It was not your ordinary afternoon of shopping for local residents at Costco in Westbury last Friday, Dec. 15, as the superstore played host to a book-signing by the bestselling mother-daughter writing duo, Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark.

The celebrity authors signed hundreds of copies of their joint effort, Deck the Halls, a holiday-themed novel published in October by Simon & Schuster/Scribner. This is the first time that Mary, widely regarded as the Queen of Suspense among American novelists, and her daughter, bestselling author Carol have joined literary forces.

During the booksigning, Mary and Carol chatted with fans, sharing with those in attendance the unique experience of writing the novel together. "We had a lot of fun. We hope that other people find it as funny as we did," said Mary, noting that she and her daughter laughed often while writing the piece, which combines the elements of suspense, humor and poignancy. "We really had a lot of fun doing it, and we laughed a lot," said Carol. "We had fun with our characters."

The result of their teamwork was a highly successful product. The holiday novel is currently ranked number three on the New York Times Bestseller List. Mary Higgins Clark delightedly noted that she and her daughter have been on the bestseller list at the same time before, but that this is the first time it is for the same book.

During two months of intense work, which often included late nights and sharing take-out food to keep them going, the prolific pair crafted a story that included characters taken from each author's previous novels. Deck the Halls is the tale of young woman on a high-stakes mission to rescue her father and his driver from kidnappers. The young woman is Regan Reilly, the private detective and daughter of a famous mystery writer who is featured in the novels of Carol Higgins Clark. Regan is aided in her endeavor by Alvirah Meehan, the famous lottery winner and amateur detective who has appeared in several previous books by Mary Higgins Clark. The story is played out against a holiday setting, as the kidnapping takes place just three days before Christmas in New York and New Jersey.

Just 10 days before Christmas on Long Island, the general manager of Costco, Paul Pulver, was thrilled to host the creators of the holiday story at the highly-trafficked Westbury store, a major distributor of Higgins Clark books. "It's great to host an event like this," he said. "You never know what you're going to find at Costco. One day you're in here shopping for groceries. The next day you're here for a book signing." He added that events such as these "continue to make Costco a destination."

Westbury was the last stop on a promotional book tour by the Higgins Clark duo that included signings in Danbury, CT; Manhattan, NY; Ridgewood, NJ; Wycoff, NY and Washington, DC.

Those who waited on line at Costco to get copies of Deck the Halls signed included residents shopping for holiday gifts, as well as fiction-lovers, such as Jean Scharf, one of Mary Higgins Clark's many adoring fans. Describing her reaction to Mary's appearance at Costco, Scharf expressed a sense of surprise and excitement shared by many present that afternoon: "It's something that I didn't expect, and it's a big thrill, because she's my favorite author."