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The pace is picking up in AVENGING ANGELS, third in the unique Beaufort and Company series. The first book, DEFENDING ANGELS, set up the premise: when souls are wrongfully damned, Bree Beaufort will argue their case to the Celestial Court of Final Judgment. Along the way, Bree usually finds herself proving to a terrestrial court that her client's accidental deaths were no accidents. The second book, ANGEL'S ADVOCATE, showed more the Celestial Court and also introduced Beazley and Caldecott, the Opposition lawyers. With the major world building out of the way, Stanton is now free to focus on adding plot twists and embellishment, which enrich this story. According to police reports, Russell O'Rourke shot himself in front of his wife and their friends when his investment bank went bust. But both the widow and the cop investigating the death believe he was murdered -- she thinks former business partners did it; he thinks she did it. Bree doesn't know who did what, but she knows that when she touched the desk, she received a psychic plea from a soul in torment. In order to find out the truth behind O'Rourke's postmortem status, Bree will go undercover as the widow's lawyer. In doing so, she will become entangled in several subplots, including her little sister's determination to become an actress for the O'Rourke-supported Savannah Shakespeare Players, the possible machinations of a dirty cop, and the probability of a killer willing to strike again. Bree also has personal issues to address -- her work is changing her, but for the better or for the worse? AVENGING ANGELS delivers things that I've been hoping for since the series started, especially in its depiction of the Celestial Court. Finally, three books later, the doors open for a moment and the readers get a glimpse inside. (That the court cases are dismissed off screen has been my biggest complaint about these books.) We also get more detail on the workings of Beaufort and Company. As much as I'd like to tell everyone to run out and buy the book - it's one I've enjoyed like few other books I've read - there are two caveats that must be mentioned. First, the reader should be aware that two minor characters use graphically racist language. (Until now, the series has been scrupulous about avoiding racism and still goes out of its way to be fair to all religions despite it's ties to Dante.) Second, AVENGING ANGELS cannot be read as a standalone book - too much relies on knowing the details provided in the previous ones, and the characters themselves constantly reference ANGEL'S ADVOCATE. But AVENGING ANGELS is a worthy addition to a truly novel series - if you haven't met Bree Beaufort yet, start at the beginning of this fascinating blend of mystery, theology, and science fiction.
Reviewed by Linnea Dodson, February 2010
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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