Secret Silent Scream

Marti's best friend Barry is dead and nearly all the evidence indicates suicide. Marti has good reason to believe that Barry was murderedbut the only person who will listen to her is Karen, a sympathetic policewoman. Because Barry's death has become the focal point of a national awareness campaign about teenage suicide, almost everyone to whom Marti turns has a great deal at stake in believing that Barry took his own life. Even well-meaning adults discount Marti's accurate detective work. Undeterred, she and Karen conduct their own investigation, unmasking the murderer just as he is about to strike again. The gradual revelation of the details behind Barry's staged suicide creates an atmosphere of enthralling suspense, even for those who have already deduced the killer's identity. And the moral that accompanies Marti's difficult but courageous stand is just as satisfying as the intricate plot. Ages 12-up. (September)