Easy Innocence (Georgia Davis Mysteries) (Paperback)

by Libby Fischer Hellmann (Author)

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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 396 pages
• Publisher: Bleak House Books (June 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932557679
• ISBN-13: 978-1932557671
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #230,312 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Kevin Tipple (Plano, Texas) - See all my reviews

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

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Being A Teenager Is Neither Easy Nor Innocent, July 4, 2008

By	Story Circle Book Reviews (www.storycirclebookreviews.org) - See all my reviews

Lauren and Sara are starting their junior year in high school, and the pressure is on. Not only is this the year that grades and test scores count, but juniors must pass muster from the senior girls or face a year of harassment. At the ritual power-puff football game that marks the beginning of the school year, the older girls single out Sara for a little "attitude adjustment." Sara ends up dead, and an autistic young man is jailed for her murder.

Private investigator Georgia Davis knows two things: Cameron Jordon has already been short-changed by the medical and social services systems and, in the wealthy Chicago suburb of North Shore, the police have found a perfect suspect in a young man who can't defend himself. What Georgia doesn't know: the risky business Lauren and Sara have set up for themselves in order to pay for their electronic gadgets, expensive shoes and designer clothes.

This is a gorgeous, tightly-written mystery. The characters are fully developed and the plot has delicious sub-layers running through it. I love the way the superb writing flows. If I had teen-age daughters, this book would make me very concerned about what they might be up to that I didn't know about. Even if you don't have teen-age daughters (or nieces, friends, etc.) I strongly recommended this book. Mysteries don't get any better than this.

by Sharon Wildwind
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful new series, June 6, 2008

By	Gloria Feit (Long Beach, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Easy Innocence (Georgia Davis Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Georgia Davis is the protagonist of what appears to be a new series by Libby Fischer Hellmann. A cop for ten years on the North Shore of Chicago, she has been suspended from the force and is now working as a p.i. She has been hired to investigate the death of a 17-year-old girl, a high school student who was murdered in what appears to have started as a hazing, clubbed to death with a baseball bat in a forest preserve. It seems to be a pretty cut and dried affair, with all the evidence pointing to a 35-year-old registered sex offender. The latter's sister, fifteen years his senior, is convinced that despite his history, her brother is incapable of violence.

Although the case is described as a slam dunk, even the dead girl's mother has some doubts, telling Georgia: "Things started moving so fast it made my head spin. Everything all tied up in three or four days. With a big, shiny ribbon on top." Georgia's investigation uncovers up all kinds of unexpected discoveries, all to do with "families and friendships and secrets," some of which put Georgia's life in jeopardy. Georgia is not without conflict on this case: Her former partner on the police force is in charge of the investigation into the teen's death, and his animosity towards her is palpable. Then her path crosses that of her former lover, with whom she broke up two years earlier.

This was a book I could not put down, reading it cover to cover during the course of one day. The reader is drawn into the story immediately, and the wonderful writing makes the characters come alive. The startling turn of events as the book goes on is, on reflection, not all that shocking, but it certainly seems that way at first. I loved that Ellie Foreman, the protag in Ms. Hellmann's prior series, makes a cameo appearance, and that a character is named after Ruth Jordan, she of Crimespree Magazine renown. The suspense is sustained throughout as the search for the real killer goes on, and some unexpected twists as the books races to a conclusion will keep readers off balance to the end. Highly recommended.

The book had a simultaneous release in hardcover and in paperback format.