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Angel's Verdict (Beaufort & Company, #4)

Angel's Verdict by Mary Stanton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wednesday evening, I finished reading Angel's Verdict, which is the fourth book in Mary Stanton's "Beaufort & Company" series, featuring young attorny Brianna ("Bree") Winston-Beaufort. Not only is Bree an attorney in the real world, she's also inherited the family business of handling appeals for condemned souls in the Celestial Court.

After successfully handling several celestial cases, Bree is eager to take on a temporal client. They're the ones who actually pay the bills, after all. However, when an aging actress comes to update her will, she confides to Bree that she fears someone on her latest movie set is trying to harm her. The movie is based on a real murder that was committed in the 50's, and it seems that the past and the present are beginning to overlap. Now Bree has been contacted by the spirit of one of the people involved in the crime, and she has somehow agreed to sponsor another soul who's trying to atone for past mistakes.

Bree is convinced that the current happenings are tied to the past murder, and she is determined to help all of her clients to get the justice they deserve.

I've read the first three books in this series, but it's been a long time between book three and this one. I had to re-familiarize myself with the characters. Bree is a compelling and tenacious character, and others are portrayed well. The plot moved at a good pace, and I was pleased to figure things out half a chapter before Bree did. Hee!

Favorite line: "That man's a few puppies shy of a litter."

Very good story, but some things in the overarching plot line are still unanswered.

I stayed up late on Wednesday night to finish Avenging Angels by Mary Stanton. It's the third installment in her "Beaufort & Company" series.

Brianna "Bree" Winston-Beaufort has inherited her uncle's legal practice, which means she also inherited his work with the Celestial Court. Not all of Bree's clients are still among the living.

In this book, Brianna is hired by a widow who believes her husband was murdered, in spite of the fact that she and several others walked in on his apparent suicide. Bree also feels compelled to advocate on behalf of the recently deceased husband. Her inquires, for both clients, lead her to question some unsavory characters as she tries to unravel the mystery. Along the way, Bree is trying to have a social life, learn more about her paranormal practice, and provide moral support to her younger sister, who is an aspiring actress.

The story featured a helluva plot twist, which actually sort of threw me out of it. I'm giving it four stars; it would have been five, except for the consternation it caused me.

★★★★