Accountable is a police procedural mystery written by E.V. Stephens. Although it had been less than a week since her husband, banker David Lukas, had been murdered, Bedford Homicide Detective Valerie Benchik found herself unable to resist following the emergency vehicles as they rushed to a new crime scene. The fifth floor loft was elegantly decorated, and the woman lying in the bathtub and covered with multiple stab wounds, had a walk-in closet filled with top designer clothing and shoes. Even Benchik, who had no qualms about her wardrobe featuring no other designers than Levi Strauss, knew what a Hermes Birkin Bag was, and she easily identified the four-inch stilettos the victim had been wearing as Jimmy Choos. Judging from the fact that the victim’s jewelry and other valuables were still in her loft, Benchik eliminated theft as a motive. Dwayne Stuckey, the building’s maintenance man, had found her body when he let himself in for some scheduled repair work. As the first on the crime scene, and having a reputation as a wannabe ladies’ man, Stuckey was one of the primary suspects for the murder of Adriana Ortiz, a 28-year-old lawyer, who had seemed to have everything going for her, but Benchik and her partner were resolved to follow every lead they could find.

E.V. Stephens’ police procedural mystery novel, Accountable, is a first-rate puzzler that will prove challenging to even the most proficient armchair sleuths. Bedford Homicide Detective Benchik and her partner are a compelling, well-matched duo, and following as they try to identify the Friday Afternoon Killer is a fascinating and rewarding reading experience. Benchik’s very recent bereavement following the violent death of her husband adds an extra psychological dimension to this story as the detective tries to cope with the distractions caused by her grief while under pressure to stop the killer from targeting another victim. Police procedurals are my favorite type of mystery novel, and I was quite pleased with Accountable. There are plenty of red herrings to consider and following these police professionals as they worked their case felt authentic and real. I’m hoping Stephens considers assigning another case to Detectives Benchik and Payton. Accountable is most highly recommended.

That satisfying moment when one picks up a cop/detective novel and hears the perfect pitch and perfect sardonic humor of the genre’s best, as one does when opening Accountable by E.V. Stephens, must be like a music lover first hearing a brand new talent hitting all the notes just right. A little “oh boy” escapes the lips, just like an eager kid at the movies … “This is gonna be fun!” The promise of gruesome violence is like the gravy on potatoes. Okay, enough metaphors, or similes. What I’m saying is that Accountable opens fast and hard and strong, with the kind of humorous asides that keep the grimness in its place. Val Benchik, the novel’s homicide detective, recently (and I mean, just the other day) was widowed by a disgruntled bank customer of her husband, and yet she dutifully arrives at a current grisly homicide scene, and though enduring vivid flashbacks of her husband’s violent death, she sets to work doing what she does best. The reader, meanwhile, was quite conveniently hooked at “hello.”

E.V. Stephens spends the rest of her taut thriller Accountable reeling you in, sometimes giving you some illusive breathing slack, then ratcheting up the tension and the curiosity even more. I’m not sure that fish think their last rides are fun, but the comparison seems apt. The author does stretch her plot credibility a bit near the book’s finale, but to this point she has been ever faithful to the genre, ever engaging with her characters, ever providing of emotionally satisfying subplots to pull the heartstrings, and one must admit, she does manage to stay just within the bounds of credence. And the honest reader will admit, it doesn’t matter that much anyway. The ride was simply too much fun; the story too well told.