‘Easy Innocence’ creeps into some of life’s dark corners

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BY BARBARA RIXSTINE / For the Lincoln Journal Star

 (“Easy Innocence” by Libby Fischer Hellmann, Bleak House Books, 396 pages, $14.95, paper).

Mystery author Libby Fischer Hellmann totes up another page-turner in this story of Chicago private investigator Georgia Davis.

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Davis is recovering from a lot — alcohol, a breakup with ex-lover Matt, getting suspended from the force. But when former friend and police officer Dan O’Malley sends a case her way, Davis is determined to do her best.

As always, the case starts with a death — that of beautiful high school junior Sara Long. Long was clubbed to death while wearing a pail filled with fish guts as part of a hazing routine. The cops have picked up Cameron Jordan, a developmentally disabled adult who’s registered as a sex offender and are ready to send him away. Jordan’s sister Ruth hires Davis to find out the truth and clear her brother of the crime.

Central to Davis’ investigation is the secret existence of a local teenage prostitution ring, to which Long belonged. Run by another of Long’s high school friends, the ring was set up to allow daughters of the less rich, such as Long, to earn enough money to pay for the latest must-have designer clothes and accessories.

Davis takes the reader into some of life’s dark corners, but Hellmann tells a heck of a story with good characters and plot twists. There is no easy innocence for anyone along for the ride.

Barbara Rixstine regrets not living in Paris in the 1920s.