Catch the Sparrow

A Search for a Sister and the Truth of Her Murder

By: Rachel Rear

Narrated by: Julia Locascio

Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents Catch the Sparrow by Rachel Rear, read by Julia Locascio.

The gripping story of a young woman’s murder, unsolved for more than two decades, brilliantly investigated and reconstructed by her stepsister.

Growing up, Rachel Rear knew the story of Stephanie Kupchynsky’s disappearance. The beautiful violinist and teacher had fled an abusive relationship on Martha’s Vineyard and made a new start for herself near Rochester, NY. She was at the height of her life - in a relationship with a man she hoped to marry and close to her students and her family. And then, one morning, she was gone.

Around Rochester - a region that has spawned such serial killers as Arthur Shawcross and the 'Double Initial' killer - Stephanie’s disappearance was just a familiar sort of news item. But Rachel had more reason than most to be haunted by this particular story of a missing woman: Rachel’s mother had married Stephanie’s father after the crime, and Rachel grew up in the shadow of her stepsister’s legacy.

In Catch the Sparrow, Rachel Rear writes a compulsively listenable and unerringly poignant reconstruction of the case's dark and serpentine path across more than two decades. Obsessively cataloguing the crime and its costs, drawing intimately closer to the details than any journalist could, she reveals how a dysfunctional justice system laid the groundwork for Stephanie's murder and stymied the investigation for more than 20 years, and what those hard years meant for the lives of Stephanie’s family and loved ones. Startling, thrilling and deeply moving, Catch the Sparrow is a retelling of a crime like no other.

©2022 Rachel Rear (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"Catch the Sparrow is true crime at its most personal and purposeful - heartfelt and intimate, noble and determined, meticulous and brave." (Robert Kolker, New York Times best-selling author of Hidden Valley Road and Lost Girls)

"Catch the Sparrow is a one-of-a-kind true crime narrative, meticulously reported and compellingly written. The real twist in Rachel Rear's pursuit of this cold case murder is the stunning relationship of the teller to the tale. No novelist could have invented it." (Jonathan Dee, author of The Locals and The Privileges)

"A poignant and honest memoir combined with a suspenseful tale of a vibrant young woman's senseless murder and the lengthy and often shocking investigation that followed, Catch the Sparrow is my favourite type of true crime book - compassionate, compelling and achingly, heartbreakingly real. I will be thinking about this book for a long time to come." (Alison Gaylin, Edgar Award-winning author of The Collective)

A Great Choice

This is a beautiful, sorrowful story that is told well and brilliantly read. Often the pathos of true crime books is ruined by overly emotive narration, which robs the story of sentiment. Here, the narrator does absolute justice to the haunting glory of the writing. Well worth your time.

Interesting story

Excellent reader with a calm and steady voice. There are no wild or dramatic revelations in the books, but it’s a story well told.

Great book

Loved this book! From beginning to end it was excellent. Easy to follow, yet I felt like I needed to grip onto every word to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

Well Written, Absorbing ,Search for a Sad Truth

Catch the Sparrow will stay with me. Rachel Rear paints a vivid picture of the sister she didn’t meet in life.Stephanie leaps off the page.She is forever 27. Finding answers and finding justice are different things.Rear doesn’t shy away from the complexities.

So glad I found this book

Rachel has written a very well-told story of her step-sister's life and more so, her death - her murder.
This author has amazing talent - she has written the story on a personal level, allowing this reader to feel as though
I knew her and her sister. I felt a stronger and stronger connection with Stephanie right along with Rachel.
Rachel and her step-sister never knew each other, Stephanie was murdered before Rachel's mom married her dad.
The violence in Stephanie's life growing up, at the hands of her father incited strong negative feelings against her father.
I can relate with having violent parents. This is a must read with an ending that let me breath a big sigh of relief of justice for
Stephanie and her family. I hope Rachel will write more books - I am a huge fan of her style. Also, I would be remiss if I did not mention Julia, the narrator. Well done ! (clapping my hands) An audio book can make or break the story. Julia did a beautiful job - felt like it was her story she was telling.

A different type of true crime book

As an avid true crime listener, I chose this book based on customer reviews. This story is told from the perspective of a distant family member who didn’t know the victim personally. The author has a great way of describing scenes and settings and has a wonderful prose and story writing ability. On the flip side though, I felt like the author used a story that happened near her and attempted to inject herself into the story. The victims actual family members asked that she not write the book in this way and she really appeared to be justifying having written it as a search for the truth. The narrator did a good job but at times I felt like I was listening to an essay that was just trying to meet the word count requirements. I would advise against this one if you are looking for a crime story with transcripts and details and facts. It’s more a memoir with a crime aside.

Disjointed

While some stories do well, jumping from the past to the present and back-and-forth, this story just was very disjointed. There were several parts of it that were in other sections of the book, which made the writing seem juvenile and not cohesive.
It is a very tragic story. The book is instead more about the author then it is about the victim.
I’m sorry to say the book did not go very deep. It just brushed over the surface and didn’t have a lot of details in it that would’ve made it more relevant and compelling. I was left with the feeling that that it was written more about the author and maybe more for fame and fortune. I would not recommend it. There are much better books out there.


The narrator, however, was very easy to listen to. I loved her voice and her cadence, and would definitely be interested in buying more books that she has narrated.