Just finished reading...

Angel's Verdict (Beaufort & Company #4) by Mary Stanton.*

Bree and EB receive a visit from elderly actress Justine Coville, who says that she'd like to update her will. But before she leaves, she admits that she thinks that someone is trying to injure her on the set of Bitter Tide, a movie being made about Savannah's infamous 1950s B-actress Haydee Quinn.

Justine is playing the role of Consuelo Bulloch, and is using one of Consuelo's brooches to help her feel a connection to the character. But when Bree touches the brooch, she senses that Consuelo wants her help.

Not sure what she can do to help either of them, Bree takes both cases, and soon discovers that they have even more in common than she'd first thought.

The concept that when Bree takes over her late Uncle Franklin's law practice, she also accepts proprietorship of his celestial business of defending condemned souls is unique. Stanton has created two believable, intertwined worlds which feel fresh and intriguing after four books, and leave the reader wanting to know more.

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

Recent reads

When I was at Left Coast Crime, we were given book bags filled with books. One of the books I received was an ARC of Mary Stanton's Angel's Advocate, the second book in her Beaufort and Company series. Of course, being the way I am, I had to pick up a copy of the first book. Our heroine, Bree Winston-Beaufort inherits a law practice in Savannah from her uncle. Her first night in town, as she is unpacking, she receives a call from billionaire Benjamin Skinner, who just happens to have died earlier that day. She is as confused by this as she is by the fact that most people are unable to find her office, until she talks to one of her old law professors, who informs her that she is to try this case in the Celestial Courts, where Skinner has been charged with greed.
This is somewhat of a departure for Stanton, who has written several childrens' fantasies (and as Claudia Bishop writes traditional mysteries) but I think she's done a splendid job. I stayed up very late one night to finish Defending Angels, and completed Angel's Advocate (release date June 2, 2009) the the following day.
Since Advocate hasn't even been released yet, I realize that I have a long time to wait for book 3, but it will be hard. Well, at least I'll have plenty of other stuff to read.


Another book I finished in one day is Laura Lippman's latest.This standalone is the story of Cassandra Fallows, a well-known author of two memoirs. Her third book is a novel, not as successful as the first two, and she decides to go back to writing non-fiction when she stumbles across a news story about a woman named Calliope Jenkins, with whom she went to elementary school. Calliope has been released from prison after serving seven years for contempt of court, because she refused to reveal the whereabouts of her toddler son, whom she was suspected of killing. Cassandra returns to her old neighborhood and interviews many of her elementary schoolmates, discovering in the process that the memories she published in her books aren't necessarily the same as those of her old friends.
This is an absolutely stunning novel, well-written and with well-constructed characters.