Book Review: “Angel Condemned”
In case you don’t know, I love this series and look forward to the next installment.
Angel Condemned is the fifth Beaufort and Company Mystery. The series is set in Savannah, Georgia, where young lawyer Brianna Winston-Beaufort has set up her practice. Or, rather, practices. Bree is a tax attorney, but she is also a celestial advocate. Her living clients pay the bills (barely!) but the dead and damned create most of her work.
In the previous four books, author Mary Stanton has created a world with definite rules and boundaries. The angels who work for Bree can’t touch those living clients and Bree is forced to maintain two separate offices to keep her cases from mixing.
Those rules haven’t changed in this latest installment, much to Bree’s chagrin. In Angel Condemned, Bree’s aunt is accused of murdering her fiance, Prosper White. She wants to use her angel staff to help build a defense, but they aren’t allowed to help in matters of the living.
White, a museum curator, was involved with authenticating the Cross of Justinian. And that artifact has a soul attached. A soul in need of Bree’s special kind of help. Only when it becomes clear that the Cross of Justinian (and the thirty-year mystery surrounding it) are crucial to White’s murder can Bree’s angelic staff help.
Like the rest of this series, Angel Condemned is a quick read. Stanton’s characters are well written and her descriptions of Savannah are wonderful. Unlike most cozies, this one is written in third person and is very well done. I found myself trying to take notes on the writing style as I was reading the book. Because it’s the fifth in the series, I would suggest reading them in order (Defending Angels, Angel’s Advocate, Avenging Angels, and Angel’s Verdict) but I don’t think it’s necessary if you can’t. Stanton includes a “Cast of Characters” at the beginning of each book to help readers and I found that useful as well.
If you’re looking for a paranormal mystery that is vampire free, check out the Beaufort and Company series. If you’ve already tried it, what did you think?
Nichole
My Goodreads Bookshelf
