Easy Innocence

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.)