In Defending Angels, the first of these books, Brianna (Bree) Winston Beaufort, child of a very old family in the South, moves to Savannah to take over her late uncle's law practice. While repairs are made on her uncle's offices, she rents temporary space in an old house set in the middle of a graveyard. The office space comes with a warm but pushy housekeeper / landlady and soon is populated by a rescued dog, a flamboyant male secretary, and a Russian emigrant law clerk. They all seem to know more about her than she does, and they soon use every skill they have to help Bree with her first case: investigating the death of wealthy real estate developer Benjamin Skinner. Not only must Bree find out what happened to Skinner in what is being termed an accidental drowning, but she must find evidence that Skinner is not guilty of rank greed for something called the Celestial Court. Bree also has to deal with a condescending ex-boyfriend who has been hired by Skinner's law firm to block her inquiries, a hot police detective, and the enigmatic Gabriel Striker, who keeps showing up in the most unexpected places.

There are more mysteries here than Skinner's death, and Bree manages to uncover every one of them. I was totally engrossed by Defending Angels. The characters were so complex and so out there, and the murder mystery was interesting. But it was the other underlying mystery that bled into the paranormal and spiritual that kept me turning pages well after I should have turned the light out—and even when I was ready to close the book, I sometimes kept the light on.

Mary Stanton has produced an engaging and elevating new mystery series. Look for the second installment, Angel's Advocate, coming in June.