David is being charged with his girlfriend, Emily's, murder. His parents send him to live with his cousin, Lily, in an attempt to escape the contempt that the community casts down upon him.
Lily is hostile and scathing, Aunt Julia and Uncle Vic have a strained and sterile relationship. David is caught in the middle of all this rancor.
His cousin, Kathy, died years ago. Her face haunts Lily. She is the one who discovered her sister's body in the bathtub with shards of glass littering the bathroom floor. She cut her hands while collecting the pieces. David wishes that her parents would get a counselor for her.
The boy's mother and father exist in the background. They discuss the trial with him, and they visit him for a holiday. Raina, the artist who rents an apartment from his uncle, shoots the breeze with him. David is dealing with past and present singed by death.
The Killer's Cousin by Nancy Werlin, 2009
To me, the ending of this book is unrealistic.