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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