Book ~ "A Brilliant Death" (2016) Robin Yocum

From Goodreads ~ Amanda Baron died in a boating accident on the Ohio River in 1953. Or did she? 

While it was generally accepted that she had died when a coal barge rammed the pleasure boat she was sharing with her lover, her body was never found. Travis Baron was an infant when his mother disappeared. After the accident and the subsequent publicity, Travis’s father scoured the house of all evidence that Amanda Baron had ever lived and her name was never to be uttered around him. 

Now in high school, Travis yearns to know more about his mother. With the help of his best friend, Mitch Malone, Travis begins a search for the truth about the mother he never knew. The two boys find an unlikely ally: an alcoholic former detective who served time for falsifying evidence. Although his reputation is in tatters, the information the detective provides about the death of Amanda Baron is indisputable - and dangerous. 

Nearly two decades after her death, Travis and Mitch piece together a puzzle lost to the dark waters of the Ohio River. They know how Amanda Baron died and why. Now what do they do with the information?

This story takes place in the small town of Brilliant, OH, in the 1970s. Teenager Travis has always been told that his mom, Amanda, died in a boating accident in 1953 with her lover when he was a baby. No body was ever found and nobody in town really talks about it, especially his uncaring abusive father. Did she drown or did she fake her death so she could run off with her lover? Curious, Travis ropes his best friend, Mitch, who comes from a loving and stable family who take care of Travis often, into helping him dig into the past (they call it "Project Amanda"). Over the next few years, they find out the truth but don't know what to do about it.

I liked this story. It's told by Mitch years later (he became a journalist and also told his cousin, Duke's story in A Perfect Shot) and is written mostly in first person perspective in his voice. I don't usually enjoy young adults as the main characters but I found Mitch and Travis likeable. As a head's up, there swearing and violence.