Easy Innocence

A dark mystery set in Chicago’s North Shore, Easy Innocence combines the search for a guilty murderer with the equally complex search for an innocent teen. Those who look most wholesome and sweet might hide a darker side--hide it even from themselves. Because, after all, if you want to fit in you’ll have to buy, and if you want to buy you’ll have to sell…

This novel offers a very bleak look at how teens might be seduced by the modern world. At the same time it looks at acceptance on a larger stage—how those who are different are rejected in the world outside high school too, and how being rejected can claim a cruel price. The depiction of mental illness is convincing and heart-breaking, as is the author’s depiction of young show more teen’s broken innocence.

A haunting murder mystery with a generously thoughtful protagonist, Easy Innocence is a great start to the Georgia Davis PI series and a truly disturbing, uneasy tale.

Disclosure: I won a copy and I enjoyed it. show less

A teen on the edge of the “In” group is brutally murdered in an upscale Chicago suburb. The cops and DA quickly pin the crime on a local mentally handicapped man who is found at the scene with the weapon in his hands and the victim’s blood on his shirt, despite some obvious questions. Former cop and new P.I. Georgia Davis is hired by the defense to get the real story and cast reasonable doubt. And she finds plenty to question – What were the kids doing in the forest preserve? Why didn’t the police report mention that the prosecutor’s daughter was present? Where did the victim get the money for designer clothes with just a minimum wage job?

This is a fast-paced, gritty story with several surprise twists. Hellmann does a great show more job of laying the foundation for the surprises to come. She weaves a logical story tangled in a web of lies and counter plots. While I did figure out a few key elements early, I didn’t accurately identify the killer. Davis is a great heroine. She’s smart, resourceful, and independent. I wish the “love” interest aspect were left out, however, as Hellmann didn’t really explore this well and it was an unnecessary distraction. Also, I wish she had given us more detail about the original suspect. That seemed like an interesting story, but it just fell flat. Still, I got into the story quickly and found it compelling and hard-to-put-down. show less

Georgia Davis is a former cop turned P.I. When she receives a request from Danny O'Malley, a cop she used to work with, asking her to look into a murder case on behalf of the accused, she agrees to help out. It seems that important people are making an especially great effort to hurry this case through the process and convict a mentally ill man with no prior history of violence. The crime? The brutal beating death of a high school girl named Sara Long.

When Georgia begins to investigate she finds far more than she bargained for: a prostitution ring where the prostitutes are high school girls. And someone definitely does not want Georgia anywhere near this case. Georgia needs to find answers before that someone finds her.

Easy Innocence show more is a bit longer than the average book at close to 400 pages, but that didn't prevent me from speeding through it. Several days during my lunch breaks, I looked up to notice I had read past my allotted time. Ooops. That's the effect this book had on me; it pulled me in and shut out the rest of the world.

The range of emotion I felt in regards to some of the characters was amazing. Georgia is dealing with some rather "well-to-do" adolescents and you can't help but be angry and repulsed by them for being so arrogant and self-consumed. But then when threat comes knocking on their back doors, they react like what they are, scared children. And then you can't help but want to wrap your arms around them and protect them. That's an extremely realistic effect to reproduce in a plot. So often once a reader dislikes a character, it's difficult to pull him/her in a different direction emotionally toward that character. Hellmann pulled it off flawlessly.

With Georgia, however, I never wavered in my connections with her. The realism, the dimension, the depth of her character is truly unmatched in crime fiction. She is a force to be reckoned with but only because she accepts who she is; she knows she isn't perfect. But, she's comfortable in her own skin, and that personality contrasts the culture of the people she's investigating. More than anything, Georgia is still a determined cop at heart. Her job is to find reasonable doubt for the client, but that just isn't enough.

On one hand, the depth of Georgia's character makes me feel that character drives this plot. But the plot in and of itself is powerful as well. I thought the premise of the plot was unique. It may have been done in other books that I'm not aware of; this is the first time I've read anything remotely close to this concept. So many elements of this plot are realistic and thought-provoking and emotional. It is far from black and white.

Easy Innocence is a book that will pull you in not only because you are making connections with characters but also because you become enthralled in the plot. Hellmann throws some zingers into the plot to give you even more for your money. And as an added bonus, you get an intimate look at Chicago.

Hellmann has definitely opened the door for Georgia Davis in the world of crime fiction. I look forward to more of this fabulous female character! show less

A timely and perilous trip into the darkness of suburbia, this book grabbed me from the first page and kept me going straight through to the end. I only stopped reading long enough for a few hours of sleep! Libby Hellman has created a plot touching on two very real aspects of living in today’s world, teen prostitution and unscrupulous land development, and turned it into an absorbing read. Full of twist and turns, relationships good, bad and ugly, the main character Georgia Davis, ex-cop and now P.I., is up to the challenge.Upon the murder of a young teen, a mentally disabled young man is found at the scene of the crime holding the weapon and covered in her blood. The lawyer for his defense is sure that he did not do it and hires show more Georgia to try to find evidence to prove it. Through her search she finds hers, blocking her at every turn, Georgia has a difficult time breaking through the codes of the elite. Leads keep turning around, who can she trust? Who can she safely question? Who will the killer strike next? This book will definitely hold your attention. I thoroughly enjoyed it, the characters were well-formed, and grew as the story went along. I highly recommend this murder mystery and will definitely read other books by this author, I loved this book. show less

It wasn’t what I expected – it was better! I thought I knew who did it, but I was wrong – and I love that about this murder mystery. The story surprised me and held my attention all the way through. I thought the story was going this direction, and it was actually headed this other direction.

