Angels Among Us?

Angel Condemned by Mary Stanton.

Reviewed by Marlyn Beebe.

Brianna Winston-Beaufort has two law practices. The "temporal" office, the one that pays the bills, is located in an office building on Savannah's Bay Street. The celestial office is located in a house on Angelus Street, and can only be found by Bree and the Company who work there with her, and perhaps the occasional client.

The staff and clients of the Angelus office are not living humans. The staff are what is commonly known as angels, while the clients are the souls of the dead who believe they've been wrongly condemned to Hell.

In this, the fifth installment in the series, Bree's aunt asks her to represent her fiancé Prosper White. Prosper is being sued by an antiques dealer for allegedly stealing a valuable magazine cover for a museum display. Bree hopes to settle out of court, but before she has a chance to do much, Prosper is murdered and Cissy is the prime suspect, although there is no shortage of people who disliked Prosper.

Meanwhile, Bree is trying to ignore the summons of a celestial client, who also claims to have been wronged by Prosper as well as Allard Chambers, the antique dealer.

Mary Stanton has created a believable protagonist in Bree, who understands the task she has inherited, but sometimes wants to decline, and is always frustrated by bureaucracy, whether temporal or celestial. And although all the elements of a horror story are here: evil attorneys opposing Bree, mirrors that reflect demons and paintings that portray reality, this is not a frightening tale.

Rather, the philosophy underlying this unputdownable book, that there is someone working to correct divine mistakes, is a comfort.

*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me a copy of the book for review purposes.

All Hallow's Eve giveaway!

CFC is giving away two thrillers as a Hallowe'en treat. Andrew E. Kaufman and L.J. Sellers have each offered an e-book to a commenter (one to each of two people) on today's post.

Drew's treat is While the Savage Sleeps

and L.J.'s is Secrets to Die For.

Comments must be posted by midnight on October 31st. The drawing for each book will be made by its author.