Is this a suburb of Peyton Place?

"Easy Innocence" by Libby Fischer Hellman is a thought provoking novel about teenagers and the world they can fall into.

PI Georgia Davis is hired to find evidence to show that Cam Davis, who is autistic, did not murder teenager, Sara Long.

Enter the high school world of snobbery, cliques, peer pressure and greed and the setting is ripe to find out what is really behind Sara's murder.

The district attorney is pushing for a quick guilty finding against Cam but when Georgia , a former police officer, begins her investigation we learn that the DA's daughter was at the Forest Preserve when the killing occurred. Could she, or Sara's best friend, Lauren, have been part of a hazing incident that got out of hand?

The parents of Sara's friends don't want Georgia's interference with their lives. We find a part of society that leaves teenagers to their own decisions. Then we learn what can happen to these teens when certain temptations arrive and the parents feel that since their children aren't using drugs or getting arrested for alcohol related crimes then it's best to leave them alone.

This is a well written novel. Hellman has researched the mind of the teenage girls to find motivation for their actions. The book should be recommended to any parent of a high school girl.

Recommended.