhampton, England. With a capacity of 100 passengers and a crew of 85, it is the newest ship in the fleet owned by wealthy Gregory Morrison and designed to be an upgrade on the ill-fated Titanic. On board are hoity-toity, wealthy passengers 86-year-old Lady Emily Haywood, nouveau riche William Meehan and his amateur-sleuth wife, Alvirah, guest lecturers Celia Kilbride, a noted gems and jewelry expert and an international thief known as The Man with One Thousand Faces.

Most of the chapters focus on details of specific passengers; Ted Cavanaugh, for instance, wants to convince the elderly Lady Em to return her famous Cleopatra emerald necklace to Egypt instead of the Smithsonian, as she plans. The necklace, he argues, was stolen from the country by her ancestors and should be returned to its rightful owner.

But not long after departure, one passenger goes overboard. Then three days out, Lady Em is found dead - murdered in her stateroom - and the storied emerald necklace is missing. Are all these events related? Is the international thief really on board and if yes, who is he? Who's got the necklace? Are Roger Pearson, accountant to Lady Em, and Brenda Martin, her long-time personal assistant, really the loyal employees they appear to be? Just about everyone on board, it seems, is hiding some kind of secret; little by little, chapter by chapter, those secrets are revealed and lead up to the conclusion.33 s Mo1,702 170

2 1/2 stars rounded down

So, this simplistic claptrap is what passes as a best seller these days? Very sad.

Can you imagine, there were 97 chapters in a book with fewer than 300 pages! 97! Flit, flit, flit. UGH! God forbid there be any depth to this story.

The entire time I was reading this I was wondering where the title for the book was coming from. And I discovered the answer on the very last page. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!! THIS was it? This was the crux of the entire story? A romance that was no romance and appeared out of absolutely NOWHERE 90% of the way through the book? REALLY? 0-dl 2017 best-sellers ...more23 s CD {Boulder Blvd}963 92

2.5 Stars rounded up - but yeah, I was very tempted to round down...

This was a fast read and was in typical MHC style. The chapters tend to be short - sometimes very short. There are quite a lot of characters who are painted well but includes their daily minutia that sometimes can come off as trivial and not interesting.

There is a main plot of the murder of Lady Em who is a grand dame type of person and her "cursed" emerald necklace that goes missing. The "man of a thousand faces" is supposedly aboard the ship and plans to steal the necklace. Although the plot is decent, it's quite easy to forecast what is to come and who "the man of a thousand faces" is.

There are numerous subplots, our heroine's ex-fiance is embroiled is a ponzi scheme which she is pulled into as a person of interest and which is tarnishing her reputation. There is a man in a bad marriage who goes overboard. There is Lady Em's assistant who has been replacing her jewelry with cheaper fakes and pocketing the difference. There is a potential love interest. However all the little subplots are the main plot, there is enough foreshadowing that you know exactly how everything is going to end.

So it was a fast and OK read, but I have to wonder if this book wasn't penned by a well known author, would it have been picked up for publication? Although I borrowed this book from the library, I have to make a comment about the price. This is pretty expensive price tag for an OK book that is also fairly short.romantic-suspense s-bv-library23 s Karen165 7

This book is terrible.

Mary Higgins Clark was my favorite mystery writer in middle school and high school and it may be time to break up with her. First, the murder doesn't even happen until 150 pages into the book. This book takes place on a cruise ship and we have to be introduced to every single passenger on this ship. Second, I do not Alvirah and Willy. I find them to be annoying busy bodies always butting in where they don't belong.

The main mystery is just dumb. Basically a rich old lady has an emerald necklace that once belonged to Cleopatra. Her personal assistant and finance guy have of course been stealing from her because everyone needs to look guilty. Also on the cruise is an expert on gems. She is giving lectures on gemology (side note, this is supposed to be the most luxurious cruise ship ever but it also sounds a giant bore. Activities consist of going to Shakespeare lectures and lectures about gems).

I read a physical copy of the book and what annoyed me most were all the blank pages at the end of chapters. Way to make your book seem 50 pages longer then it is Mary.19 s astarion's darling (wingspan matters)855 3,821

If Jessica Fletcher from Murder, She Wrote and Scooby Doo dated for quite some time because they're both the old fashioned kind and had a baby, it would be this book.
I d the writing (very Agatha Christie, but with a spicy note all of its own) and the page-turning short chapters that made it easy for me to read for hours straight without even notice time pass.
I also probably am in the right mood to enjoy the whole bad guys have what they deserve kind of vibe you breath through the pages. Not entirely realistic, a bit exaggerated, but still very optimistic.