Our main character Georgia is so easy to like. She’s a real person with a past, mistakes and victories, foibles, and her own sense of justice. I like that she’s willing to bend or break the rules when she feels it’s right. Her way of handling the prostitutes was great – she treated them like real people instead of passing judgement on them.

Toss in some undercover work, a few attempted murders, and some underage teens crying, then show more Georgia has her hands full. I do wish we had one more scene with the wrongly accused and his sister just to wrap things up in a neat bow. But that’s my only little quibble with the story. Very entertaining book. 4.75/5 stars.

The Narration: Beth Richmond has a great voice for Georgia, very believable. She captured all of Georgia’s emotions throughout the story. Richmond could use a little more voice variation as I sometimes had trouble keeping the various teen females separate. Richmond’s pacing was a bit slow but with Audible’s app I was able to speed the book up a touch just so the speech sounded normal to me. There were no technical issues with the recording. 4/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Libby Fischer Hellmann. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it. show less

This is the first of the Georgia Davis mysteries, which of course I read after having read the fourth, the most recent. This is not generally the order to read a mystery series in, but it worked out well this time.

Georgia is a Chicago cop, currently suspended for egregious violations of procedure, and working as a private investigator. Her former and perhaps future boss, Dan O'Malley, refers a client to her, Ruth Jordan, sister of Cam Jordan, a mentally challenged man charged with murdering a high school girl in the woods, during an unofficial high school party.

Cam is a registered sex offender, but his past offenses are public masturbation, and he's never done anything remotely violent. Yet the case against him is moving strangely show more fast--a few weeks for things that normally take months. What's going on?

Georgia takes on the case, with little expectation of finding much. Yet the more she looks, the less things add up. There's a history of hazing at this high school. In the last year or so, the murdered girl, Sara Long, had apparently gotten very nosy, wanting to know everybody's business. The state's attorney's daughter goes to the same high school, and lost summer, for a few months, Sara stole her boyfriend. And Sara was paying for some awfully nice clothes and gadgets from her minimum wage job at a bookstore.

As Georgia continues to dig, into Sara's friends and their families, she finds even more that doesn't seem like it can be relevant. How would a real estate deal, however questionable, lead to the murder of a high school girl?

But something's going on with these high school girls that will shock their generally privileged community when it comes out.

The background-setting and character development here are very good, and the plot is solid. Georgia sometimes has some issues with knowing which lines she can cross and which she should be more careful of--it's how she got suspended in the first place, after all. Yet she's fundamentally solid, with a strong sense of both justice and kindness.

Recommended.

I received this book free from the author, in exchange for an honest review. show less

Private Investigator Georgia Davis had worked as a police officer before she was suspended for not following protocol. At times the background was helpful. For example, she knew when a case was being rushed through with having been thoroughly investigated. At other times, it got in the way because she was not able to do some of the things she had done when she was wearing the uniform. A major difference, she noted, was “Cops didn’t just create reasonable doubt. They solved crimes.”
In EASY INNOCENCE, she is contacted by Ruth, a woman whose brother Cam has been arrested for the murder of Sara Long, a beautiful high school junior. Georgia had been referred by a previous police department colleague. Cam was seen in the area where the show more girl’s body was found, had blood on his shirt, and his fingerprints were on the murder weapon, a baseball bat. He was also a registered sex offender. Ruth insisted that while he was mentally slow and had some behavioral problems, he was not violent and would never have killed anyone.
The girl attended one of the most prestigious public high school in the wealthy Chicago suburb where she lived. The case was being pushed through at record speed, which immediately made Georgia suspicious. The more Georgia investigated, the more she was convinced that the police did not do a thorough investigation and were anxious to send Cam to prison for the crime. She wanted to find out why.
As she proceeded with her investigation, facing a lack of cooperation from some of the people most closely involved with Sara, she discovered that the police had not interviewed several people who had important information about the case and that the charge that got Cam on the sex offender list had been dropped by the accusers before it went to trial. He had never touched the woman nor was his indecent exposure done to get her attention.
As her investigation continued, Georgia discovered that two years previously, students at the school had been charged because of a hazing incident. The principal said it had been taken care of and wouldn’t happen again. Georgia had her doubts about that. She also found other crimes being committed by characters in the story that had direct links to the murder. Georgia was also the target of a nasty prank and of a shooter.
Many of the main characters are stereotypes of very wealthy suburban families: The parents don’t pay much attention to their children, the mothers drink too much, the girls are bullies. Georgia notes, “Status–the acquisition of things—is so much more important for kids today. It’s not about having a pair of jeans from Gap. It’s about having a four hundred dollar pair of jeans.”
The book was a fast read and somewhat predictable though there were some unexpected twists. It was a free Kindle download. show less