KEY News Books In Order

Publication Order of KEY News Books

Key News thriller is a twelve-volume mystery series by Mary Jane Clark. All the book in the series spin around murder mysteries, investigated and solved by central characters working at Key News–a fictional news television she created.

These kind of stories work perfect for Clark considering she has a background in TV network news. She captures all the media details, drawing her readers to the exact picture of what happens in news media houses. She’s definitely the author to go for if your interest lies in that line of work.

The debut book in the series, Do you want to Know a Secret, talks about a likeable heroine struggling to create a life for both her and her beloved daughter. Her past has been nothing but tragic. But being the fighter she is, she’s willing to go to whatever length, pulling all stops to make her life count.

What’s even more striking about the book is that it features a number of central characters, each with a unique story to tell. The stories then connect as one nears the end, making the book less predictable and more engrossing.

And yes, the book has a happy ending. Each character is brought to justice and the evil ones punished for their sins. Then there’s some loose ends for the leading characters, and of course, a cliff hanger that makes every subsequent book a must-read.

Do You Want to Know a Secret?

“Do you want to know a secret?” tells the story of Eliza Blake and many other leading characters in the book. Blake is a well-known news anchor on the rise. She’s managed to create a name for herself and all her colleagues love.

Her life seems rosy on the outside. She has a good job. A lovely daughter. And everything seems to be working great for her.

Blake must be one of the most empowering characters put on paper. Not only is she intelligent and stunning, she’s also charming and delightful. She’s exactly the kind of woman every girl aspires to be when they grow up.

Her public image is flawless. She’s never done anything off camera to make anyone question her character. Her fans love her. Many believe she’s a kindred spirit. And her story evokes strong emotions.

Blake is likeable in every aspect. She’s one of the character you feel connected to while reading the book. You can feel her anger. See her frustration. And understand almost every move she makes.

Her life is all that, but on the inside, she’s still grieving the death of her husband and has to deal with depression from time to time. She’s beginning to come to terms with everything, accept her tragic past and fall in love again when she’s hit by the tragic news about the death of a senior anchor-man, Bill Kendall.

Bill’s death was totally unexpected. Blake has to get to the bottom of it and bring out the truth for the world to see. She’s the only trusted candidate to handle the task. This thrusts her into the limelight—a perfect opportunity for her to make her name even bigger.

Do You Promise NOT to Tell?

This is the second book in the series. Again, the story is concentrated around a media house.

The only difference is that Clark this time tells the story of Farrell Slater, a 38 years old producer for a New York-based TV show, Key Evening Headlines. She’s in a slump and has been given the ultimatum of coming up with a breaking story, or she’ll be out of job immediately her contract ends.

Her final assignment is to cover the story of a renowned Faberg Moon Egg, which has been lost for over a decade after the Russian Revolution only to reappear out of the blues several years later.

Next we have the Romanov treasure being sold for $6 million and Farrell being tipped by an anonymous source that the eggs sold was actually an imitation and that the imperial bauble is still out there.

In the meantime, the body of a well-known artisan is found in his Little Odessa workshop. Turns out he was brutally murdered and as the quest to find the lost egg continue to heat up, more deaths follow in succession.

Farrell, with a camera-man and a good-looking FBI agent in tow, dog high-end auction houses in an effort to trace the egg.

There’s suspense galore throughout the story. The killer’s identity is NEVER revealed. Everything that threatens to expose the truth is kept under wraps until the end.

If there’s one thing Clark has perfected in story telling is the way she develops her characters. She rarely makes anything predictable. All dialogues are regrettably stiff. Then there’s the world of backbiters that somehow gives you a taste of what’s about to happen. But before you get to a point where you can connect the dots and make a prediction, she takes a detour that further draws you into the world of suspense.

Let Me Whisper in Your Ear

In the third book of the series, we are introduced to Laura Walsh, a fast-rising star in the fictional media landscape.

With the support she’s receiving from her powerful mentor, she’s very close to getting her dream job, as a top producer for a key television network and as a break from his current obituary job.

Things take an unexpected turn when her supporter and mentor suffers a messy, untimely death. Laura can’t let the murderers go scot-free. She has to find them and bring them to justice. In the process she ends up with an even bigger story than she had hoped for.

At some point she even comes out as the murderer’s prime target and has to find a way to keep herself alive.

Meanwhile, two boys sneak into Palisades Park in the dark to ride their roller coaster on the cyclone. But when the roller coaster returns, only one boy shows up. Where’s the other?

No one knows, including the one who just showed up. What really happened will remain a mystery until three decades later when the truth starts trickling in.

If you’ve ever read Clark’s novels before, then you must be familiar with the way she plays around with dark realism, creating a multi-dimensional world that appears so real. That, coupled with a knack she has with detailing things, draws the reader into the scene to a point that you’ll start feeling like you’re part of the story.

She laments about Palisade Park and Manhattan the same way you’d have done had you been a witness of the same thing happening in real life. She lets all the character take the wheels and direct their life the way they want it to go. The tension may NOT build up that much, but the plausibility of the story compensates for everything.