“Imagine…you’ve been given a new lease on life…an amazing opportunity in a new city, with new clients…a fresh start. Everything a young attorney could hope for and more and it should be perfect until Brianna Winston-Beaufort is required to learn an entirely new version of the law to defend her first client…Celestial Law. Mary Stanton brings a unique mixture of charm and quirkiness in her newest debut series, Beaufort & Company Mysteries, with the launch of Defending Angels. Bree and her unconventional employees are impossible to resist.”
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“FANTASTIC!”
So says Romantic Times about Defending Angels, naming Mary’s newest novel pick of the month with a four-and-a-half star review!
Here’s what RT critic Pat Cooper had to say:
Stanton presents one of the most intellectually classy paranormal mysteries to come along in some time. Witty, charming, and briskly paced, this unique tale of angels and murder has to make her a star in the paranormal mystery genre. The tale grabs you from the first page and plunges you into the lyrically eccentric Southern charm of a haunted city.
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Defending Angels, by Mary Stanton, is an erudite, supernatural murder mystery with a plot that is truly original. Briefly, a young lawyer, Brianna (Bree) Beaufort, moves to Savannah, having inherited her uncle’s law practice. Her first case, referred by her uncle, concerns a millionaire, Skinner, who has been drowned. Skinner’s partner wants Bree to find out if he has been murdered, as his ghost insists. The young lawyer’s next call is from Skinner himself. He also wants to retain Bree—he has been sentenced to purgatory on the charge of Greed (one of the felonies) and wants Bree to appeal his case in the Celestial court. Bree, a complete skeptic, thinks the call is a bad joke, but begins looking for temporary office space to set up her firm and investigate the murder.
She finds—“the first floor of a small house built in the early eighteenth century: a time when the streets of Savannah had been paved with mud and horse manure, and the air shrill with the cries of slave auctioneers. The house stood flat in the middle of a tiny cemetery of ill-tended graves.” Ms. Stanton creates the city of Savannah with its sights, sounds, and history, with poetic power. I had the sense of “returning from” when I finished reading, a feeling one only gets from a deeply involving book.
Bree isn’t bothered by the cemetery (one of the book’s main tensions is that the young lawyer doesn’t believe in the supernatural), rents the space, hires a staff, and begins investigating Skinner’s murder. Accompanying her is a crowd of lively and well-drawn characters, including murder suspects, an ex-lover, a handsome policeman, her mother, father, and a sister who moves in with her, plus her five guardian angels (disguised as her landlady, her dog, her office staff of two, and her mentor).
Although raised by wealthy, intelligent parents in the gentle, southern tradition, Bree has had Miltonesque nightmares all her life, dreams in which the souls of the dead plead for her help. The devils that attack her throughout the book are trying to keep her from the high job for which the Patriarch himself has chosen her—to be the temporal head of a firm of angels, The Company, and to argue the cases of the souls in purgatory in the Celestial court.
There are several layers to this complex novel. There is the murder of Skinner, which is solved only after a difficult and dangerous investigation. There is Bree’s relationship with her parents, who are too controlling and protective. There is her ex-lover, Payton the Rat, and a handsome policeman who promises to be a new and better love interest. There are fascinating discussions of celestial law (I especially liked the one phone call allowed the recently dead). But, basically, Defending Angels is a day by day account of the life of a beautiful, talented young woman with long ash-blonde hair, elegant work clothes (a closet of Armani pant suits) who, in the face of constant supernatural attacks and angelic rescues, stubbornly refuses not only to admit her high destiny, but even to the existence of the supernatural.
One of her staff says about the drowning souls in purgatory in The Rise of the Cormorant (a painting that exactly reproduces the landscape of Bree’s nightmares) “The Patriarch created this painting as a…test. There are those…who would gaze up on those drowning souls and sail as fast away from rescue as they could. There are those who beat the bodies with their oars and hope to drown them faster. And there are those who scream with rage that they cannot help fast enough.” Finally Bree realizes that, as far back as she can remember, she has harbored the need, like a rage, to help the drowning souls in her nightmares.
In the end, she sits with her two assistants, Petru and Ron; with her mentor, Cianquino; with her landlady, Lavinia, and her dog, Sasha. “The humming, crackling energy in the room increased, bit by bit…there was a sound of wind chimes, an infinite number of crystal bells stirring with the breeze. A winged, glowing column took shape before her, a…spinning rainbow, and radiant with all the colors of the stars.” Bree hears her staff give their angel names for the first time: Tabris, Matriel, Dara, Rashiel, Sensiel, Gabriel—then they say together, “Bree, you’re one of us.” And then, with a shout that seemed to reach the heavens, “The Company!”
And Bree commits herself, finally, to both The Company, and to the job she has been born for, to be legal defense for the damned.
