Easy Innocence (Georgia Davis Series) [Kindle Edition]

Libby Fischer Hellmann (Author)

Book Description

                                                                                             

When pretty, smart Sara Long is found bludgeoned to death, it's easy to blame the man with the bat. But Georgia Davis -- former cop and newly-minted PI -- is hired to look into the incident at the behest of the accused's sister, and what she finds hints at a much different, much darker answer. It seems the privileged, preppy schoolgirls on Chicago's North Shore have learned just how much their innocence is worth to hot-under-the-collar businessmen. But while these girls can pay for Prada pricetags, they don't realize that their new business venture may end up costing them more than they can afford.

                                                                                                                                                                       

EASY INNOCENCE is now available in Spanish as INOCENCIA FÅCIL. You can find it here: amazon.com/dp/B009X1O422

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of the Ellie Foreman series (A Shot to Die For, etc.) launches the underwhelming first of a new series featuring another Chicago sleuth, former cop-turned-PI Georgia Davis, who shares a past with Foreman. Cam Jordan, a mentally deficient sex offender, stands accused of murdering 17-year-old Sara Long in a forest preserve. Since the victim's friends saw Cam standing over Sara's body clutching a bloody baseball bat, it appears to be an open-and-shut case. Hired by Cam's sister to investigate, Davis learns that Sara may have been in the forest as part of a hazing ritual conducted by a clique of her posh high school classmates, one of whom is an ambitious local prosecutor's daughter. Davis at one point makes the poor choice of pretending to be a social worker from the dead girl's school, an easily exposed lie that sets back her probe. Hellmann also depicts the criminal justice system with less sophistication than readers might expect. The result is a predictable mystery with little suspense. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In this fast-paced mystery, the author of the Ellie Forman series introduces suspended cop and now PI Georgia Davis. Georgia is hired to help clear a mentally ill man, Cam Jordan, who is accused of killing a teenage girl, Sara Long, in a local forest preserve. It looks like an open-and-shut case; Cam’s fingerprints are on the murder weapon, and the victim’s blood is on his shirt. However, Georgia and Cam’s lawyer suspect Cam is being railroaded. Through her investigation, Georgia finds Sara was killed at a high-school hazing, and a local teenage prostitution ring is operating on the North Shore, a privileged, upper-class area north of Chicago. Also, there is a shady real-estate deal going on. Even when Georgia finds enough evidence to cast doubt on Cam’s culpability, she continues her investigation, intent on finding out who killed Sara and why. Georgia is a loner with a minimalist lifestyle who is recovering from her breakup with her boyfriend. She is a principled, compassionate character, determined to do the right thing, even if it doesn’t follow conventional assumptions. --Sue O'Brien

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 462 KB
• Print Length: 321 pages
• Publisher: The Red Herrings Press (April 7, 2008)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001UE8J4Y
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,482 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Reviewing: Easy Innocence May 1, 2008

By Kevin Tipple VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

It is easy these days to blame the mentally ill for crimes and there is no doubt that Cameron Jordan is mentally ill. There is no doubt that his finger prints were all over the murder weapon. The weapon was a baseball bat which, like Cameron, is covered in the blood of the deceased Sara Long. It didn't help matters that he was found kneeling over the body holding the bat by her teenage friends.

Georgia Davis, a former Chicago Cop is working these days as a private investigator. While the circumstances of her leaving the force are rather murky, it is clear that she has a number of enemies and few friends among her former colleagues. One friend in particular is concerned about the speed at which Cameron Jordan's case is moving through the system. He quietly refers Cameron Jordan's sister and caretaker, Ruth Jordan, to Georgia Davis for help. Motivated by disgust regarding the cases she has been working and a need to seek justice, Georgia Davis plunges into a world of rich and twisted high school students, their politically connected parents and murder where the odds are stacked against the truth.

This was my first exposure to Libby Fischer Hellman's work and it was quite the mystery ride. Georgia Davis is a multi faceted heroine with many secrets and issues and only a few were somewhat exposed in this novel. Unlike how many female private investigators are portrayed in mysteries where they either out drink and out cuss men or they are bumbling idiots more than ten novels later who still amazingly forget to take their gun to the abandoned warehouse at two in the morning, Georgia Davis is a normally intelligent human being who occasionally gets herself into situations any real person would and could get into while working the case. As such, she and by relation her world, are immensely believable and connect with the reader.

So too are the other characters as well as the descriptions of scenes set in and around the Chicago area. Then there is the interesting and complex case itself. Full of political intrigue, money and privilege as well as the universal problem of parents dealing with teenagers that are often taught by the educational system not to respect the authority of their parents, this novel works on many different levels while providing an entertaining read right to the last page. Much like Reed Farrel Coleman's "Empty Ever After" also due out in April from Bleak House, there is a same powerful poetic imagery at work here and yet the books are very different in style, tone and subject matter.

Hopefully this won't be the last of Georgia Davis because this novel just begins to scratch the surface with her and leaves a lot of questions unanswered. If, like me you are new to this author, it might be well worth looking up some of her other titles. I certainly plan too.

Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2008

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy Innocence is one of the best I have read this year... November 6, 2011

By ReadingAddict

Format:Kindle Edition

I like cozy mysteries but I also like hard-boiled mysteries with tough female cops/private investigators and no one does this genre better than Libby Fischer Hellmann (the infamous Georgia Davis) and J.A. Konrath (yes, the author has made me fall in love with his Jack Daniels' series). Back to the author at hand. This book isn't for the faint of heart but it is one of the most realistic mystery novels I have read which is heart-wringing at times and Ms. Fischer Hellmann is brilliant at treating a subject which is by no means easy to talk about and giving it the right amount of oomph to keep the reader tuned but not too much to the point it just becomes gory or violent for violent's sake.

The storyline is tight, the writing and the prose absolutely without a doubt are stunning. I have two other novels by this magnificent author and can't wait to jump right in, including the newest "Set The Night on Fire"

This author is not only talented but can weave a tale so brilliant, James Patterson should weep. Congrats, Ms. Fischer Hellmann.

Author:
Death Wish: Book I (The Vamp Saga)
The Beautiful People series

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars It's midnight, do you know where your children are? April 25, 2009

By michael a. draper TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Georgia Davis, a PI and former Northbrook cop, is hired by Ruth Jordan to prove that her autistic brother Cam did not kill the teenage girl he is accused of murdering.

Enter a high school world with snobbery, peer pressure, social cliques and envy and you have the setting behind this dandy story. Sara Long is murdered and the reader will be surprised to find out what is behind her murder.

Law enforcement agencies are pushing for a quick solution and guilty verdict against Cam but when Gerogia starts her investigation, we see that the DA's daughter was at the Forest Preserve when Sara's killing occurred. Could she, or Sara's best friend Lauren have been part of the hazing incident that spiralled out of hand?

Hellman writes a compelling story of what could go on in suberbia when parents of high school students ignore the children and assume that if they are not doing drugs then anything else is permittable. Getting ahead is the main activity of parents in the story, much to their shame.

Well done and should be subject mandated for incoming high school students.

Recommended!