Book 605

Who Killed My Daughter?, by Lois Duncan, Delacorte Press, 1992.


Through Facebook, I knew Ms. Duncan in her final years.  I knew she broke her back around Thanksgiving of 2015, and had surgeries but was in unbearable pain -- always.  I knew that her daughter, who would have been my contemporary, was murdered at the age of 18 in 1989.  I knew that her daughter's unsolved murder weighed heavily on her. 

She knew about my young son through the stories I shared.  She even gave me writing advice on the book I was writing, and which I tabled after her death -- until now.  During the last few months of her life, she sent me a signed copy of this book.  I didn't read this book right away, and, after she died, I didn't feel like I could read this book at all -- until last week.

Even after all the conversations she and I had about writing, I didn't know how much ESP affected her.  I knew that the local police department botched the murder case, but I didn't know how badly.  I didn't know how much her youngest daughter's murder tore apart her family -- until I read the book.

When I first heard about Lois' death, I thought "At last she will know who killed her daughter".  As I read this book, that feeling became even stronger.  As much as I enjoy Lois' other books, I can't say I liked this book.  This book was not written to be 'liked'.  It was written to try to solve her daughter's murder case.  It was written to bring closure.  I didn't 'like' this book, but I do feel like I owe it Lois to go back to the book I was writing at the time of her death.  Lois, over the course of her life, inspired many fledgling writings.  Maybe her final advice to me was to see that through this book.