ToxiCity: A Georgia Davis PI Novel

When a child is kidnapped and her mother warned against calling the police, Christine Messenger turns to her neighbor for help who then herself asks a favor from Ellie Foreman, a video producer with a well-earned reputation for getting into trouble. Rejecting Ellie's advice to call the cops, Messenger does allow Ellie to contact Georgia Davis, a private investigator and former Chicago police officer with whom Ellie has gotten into trouble with in the past. Having more common sense and faith in the law than Ellie, Georgia refuses to take the case and calls the police herself, starting with her former boss Deputy Chief of Police Dan O'Malley. Three days later events seem to conclude happily when Molly Messenger is returned to her home unharmed. Unfortunately, it's her mother who then becomes the victim, dying several days later in a car accident that Ellie believes was no accident. It is she who prods Molly's father in hiring Georgia despite the private investigator's reluctance to be involved. What Georgia discovers is that Chris Messenger visited her office at a bank the day Molly was returned, and the subsequent death of her boss has the women focusing their attention on possible wrongdoings at Midwest National Bank. Hellmann switches chapters between the first person narrations of Ellie Foreman and the third person viewpoint of Georgia, keeping the pace lively while amping up the suspense levels. The alternating chapters allow the readers to better compare the women's opposing characteristics, and yet it's the acerbic, cynical, and slow-to-trust Georgia who appears more likable and sympathetic, as the reader can at times understand Ellie's family's frustrations at her affinity for getting herself into trouble. Georgia has experienced betrayal in both her personal and professional lives, with the result that she trusts few and allows fewer to become close. Problems with Ellie's rebellious daughter and the ill health of her gardener and friend seem a distraction to the story and better suited to the Ellie Foreman series. However, this may simply be Georgia Davis's overwhelming appeal and whose complicated character makes her absolutely riveting to read. I enjoy the Ellie Foreman books, but I love the Georgia Davis ones even more. The ending of Doubleback drifts dangerously into Bruce Willis movie territory, but overall Hellmann continues to create characters strong enough to support a series and her growing loyal fan base.

I've been reading Libby Fischer Hellmann's mysteries since her first, "An Eye For Murder" (2002). It's been fascinating to watch her characters -- and her voice as an author -- evolve over that period. All of her books are good, but since her character P.I. Georgia Davis arrived on the scene Ms. Fischer Hellmann's novels have moved to the upper echelon of crime fiction. "DoubleBack" places Davis and past-protagonist Ellie Foreman in the middle of circumstances that sound like they could happen tomorrow -- if you're willing to believe that banks, mercenaries, drug cartels and border-town fanatics could all come together in one major blowout. (And if you aren't willing to believe that, what are your doing reading crime fiction?) The plot is fast-paced, rich with detail and sense of place ... and a whole lot of fun. I found myself 100 pages into "DoubleBack" when Michael Connelly's "Nine Dragons" arrived (via Whispernet), and even though I read a couple of chapters of the new Connelly book, "DoubleBack" drew me back. It's that good. I can't wait to see what Ms. Fischer Hellman comes up with next. Whether it involves these characters or not, I am sure it will be great.

Doubleback by Libby Fischer Hellmann This book was really good. I read her last book, Easy Innocence and thought it was good, but this one is even better! It has kidnapping, murder, drug trafficking, cartels, Chicago, Mexico, Arizona, and manages to put it all together in a well-plotted, and very exciting story. The character, Georgia Davis, a former cop now a P.I., is a really tough, no nonsense, woman, who you really like. Her friend, Ellie Foreman, is also in it, and has books of her own, but the real protag is Georgia. And it's Georgia that won't give up until she solves the mystery and rights the wrongs, in the name of the children that are left behind. It starts out with a friend of Ellie's wanting her help with her little girl's kidnapping, and Ellie gets her friend, Georgia to talk to her. The child is returned but several murders and much more happen before they can even figure out what is going on. This is a book not easily forgotten and very hard to put down, once you start it. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good story, a loveable but tough female P.I., and a suspense mystery thriller that is hard to stop reading to the end. Get it now, you won't be sorry.

Ellie Foreman's friend calls one day with a plea for help. Her neighbor's daughter, Molly, has been kidnapped. This isn't the type of thing Ellie has any experience with or knowledge of, but she has a friend who might just be able to help - PI Georgia Davis. Despite the kidnappers' insistence that no police be involved, Davis says that is the only option for Molly's mother, Christine. When Davis turns the ordeal over to the cops and Molly is amazingly returned unscathed, Davis believes the issue is behind her - close the books on that case. Until a few days later when Christine dies in a suspicious car accident and her ex-husband hires Davis to investigate what really happened to his ex-wife for fear Molly may still be in danger. Foreman and Davis team up to investigate Christine's "accident" and find themselves investigating something much larger as they follow the trail from Wisconsin to Arizona and into the ugly depths of a government-contracted security company, illegal immigration, and drug smuggling. Simply put, DOUBLEBACK is a book that moves. No one told Libby Fischer Hellman that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line because Davis' trip to Arizona is brimming with twists and turns. Yet, I'm certain most readers will arrive in record time. As with EASY INNOCENCE, Hellmann's plot is multi-layered and peppered with heavy social issues, which ultimately draw the reader deeper into the plot line. Hellmann has filled DOUBLEBACK with a series of insightful juxtapositions, the most obvious being the two main characters, Ellie Foreman and Georgia Davis. Davis even notices the oddity of their friendship, one she wouldn't have expected to develop. And in every one of those juxtapositions Hellmann reveals an unstated message essential to the themes of the novel and the development of the characters. In EASY INNOCENCE and now again in DOUBLEBACK, Davis is affected by the circumstances of a young girl, but in DOUBLEBACK we see the circumstances of a young boy also take their toll on this strong, independent female PI. Again, another example of the juxtapositions used in this case to develop the depth of Davis' character. There is nothing simple about Georgia Davis. While Georgia Davis may have needed to, Libby Fischer Hellman doesn't need to "doubleback." She's indisputably crossed the line into the realm of great crime fiction writers. There's no going back now.