Rachel Rear

Thank you, 585 magazine, for including CATCH THE SPARROW in your holiday book guide! I do feel such a connection to the Rochester area, so this means a lot.

The gift of reading - (585) magazine Celebrate the holidays with gifts for your mind—books! Whether shopping for yourself or others, you’ll find a selection of locally powered titles here. Bonus: all of these are available free in the Monroe County Library System. Don’t have a library card? Get yourself that greatest gift today. ...

My friend and new County Administrator for Benton County, Oregon Rachel McEneny with at Powell's Books - what a beautiful combo! 💕

From my Rutgers poetry teacher Elaine Equi: “At a time of toxic nationalism, it’s refreshing that in the world of poetry the tradition of cosmopolitanism remains strong. Lest we forget, the United States is historically a place where people from all over the world could not only find a home but enrich American culture by contributing their creativity. Poetry reminds us of the value and excitement of such cross-cultural collaboration. Like scientists who share ideas through the language of mathematics, poets are relentless in their own willingness to join forces in the pursuit of their art.”

Elaine Equi on Poetry as a Spiritual Practice and a Universal Language Poetry, for me, is a spiritual practice. Reading and writing it puts me in touch with something much bigger than myself, something intangible yet quite real. Because poems can be read in the contex…

Happy Grand Opening to Lofty Pigeon Books in Kensington, Brooklyn. Thank you for including on your Local Authors shelf!

At a time when teaching has become so arduous for so many teachers, and I feel my autonomy and agency challenged, it’s so very heartening that Voices from the Middle found my work and pedagogy engaging, intelligent, and important enough to publish.

This was my sabbatical research project last year, coinciding with the publication of Catch the Sparrow. I wanted to know if true crime written for a YA audience has value. My hypothesis that it does proved correct thanks to some great kiddos (quoted herein!)

Demystifying True Crime: A Vehicle for Building Criticality | ncte.org Welcome to the new NCTE Publications site, your gateway to NCTE journals, ebooks, and the Council Chronicle.

This awesome new little indie bookstore is opening soon in my Brooklyn neighborhood!! And they’re including a signed copy of my book in their rewards!!

Please do donate if you can!

Bring Lofty Pigeon Books to Life An independent neighborhood bookstore is landing on Church Avenue in Brooklyn this fall.

I am really excited and honored to be a part of Kensington's new bookstore Lofty Pigeon Books' Kickstarter campaign! I love local indie bookstores!!

For me it’s In Cold Blood - the original true crime. What about you?

6 of the Most Disturbing Books You HAVE to Read | Book Riot These disturbing books are well-written, engaging, and unforgettable in some kind of way. Prepare to be haunted, and don't say we didn't warn you!

So grateful to have the chance to speak about Stephanie and on 48 Hours - and to share what information I knew about the man who confessed to killing Cathy Krauseneck.

This episode takes a deep look at Cathy's tragic killing in 1982 - a single ax blow to her head while she slept.

(I appear at about minute 20 of the episode, for those asking - but there are brilliant appearances by Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley and Gary Craig, too, so I recommend watching the whole story.)

The episode is here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brighton-ax-murder-timeline-cathy-krauseneck-jim-krauseneck/?fbclid=IwAR3LK9R-MPFZ2LzRXUkWRfpw5gyo0XV_DeJcL8VXiIOlfyDWgYpEruCJA3g

Rachel Rear Author of CATCH THE SPARROW: A SEARCH FOR A SISTER AND THE TRUTH OF HER MURDER

So grateful to have the chance to speak about Stephanie on 48 Hours - and to share what information I knew about the man who confessed to killing Cathy Krauseneck.

This episode takes a deep look at Cathy's tragic killing in 1982 - a single ax blow to her head while she slept.

(I appear at about minute 20 of the episode, for those asking - but there are brilliant appearances by Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley and Gary Craig, too, so I recommend watching the whole story.)

The Brighton ax murder: A timeline of the 40-year-old cold case In the winter of 1982 in Rochester, New York, Jim Krauseneck says he came home from work to find his wife, Cathy Krauseneck, lying in bed, dead with an ax lodged in her head.

I will be appearing on this Saturday’s episode of 48 Hours, discussing the tragic 1982 ax murder of Cathy Krauseneck and how her story intertwines with the story of the murder of my stepsister Stephanie, told in my book Catch the Sparrow.

Sneak peek: The Brighton Ax Murder A young mother is killed in her bed, her toddler unharmed. Unsolved for 40 years, how the unusual crime scene helped close the case. "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports Saturday, Feb. 25 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Thank you to all who watched Dateline tonight (or will catch up in the coming days.) Cathy Krauseneck deserves to have her story told, as tragic and serpentine as it is. I’m grateful to Dateline NBC for offering me the chance to speak about Stephanie, as well.

Here’s a stand-alone feature NBC posted online just about Stephanie and about Catch the Sparrow. Steph’s energy shines on. 💜

The Disappearance of Stephanie Kupchynsky Rachel Rear shares more about her stepsister Stephanie Kupchynsky’s 1991 disappearance.

