Detective Carly Edwards had it all - a job she loved, a husband she admired, and a dog they both adored. And in a night when her regular partner had the night off, everything changed. The officer filling in for her partner (a known loose cannon) emptied an entire magazine on a guy who was already unable to be a danger to either officer. However, the ensuing fallout affected Carly, although the Shooting Review Team cleared her. She is reassigned to juvenile after an unrelenting press paints a picture of a trigger-happy, power-hungry cop.

But then the mayor of the town is murdered, and one of the suspects asks for Carly. The suspect, Londy, is a juvenile who has been in trouble before, but never for anything violent. He knows of her because his mother and Carly's mother are friends through church. Londy claims that he has found religion and is reformed. He is only a suspect, he claims, because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Carly sees this as her opportunity to prove that she belongs back on the streets and out of juvenile. How hard can it be to get a confession out of a kid with a mountain of evidence against him? But he won't back down, and soon she begins to believe his story. Homicide, however, is equally convinced of his guilt, and they are determined to convict him. Carly begins to wonder how determined they are when she begins to investigate and finds suspicious activity on the part of the department.

Of all people, her ex-husband seems to believe her. Against her better judgement, she decides to trust him with her suspicions (the marriage broke up because he cheated on her), and he helps her investigate. However, as their investigation progresses, it becomes clear that something is not right - the best investigators are pulled off the case, the files are closed to investigators, and more lives are threatened.

ACCUSED was a wonderfully paced, action-packed mystery. The religious theme running throughout the book was clearly important, but it did not distract from the action. It was woven seamlessly into the dialogue and helped drive the plot forward, although sometimes predictably so. The tension between Carly and her roommate when it came to Nick was also a bit tedious, although understandable.

Carly is a wonderfully written character that I can not wait to revisit. She is clearly a competent detective, an intelligent woman, and a compassionate partner. This is definitely a series I will be revisiting.