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 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. ( )

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 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. ( )

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 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. ( )

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 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. ( )

Georgia Davis, suspended from the police force for not following procedures, has decided to try to make a living as a PI. Cases are few and far between primarily skip traces and tailing cheating spouses, when she gets a referral from a former supervisor.

Cam Jordan, a disabled man, has been accused of murder of a teenage girl. His sister Ruth contacts Georgia to help with his case, a case that is being pushed very rapidly thru the system.

There are many threads to her investigation, twists and turns, and plenty of action. A well-written story with suspenseful yet fast pacing. At times I got a glimmer of the possible ending but it was more convoluted than you can imagine. ( )