Defending Angels alternates between scenes of danger and moments of light humor. The protagonist is young, high-spirited, and open to love, and Savannah is beautifully crafted on the page, a delight to visit. I was reminded of Thorne Smith at times, while the effortless progression of plot and the plethora of characters made me think Dickens. But don’t start reading too late at night—it’s one of those books you can’t put down until you finish.
Mary Stanton is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the International Association of Crime Writers. She lives in New York and Florida, and Defending Angels is her thirty-third novel.
— Elaine Winer, The Compulsive Reader
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West Palm Beach author Mary Stanton has penned a delightfully quirky paranormal cozy (no sex, no gore) in this, her thirty-third novel. Stanton has laced her pages with intriguing phantoms and eerie events. And she’s chosen an excellent locale—Savannah, one of the most haunted cities in the country.
Her protagonist is Brianna “Bree” Winston-Beaufort, a wet behind the ears lawyer just freshly graduated from Duke University. Bree leaves the family practice and moves to Savannah where she hopes to open her own practice and put some distance between herself and her wealthy but eccentric family. Her adventures begin immediately when, on a quest for temporary office space, she finds the perfect place. The good news—it’s a charming 19th century house on the back streets of Savannah’s historic landmark district. The bad? It’s located right next to an old, neglected cemetery. Not only does this final resting place come equipped with a very restless ghost, it is an all murderers’ cemetery.
Thanks to a former law professor who admires her legal skill and abilities, Bree immediately snags a moneyed client—Liz Overshaw. Overshaw, the very successful CFO of a corporation headed by Benjamin “Blackhearted” Skinner, one of Georgia’s most reclusive billionaires. Skinner has recently died during a fishing trip with his daughter and son-in-law. Now, from the grave he is haunting and making miserable Overshaw’s life, determined that she will find his killer. Overshaw, in turn, hires Bree to look into his mysterious death.
Skinner needs assistance not only in finding his murderer, but also in proving his innocence against the charge of greed, an indictment handed down by the Celestial Court.
As Bree launches the investigation, she is aided by Lavinia—her charmingly southern landlady, Gabriel Striker—a PI with some unearthly talents, Sasha—a canine ally with a broken leg that Bree rescues, and two able male assistants—Petru Lucheta and Ronald Parchese. Other cast members include her legal “angel” Professor Cianquino and Payton, an obnoxious former lover.
Set against the backdrop of beautiful, timeless Savannah, this weird cadre of characters delivers ultimate justice. The characters are solid, the plot moves along nicely, and all in all, this is a captivating and whimsical mystery.
— Prudy Taylor Board, Boca Raton News, Florida Weekly and Florida Living
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Defending Angels Mary Stanton. Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-425-22498-4
A unique angle and smart plotting highlight the launch of Stanton’s Beaufort & Company paranormal mystery series. After inheriting her uncle’s Savannah, Ga., law practice, Bree Winston-Beaufort gets a call from Benjamin Skinner, a despised—and deceased—billionaire. Bree, thrust into the mysterious world of Celestial Law, agrees to represent the late Mr. Skinner before the Celestial Court, where he is on trial for greed. A cast of colorful and imaginative characters, including handsome, annoying PI Gabriel Striker, support her as she searches for witnesses to Skinner’s rare altruism and untimely death. Stanton (A Taste for Murder and others as Claudia Bishop) balances the pace skillfully, seamlessly weaving Bree’s bewildering supernatural experiences into her investigation. Engaging and charismatic, angel’s advocate Bree will be a breath of fresh air for fans of paranormal cozy mysteries. (Dec.)
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How did you get the idea for Defending Angels?
My agent challenged me to write a proposal for a ghost hunter series. I’m like a dog with a biscuit. If you offer me a treat, I’ll jump. But it ended up with angels in it, instead of ghosts. I’m not sure why.
Start to finish, how long did it take you to write Defending Angels?
I’m normally pretty fast, once I have the story idea. This will be my thirty-eighth novel, I think, and I’ve only been writing professionally since 1994. It usually takes me anywhere from six weeks to three months to write a novel. But this book seemed to take forever. I’d gotten pretty lazy, writing cozies and I decided to stretch myself. So I took my time with the research, and I was pretty careful with my prose style. And I revised a lot. End to end, it took about a year.
What is your favorite part of the writing process?
At least once in every novel, I try to laugh, get scared, and get a little weepy. If I can do all three in the same book, I feel very good about that.
What is your least favorite part of the writing process?
All the rest of it. I hate to write. I’d rather eat a rat.
Did you encounter any unusual obstacles in writing Defending Angels?
