River Road by Carol Goodman

She had a little too much to drink but she was fine for driving home.  The ice and snow added more difficulty.  Then she hit something.  She was sure it was a deer but she couldn't find it.  She gives up and heads home for bed.  She can't imagine why someone is knocking on her door in the morning.  Finding a policeman on her stoop is a shock.  It's even more of a shock when he tells her one of her students has been hit by a car and is dead.  And it gets worse as he suggests she was the one that hit her...

Touchstone and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published January 19th.

Nan Lewis is a tortured woman.  She took her eyes off her child for a minute and the girl wandered into the roadway below and was run over.  She lost her child, her husband, and almost her mind.  She went on but as a matter of habit rather than a will to live.  That's where she started drinking to forget.  She knows she hit a deer but she couldn't find it.  They also find some evidence that may tie her to the human accident.  Suddenly, she needs a lawyer.

This is a tension filled story of a woman trying to survive.  She has been hiding behind alcohol but she can't do that anymore.  She has to face life straight forward and she has to figure out who did kill the girl.  Watching her go from despair to a survivor mode is amazing.  

She messes in the investigation, almost gets killed, finds a new love, and helps solve the case.  The story is suspenseful, full of surprises and full of a look at how fast people will desert you when you find trouble.  It's not boring!