Welter - The Lily O'Hara Mysteries, #3

Book 3 in the Lily O'Hara Mystery series sees Lily and Mick Flynn unite to explore another local tragedy. Lily O'Hara is in a place of pain and finds the only way through her own suffering is to immerse herself in the tattered remains of someone else's loss. This time she and Mick Flynn find themselves wading through the life and death of a beautiful young teenager whose life was cut short by misadventure.
A New Year's Eve party, which should have marked the beginning of the teenager's bright new life, became a drug-fueled disaster. But Romy Beaulieu's mother has never accepted that her child would use drugs, nor would she place herself at risk and therefore someone else had to be involved. She is not looking to punish anyone, she just wants to know what really happened. In their search for the truth Lily encounters a complex group of young people who both loved and loathed the dead girl.
Their accounts of the night vary and the hostility of those closest to the case makes Lily believe that someone has something to cover up. One of the teenagers is a vulnerable young woman who becomes very attached to Lily and sees her as a significant adult who might help her solve her own long list of problems. In the process of digging into the lives of other people Lily discovers that not everyone wants to know the truth and a lie is a means to not only conceal a fact, but it can also be a means of self-preservation.
When she digs deep enough, Lily finds out what people might do to stop her uncovering how Romy died.  A very high price may have to be paid if Lily doesn't let go of the search. The price of knowledge and the cost of love are always high.