Hello friends! Big news! I’ll be appearing on this episode of Dateline NBC TOMORROW NIGHT at 9 pm to speak about the eerie connection between the 1982 ax murder of Cathy Krauseneck and the 1991 murder of my stepsister Stephanie. Please tune in and tell your friends who are interested in true crime!

DATELINE FRIDAY SNEAK PEEK: The Bad Man Nearly 40 years after a young wife and mother is found murdered in her upstate New York home, a new team of investigators joins the cold case to uncover the killer. Andrea Canning reports Friday, January 20 at 9/8c on NBC.

SO honored to have Catch the Sparrow on CrimeReads’ list of the best true crime of 2022!!

The Best True Crime Books of the Year The CrimeReads editors make their selections for the year’s best true crime books. (For more nonfiction, check out our list of the year’s best in criticism/biography.) Rachel Rear, Ca…

Looking for a last minute holiday gift for your true crime aficionado friends?

Alison Gaylin called Catch the Sparrow "heartbreakingly real," and I hope the readers in your life will agree!

Catch the Sparrow: A Search for a Sister and the Truth of Her Murder Catch the Sparrow: A Search for a Sister and the Truth of Her Murder

Baby’s first book blurb!

Big congrats to Edward Humes, on the publication of The Forever Witness!!

Genetic genealogy aficionados, this one’s for you!!

front and center at The Toadstool Bookshop, Keene NH in Keene, New Hampshire! I wrote a big chunk of this book just miles away near Brattleboro!

in good company on the true crime shelf at Barnes & Noble

Pretty cool to be featured on the “New Books” shelf at the Brooklyn Heights Library branch of the Brooklyn Public Library!

Thank you SO MUCH to Gary Craig at the Democrat and Chronicle for this review/article. The trial has begun in the case of the murder of Cathy Krauseneck, and it brings strange focus back to my stepsister Stephanie's case. Here, Gary explores these connections and discusses in depth.....

DEFINITELY CONTAINS "SPOILERS" - I don't like that word in this context but... if you haven't read the book yet, there's info here that's not revealed until later in the book.

Also - it's behind a paywall, but I did attach a pdf version on my website: www.rachelrear.com

Stepsister reclaims life of slain Greece music teacher Stephanie Kupchynsky from pages of her case file

Thanks for this great review, .andthebooks! It’s so gratifying when resonates with a reader!

I added CATCH THE SPARROW to my TBR after seeing Rachel Rear at the Tucson Festival of Books in March, and I read it last month. In 1991, the daughter of her music teacher went missing. Years later, her mother married said band teacher and the missing girl, Stephanie Kupchynsky, became her step-sister, igniting further curiosity into her life history and the circumstances leading to her disappearance. CATCH THE SPARROW is Rachel’s investigative journalism into those who were touched by Stephanie and the case, both personally and professionally, and Rachel’s own personalization as she identified kindred elements in Stephanie’s life. The construction of the true crime narrative is about more than just the crime itself as Rachel draws conclusions about the corruption of the Rochester police department and a flawed justice system that contributed to the messy circumstances of the crime. She shows how culpability lies in the carelessness of the community, ranging from unethical hiring practices to the frequency of gender-based violence in a relatively small city. Rachel’s writing is thoughtful and meticulous, and I was fully engrossed by CATCH THE SPARROW. •••

I finally had a chance to listen to Kassie Rose’s magnanimous and touching review of and I’m so moved! (It’s at about 31:40, for anyone interested!) THANK YOU, All Sides with Ann Fisher!!

All Sides Weekend: Books Summer is here and it's time to gather books to read at the beach, the pool or wherever you go. Our panelists will provide tips on the latest literary releases.

Two spottings from friends! One an absolute dream come true since I set foot in Portland’s Powell's Books, Inc. and saw their true crime shelf in 2018, and the other in this charming NH bookshop The Toadstool Bookshop, Peterborough - thanks for the sightings, Bob and Kate!

Spotted at the West Tisbury Free Public Library on - where an entire section of takes place! Thanks!!

Thank you to The Lineup for including in this impressive list!

9 Compelling and Powerful True Crime Memoirs These powerful books blur the lines between true crime and memoir. These stories are compelling because not only are they true, but the authors have used their pain to create something beautiful.

Had a really interesting, really philosophical discussion on Writer's Voice with Francesca Rheannon - check it out! (I’m on at about minute 26 but Mark Follman, before me, is super smart and worth a listen!)

‎Writer's Voice with Francesca Rheannon: Mark Follman, TRIGGER POINTS & Rachel Rear, CATCH THE SPARROW on Apple Podcasts ‎Show Writer's Voice with Francesca Rheannon, Ep Mark Follman, TRIGGER POINTS & Rachel Rear, CATCH THE SPARROW - May 12, 2022

Hello, friends! I wrote a personal essay for Literary Hub about my years spent acting - and how that may have been the push I needed to finally commit to finishing .

Hope you find this interesting! Please share if you’re so moved!

How Acting in True Crime Shows Allowed Me to Write the Story of My Stepsister’s Murder I zipped up my long black off-the-shoulder velvet gown, covered my anachronistic tattoo with a taffeta shawl, took the coupe glass filled with fake champagne, and stepped out onto the patio of the …