Killing Rachel by Anne Cassidy
Published by Bloomsbury, 2013

Killing Rachel is Book Two in Anne Cassidy’s Murder Notebooks series which is increasingly attracting young adult readers.

Rose and Joshua are bound together in their search for their dead parents, both convinced that the police’s explanation “killed in the line of duty” is not the truth and both hope their parents are still alive. Joshua is determined to get to the truth and must figure out the entries in the Murder Notebooks to do this.

They have both lived together under the same roof as step brother and sister because of their parents’ relationship but have been separated for the past five years, living with their respective families. Their mission to find out what really happened to their parents draws them closer together.

The plot takes a new twist when Rose is contacted by an old school friend Rachel, who after sending a series of desperate messages, takes her own life. Perhaps Rachel’s suicide is linked to the disappearance of Rose and Joshua’s parents and will provide one more missing piece to the puzzle.. Just as in the prequel Dead Time there is a police cover up and the reader’s desire to unravel the mystery is all the greater because of it, making it a compelling page turner for teenagers.