Holly Jackson is turning to the true-crime genre for inspiration for her next novel.
Delacorte Press will publish the author’s The Reappearance of Rachel Price next fall, the Random House Children’s Books imprint announced in a news release. It describes the young adult novel as “a mind-blowing masterpiece about one girl’s search for the truth, and the terror in finding out who your family really is.”
The novel will follow Bel, an 18-year-old woman whose mother disappeared when Bel was 2. After her family participates in a documentary about the case, her mother reappears, but Bel isn’t sure she believes her story.
Jackson is the author of the hugely popular Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series, which launched in 2020. The most recent novel in the series, As Good as Dead, was published in 2021, and a television adaptation starring Emma Myers is currently in the works at the BBC.
Jackson was also recently named the winner of the author of the year honor at the TikTok Book Awards UK and Ireland, reflecting her popularity among users of the video sharing service.
She announced the news of her new book on Instagram, writing, “Writing this book utterly wrecked me, and that’s why I think it might be my best yet. With everything readers have come to expect from me: twists that will make it embarrassing to read in public, a mystery that will have you questioning just how unhinged I am, and a protagonist with a three-letter name (I don’t know why this keeps happening!)”
The Reappearance of Rachel Price is slated for publication on April 2, 2024.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