Sure, it wasn't the most original of plotlines, but damn was it intriguing.
horror-gore-spooky mystery-thriller-crime-podcast18 s Adrienne518 124

Well it's been decades since I read a Mary Higgins Clark suspence thriller. A delightful easy thriller set on a cruise ship. Clearly written pre-covid.
Unputdownable.thriller16 s Melissa A.S.142

Mary, where are thou?

I picked up this book at the library yesterday, where any newly-released Mary Higgins Clarks’ novels always consists of a long wait time before I can get my hands on them. I was lucky one might say, or maybe vigilant but I managed to snatch “All By Myself, Alone” right after it became available.

ItÂ’s hard to dismiss the sense of familiarity I often get when I read MHCÂ’s books, maybe because the characters almost always come from similar background; thereÂ’s the wealthy, well-bred, highly-educated (preferably Ivy League) man, the heroine who has suffered or is currently suffering a tragedy or has gone through or is going through a scandal and will date the moneyed gentleman described above (or one of them if thereÂ’s a few), the older character equally as affluent and highly-educated who will die at some point, then the personnel who is either fiercely loyal or fermented crooks. The crimes may be different, the motives may change, but itÂ’s a recycle of characters and backgrounds, and thatÂ’s why once I read five MHC novels, I have felt I have read them all.

There is not much to say about this book, except that it takes place on a cruise ship instead of the usual boroughs of New York and who wouldnÂ’t want such a perfect clairvoyance AlvirahÂ’s? The disclosure of the killerÂ’s identity was childÂ’s play, any amateur can do better.

Any silver lining? You bet. The chapters are short and easy to digest making it a pleasant, quick read.14 s Kirsten 1,649 281

This is my first book by prolific suspense author Mary Higgins Clark -- and it was very fun.

It includes the new (but more and more used) trope of the woman whose husband has been arrested for running a pyramid scheme. Ah, progress.

I really enjoyed this book. It follows a fairly predictable - but enjoyable - outline. Instead of an English country manor, we have all of our people isolated on a cruise ship. Instead of norovirus, they have a jewel thief and murderer.

I will definitely read another book by Mary Higgins Clark.14 s Erin3,216 478

If someone had told me that one day I would give Mary Higgins Clark a 2 star rating, I would never have believed it. A fan since age 13, the grandmotherly American Queen of Suspense has generally been a surefire winner. But this book was definitely not a crowning achievement for the author. In fact, it was probably a pale version of Clark's Weep No More, My Lady. Ironically, the first book to introduce us to the Alvirah Meehan(aka the Jessica Fletcher of Clark's world). It was pretty easy from the get go to figure out the murderer. Overall, I am just left feeling fairly guilty about being mean to my literary grandma!library-borrowed series11 s Angie1,148 87

3.5 stars

A nice little 'on-board' mystery from MHC. I didn't think it was quite as good as some of her other recent novels, but made for an enjoyable audiobook. It features the MHC standby characters of Alvirah & Willy, who were first introduced years back when they won the lottery. I would recommend to her die-hard fans, and those who enjoy well told, but not necessarily exciting, mysteries.audiobooks mystery14 s Donna2,011

The maiden voyage of the luxury cruise ship The Queen Charlotte commands a list of wealthy passengers including Lady Em who intends to wear her priceless emerald necklace. Lady Em is surrounded by her companion, her financial advisor and his wife, lawyers, and an Interpol agent determined to stop a thief from stealing the infamous necklace. Lottery winners Alvirah and Willy are on board as well as guest lecturers on gemology and Shakespeare.

This ship is luxurious but obviously quite different from a Disney cruise. Mary Higgins Clark gives us the motivations of numerous people who had reasons to kill. Many of the chapters are very short, even less than one page as they are narrated from different points of view by the passengers and crew. This allowed me to read the book in what seemed to be record time. I didn't get a sense of suspense but I found the book entertaining.10 s Terri Lynn997

I started reading Mary Higgins Clark's books right from the first one in the 1970's when I was a teenager. Her books were exciting to read for a very long time but they have grown more boring to me over the years as she wrote more and more about rich people and had less true mystery, suspense and thrills. They used to be page-turners. Now it takes me days to drag myself through this dry, dull stuff. This book was predictable and I couldn't whip up enough emotion to ,love, or even hate any of the characters. Also, it was about Willy and Alvirah and I hate them. Sorry, I can't recommend this at all.fiction mystery-suspense-thrillers10 s Tamara986 244

First and foremost you should know that I'm not a fan of Willy and Alvirah. I find them to be annoying when they are the main focus of the book as they have been the past couple of MHC's.

