Beaufort and Company Mysteries Books In Order

Publication Order of Beaufort & Company Mysteries Books

The Beaufort and Company Mysteries is a series consisting of cozy mystery books by Mary Stanton, an American novelist. This series follows a lawyer, Brianna Winston-Beaufort who receives a law firm in the Savannah area, Georgia as inheritance. The catch here is that this firm is haunted.

Mary Stanton started her Beaufort and Company Mysteries series back in 2008 with the book Defending Angels. The Law school has not prepared Brianna Winston Beaufort to appeal the cases for dead people. After inheriting the haunted law firm from her uncle, Beaufort finds herself with a very long list of the ethereal clients who require her help.

In this series debut, Defending Angels, we find an already dead businessman who needs Bree’s help so as to find his killer and then prove his innocence against the charges of greed that come from the Celestial Court, mightiest hand of law. The final verdict in this particular case could put Bree’s life on the line along with her client’s afterlife. Below is a description of the first two books in Mary Stanton’s Beaufort and Company Mysteries books.

Defending Angels

This is the first book in Beaufort and Company series. A blend of fantasy and mystery, the story mainly focuses on Brianna Winston-Beaufort after she takes over her uncle’s hinky law practice firm in Savannah. It is a concept with lots of potential even though the thread of this story gets muddled at certain times.

With a very long list of the ethereal clients who require her help, Brianna Winston Beaufort’s career choice has already began haunting her. A dead businessman is in need of her help so as to find the person who killed him.

The mystery aspect in this book is quite straightforward: to determine who killed a local magnate and the reason for the murder. Bree runs around town conducting some weak interviews with the hope of catching up someone in the lie. These conversations are not vastly important in the imposing scheme of things. However, they manage to establish a motive and allow all loose ends to be tied once she finds the killer. Nevertheless, they are secondary to the main issue – clearing the recently deceased of Celestial Court’s accusations of Greed. The mystery then comes across in form of a vehicle through which Bree finds her new role on the spiritual sides.

Stanton manages to create a formulaic cast. However, the fantasy underpinnings in the novel prevent the main story from becoming ho-hum. There is a cute cop, exasperating sister, the eerie landlady who Knows many things and a dog that’s far too smart. Brianna Winston herself is a little bit clichéd as the feisty young woman that blindly tumbles into the weird phenomena.

Frankly, Bree is not settled enough for majority of the book. You cannot determine whether her lack of freak-out actually comes from denial or whether the strength and Southern manners are really remarkable. The sudden appearance of the ghostly figures, several phone calls from the dead men and the putrid glow that emanates from the living room would prompt a bit of panic from any girl. However, this is not the case for Bree though. In fact, she dismisses most of these occurrences, instead focusing on the hard facts. It is only after the halfway point of this book that Bree starts to question her sanity and starts demanding answers. By then, she is got adequate evidence that something is at work which is mulling over her mental health to become moot.

The fantasy element in this book is ill-defined and choppy. It’s hard for anyone to describe why without having to give away the important details. There are several vague descriptions of the disturbing visions and the random appearances from the sinister figures. Despite all this, it’s got a great potential that you’ll forgive the awkward introduction. Thanks to how deeply Mary Stanton delves in her own world-building and also how inquisitive she allows Bree Winston Beaufort to be, the series offers many things. A defense attorney from the Celestial Courts could just meet some intriguing characters. As a matter of fact, not all of them have to be professional or pleasant. You can only imagine messy proceedings that will occur in Bree’s future and Mary Stanton hints at the larger arc in play.

By the end of the book, there are very many unanswered questions on Bree, her employees as well as the scope of her unique law practice. If you are a fan of both fantasy realms and cozy mysteries, then you’ll find yourself quite eager to learn more about the next books in the series.

Angel’s Advocate

This is a great second book in the Beaufort and Company Mysteries series by Stanton. It’s an excellent stand-alone read. It also serves as a wonderful follow up to the freshman’s entry. Even though it isn’t a fast read, the novel is a captivating one that you will not want to put it down! Be prepared to spend several hours engrossed in this great mystery.

Money has been tight since Winston Beaufort inherited Beaufort and Company, the Savannah’s haunted law firm along with its staff. However, she is finally going to tackle the case that pays bills representing one spoiled girl who stole another person’s Girl Scouts cookie money. Soon enough, Bree Winston Beaufort finds that her customer’s departed millionaire dad needs help as well. Can she manage to help an unsavory daughter/father duo and actually make a living out of this?

Bree Beaufort, the attorney at law decides to take on this case of the living client this time round. Lindsay Chandler, a 17 year old girl is one of the spoiled rich kids and she has mugged and managed to steal the cookie money from the girl scout. To make matters even worse, Bree Beaufort discovers that Probert Chandler, Lindsay Chandler’s recently deceased father might not have died from the car accident as it was originally suspected. She now has 2 cases to solve, one case is for the lower court while the other one in the higher court of Celestial Sphere. Additionally, someone is hell-bent on murdering Bree. There’s an old love that resurfaces and she now has the responsibility of taking care of 2 extra monster size dogs.

The quirkiness of the characters will amuse the reader while the mystery will keep them interested in reading the next novel in the series.