[Below, Simson reviews Who Killed My Daughter?]

"Don't Look Behind You (1989) was a book about a teenage girl who was chased by a hitman in a Camarro," says Lois Duncan of her 1989 YA novel. "Later that year, my eldest daughter, who was the model for the girl, was chased by a hitman driving a Camarro." The difference is that in real life, 18-year-old Kaitlyn Arquette was shot and killed. Since then, Duncan, who has 39 novels to her credit, has written only one book—Who Killed My Daughter?: The True Story of a Mother's Search for Her Daughter's Murderer, due from Delacorte in June.

Had Kaitlyn's death been the random killing that the police labeled it, there would have been no need for a search. But while settling her daughter's affairs, Duncan discovered from a telephone bill that calls had been made from Kaitlyn's apartment to an unlisted California number minutes after her death. Other discrepancies, too, led Duncan to suspect that her daughter's death was no accident.

"Soon after the murder I began having memory blackouts," says Duncan. "As I didn't want to misremember anything, I began taking daily notes"—notes that quickly began developing into a book. "It helped keep me sane. I would sit down and write a chapter in real time, but I never knew what was going to happen next."

Duncan, who used to teach journalism at the University of New Mexico, spent the next two years following up leads. When these cooled, she turned, with some skepticism, to psychic investigators who helped her pick up the trail. But these leads, too, petered out. Duncan decided that "the only way to find out the missing information was to make the story public."

This January, on what would have been Kaitlyn's 21st birthday, she mailed the manuscript to her agent, Claire Smith, who in turn sent it on to both Dell/Delacorte publisher Carole Baron and Books for Young Readers division publisher George Nicholson. "We had done a lot of business with Lois through the Books for Young Readers department, so it was natural we would see it," says Baron. Even though she did not know Duncan personally, she was well aware of her daughter's death, having been in Albuquerque at the time of the killing.

Baron hopes that the book will travel beyond the normal true-crime audience to interest any parent who is concerned about the increasing violence against children: "It doesn't matter who you are—all kids can get hurt," she says. According to associate publicity director Judy Westerman, the mainstream media, including major talk shows, have already expressed considerable interest in the book, which will no doubt bolster Duncan on her first-ever author tour.

But Delacorte sees yet another audience as well, among Duncan's original readers—young adults. "Booksellers who know her from her novels are very interested in this project, and our sales force is tapping into that," says Baron. "Young adults will have no difficulty reading the book." Everyone connected with the book remarks upon its similarities to Duncan's YA stories of murder and mystery. And when Duncan visits the ALA and the Canadian Library Association this year, she will be participating both as an adult author and as a YA author.

There is, however, one other audience and that is the one Duncan is most desperate to reach. "We've found out so much [about Kaitlyn's death] but there are still holes. We're hoping that someone out there will be able to help fill a few of those holes." With that in mind, Who Killed My Daughter? opens with a list of possible scenarios and unanswered questions, along with addresses for Duncan and for the New Mexico attorney general, in the hope that some reader will come forward with information that answers the question in Duncan's title.