Easy Innocence
by Libby Fischer Hellmann
Summary
A dark disturbing PI story about high school girls on the North Shore of Chicago and the lengths they go to be accepted. Introducing newly minted PI Georgia Davis.
Excerpt
Private eye Georgia Davis battles on behalf of a mentally challenged man charged with murder.
After being suspended from the force and dumped by a fellow cop, Georgia Davis, setting up as a PI, is delighted to catch a case that may give her a chance to help an innocent man when Cam Jordan’s sister hires Georgia to prove her brother, a registered sex offender, innocent of brutally killing private-school teen Sara Long in a forest preserve. The police and DA are baying at Cam’s heels, but an old police pal who warns Georgia of the pressure to close the case also alerts her to a group of girls who were hazing Sara at the time of her death. The maverick streak that got Georgia suspended is just what’s needed in a mystery with some surprising ramifications. The DA’s daughter, who was also in the woods, had a grudge against Sara for dating her boyfriend. And Sara had a lot of expensive clothes neither she or her parents could have afforded. A second death scares Sara’s best friend Lauren into confiding that Sara was hooking and Lauren was running a high-school prostitution ring from her home computer. Georgia has several brushes with death before she can close the complicated case.
Reviews
"Depth of characterization sets this new entry by Hellmann (A Shot to Die For, 2005, etc.) apart from a crowded field"--Kirkus Reviews
Author's Biography
Libby Fischer Hellmann is the author of the award-winning Ellie Foreman mystery series: An Eye for Murder, A Picture of Guilt, An Image of Death, and A Shot to Die For. Her fifth novel, Easy Innocence, is a spin-off from that series. She has published over 12 short stories, and has edited the acclaimed crime fiction anthology, Chicago Blues.
Libby holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in Film Production from New York University. She has worked in public relations and television news, and currently conducts executive training programs in media presentation. She lives on the North Shore of Chicago.