I W & A in small doses, but having to continuously hear about them winning the lottery and Alvirah being so tight with money (Go ahead, A, splurge every once in awhile for a first class plane ticket- you can't take the money with you when you pass away!)

So, I almost didn't purchase this book when I saw they were in it. In this book, they have a pretty big role, but not as big as the previous book or so- so I just tried to deal.

Overall, I d the mystery. It was entertaining. I also d some of the characters, though, I was wishing an extra character or 2 would be visited by The Man With The Thousand Faces. ;)

It's easy reading. Short chapters. Enjoyable, but it won't be a book I think about over and over again. books-i-own books-i-read-in-2017 kindle-books9 s Tiffany501 11

Another great Mary Higgins Clark novel. :) 9 s Kylie1,430 9

I am a massive Agatha Christie fan, who has read and reread pretty much everything she wrote, including the pseudonym romance novels. So it is probably a bit of a surprise that this is my first book by this author.

I was so unimpressed. The writing was pretty dire. A case in point:
He is such a liar, she thought. He was born lying. Everything he told me was a lie
So, I guess he is a liar? Lots and lots of telling instead of showing, and lots of this sort of repetition.

The characters fare as well as might be expected with this sort of writing. Badly, they fared poorly, the way they fared was not good...

The main character, Celia Kilbride is just not that interesting. She should be - after all she is a beautiful woman, whose ex-fiance pulled her friends into a ponzi scheme, before being caught by the FBI. But phew, she can take care of herself, because she is a highly regarded gemologist, who just happens to be an invited seminar giver on this super luxury cruise with 100 passengers on board.

Also along for the trip is a very wealthy, elderly woman, who is going to wear cursed jewels. There is a famous jewel thief thought to be on board, so there is also an undercover jewel thief catcher of course. Then there is the old lady's not-so-loyal assistant, her about to be audited accountant and his horrible wife, some guy obsessed with Shakespeare, a dodgy butler, a desperate man chasing older woman, the awful owner of the cruise ship, a few other characters including a mention of a famous rapper, and of course the couple who help solve everything, Willy and Alvirah Meehan.

You just don't really care about what is going to happen when the writing is this bad, even though there are no surprises at all. Most will have guessed pretty much everything in advance. It also isn't helped by feeling it should have been set in the 30s, from the names to the general feeling, but it was actually set in present times. Now I am yet to go on a cruise, but really, one as exclusive as this and the entertainment highlights for the rich A lister celeb types that could afford this, are a gemologist and a dull Shakespeare expert? Yeah, I wouldn't be sad that I couldn't afford that ticket.

8 s Katie (hiding in the pages)3,126 269

(9/21) I just listened to this for my upcoming book club. This author has such a great formula to her mysteries. There are several shady characters, or people with motives, and I'm always left guessing.

***

(8/17) Mary Higgins Clark always writes a mystery that leaves me guessing and changing my mind about who did it throughout the book. In fact, her books make me realize that I wouldn't be a good detective at all! This story is a little different in that it takes place on a cruise ship and with jewel thieves, murderers, and more mayhem about, the passengers are in for the trip of a lifetime...if they can survive.

There are a lot of shady characters roaming this ship and I honestly didn't trust any of them, excepting Alvirah and Willy Meehan because they've made numerous appearances before. I love it when I can try and figure things out, even when I'm proven wrong, right along with the characters.

This story is typical for the author--fun, entertaining, and mysterious, but nothing that completely wowed me.

Content: mild violence (murders, attacks, etc, nothing graphic); very mild romance (implied affairs)audiobook book-club cruise ...more8 s Heather GilbertAuthor 36 books794

This was a good read, and it snapped me out of a recent reading funk I've been in. I've seen some people complaining about the shorter chapter length, but honestly that's what made the book move along quickly for me. I enjoyed it.2018-reads 2024-reads8 s Mireli ?141 14

Edit:Creo que mejor le doy 2
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