I don’t do much research when I write fiction. And I decided in an excess of hubris that I could remember enough Milton and Dante to create the celestial universe all on my own. Boy, was I wrong! I had to go back and re-read Paradise Lost and The Inferno. And then, since I’m so past by college days, it isn’t funny, I had to Google cribs for the poetry because I didn’t get it when I read the works all by myself. Thank goodness for online lesson plans!
What do you think is Bree Winston-Beaufort’s most admirable quality? Least admirable?
Bree has a compulsive need to help the helpless. It’s her greatest asset and her biggest failing.
Do any of the characters in Defending Angels have an autobiographical component? If so, who, and what is the similarity?
My very first novel was a beast fable, like Watership Down, except that I used horses as characters instead of rabbits. The main character, Duchess, was a lot like me. That was the first and last time I put myself in a book.
How do you get the ideas for the characters in Defending Angels? Are any of the characters based on people you know?
My middle sister is a terrific lawyer in Seattle. When she was a little kid, she had long, silvery blonde hair. On my last visit to her, I sat and watched her in court. She is a fierce defender of the innocent. The idea for an avenging angel sort of character came to me then. But Bree turned into someone very different—(my sister is quite thankful for that!)
Who is your favorite character in Defending Angels, and why?
Gosh—I like almost all of them. Antonia, Bree’s sister, is fun to write. I love Ron Parchese. And I love Lavinia—there’s a little bit of my ninety-four year old mother-in-law in Lavinia.
Who is your least favorite character in Defending Angels, and why?
Ooohh…that’d have to be Payton the Rat, Bree’s crummy ex-boyfriend. And his horrible boss John Stubblefield is a turkey, too. I think sleazy lawyers are the pits, and both those guys are sleazy lawyers.
Why did you choose Savannah, Georgia as the setting for Defending Angels?
It was the one place in the United States where I thought I could get away with a supernatural theme. And it’s physically gorgeous. Beautiful settings—country settings, in particular— mean a great deal to me—both in real life and in fiction. If I had to live in an apartment in New York City I’d probably wither away and die.
What do you hope readers will take away from the book?
At one point in this novel, Petru says to Bree: “There are people who plunge into chaos to save the drowning, people who run away as fast as they can, and people who help victims drown faster.” I want everyone to take the plunge to help the helpless.
What’s next for Bree?
I’m in the middle of Angel’s Advocate, the second in the series. Bree learns a lot more about Leah, her mother, and the secrets behind Uncle Franklin’s law practice. The book itself is based on Dante’s premise that the ninth—and most horrific—circle of Hell is reserved for betrayers.
What’s next for Mary Stanton?
I have a new Claudia Bishop mystery series debuting next year called The Grouchy Gourmet. The first novel’s due in the fall. After that is the third in the Beaufort & Company angels series: Winged Justice.
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Fresh from the cutting room, here’s a short video trailer for my new book, Defending Angels: A Beaufort & Company Mystery, out in paperback December 2 on Berkley Books/Penguin USA.
I hope you are as excited by this as I am! If you enjoy this video, please feel free to share it.
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Here’s what first readers of Defending Angels have to say…
“Spooky Southern charm and a wonderfully inventive approach to the afterlife, with a celestial twist, makes Mary Stanton’s Defending Angels a real stand-out. Brava!”
—Madelyn Alt, National Bestselling Author of Hex Marks The Spot
“Mary Stanton’s Defending Angels gives heavenly choirs reason to sing! From its opening scene in a haunted graveyard to its final, satisfying conclusion amid a quartet of suspected killers, Angels successfully spices the madcap zaniness of Bridget Jones with the determined goodness of a young lawyer fighting to build her first practice. Toss in a ghost or two, a handful of angels, a nightmare of epic proportions, and a heroine clever and brave enough to face them all, and Savannah’s Spanish-moss-draped streets will never be the same!”
—Mindy Klasky, author of Magic and The Modern Girl, Sorcery and The Single Girl, and Girl’s Guide To Witchcraft
“A graveyard, spirits, and mysterious angels. Attorney Briana Winston-Beaufort should have never set up business in Savanna, Georgia, but thank God she did because Defending Angels is a wonderfully scary tale. Ghostly paintings and phone calls from the dead will keep you up all night as you turn the pages, but you keep telling yourself…it’s only a novel, it’s only a novel. Mary Stanton has truly captured the spirit…or spirits of Savanah!”
—Don Bruns, IMBA best-selling author of St. Bart’s Breakdown
“Intriguing and wholly different and original. I was hooked from page one. Defending Angels is at once charming, erudite and chilling. This book should give Mary Stanton the same kind of cult following usually reserved for Charlaine Harris!”
—Rhys Bowen, award-winning author of The Molly Murphy Mysteries and Her Royal Spyness
“Mary Stanton’s imaginative Defending Angels definitely has wings. An elegant enchantment with a delightful heroine and a historic setting!”
—Carolyn Hart, author of Ghost at Work
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