Even as a young girl, growing up in the Bronx, Mary Higgins Clark knew she wanted to be a writer. The gift of storytelling was a part of her Irish ancestry, so it followed that she would later use her sharp eye, keen intelligence, and inquisitive nature to create stories about the people and things she observed.

When Mary Higgins Clark's father died during the Depression, her mother opened their home to roomers, announced by a discreet sign that read

FURNISHED ROOMS.

KITCHEN PRIVILEGES.

Those who responded proved to be a colorful lot.

Studying these diverse people, then later observing passengers on the Pan Am flights on which she worked as a stewardess, Clark began to form ideas for short stories that later appeared in magazines.

When her husband died, leaving her a young widow with five children to support, she found work writing radio scripts and also decided to try her hand at writing novels, the second of which was "Where Are the Children?" That book launched her career and was the first of 27 (and still counting) bestselling novels of suspense.

As Mary Higgins Clark has said when asked if she might give up writing for a life of leisure, "Never! To be happy for a year, win the lottery. To be happy for life, love what you do."

In "Kitchen Privileges," she reflects on the joy that her life as a writer has brought her, and shares with readers the love that she has found.