Review: A Touch of Southern Gothic in Angel's Rest by Mary Edwards

Angel’s Rest
By Mary Edwards
Wings ePress Inc.
ISBN: 9781597055079
240 Pages

The beautiful cover of a man carrying a small girl out of the water immediately captured me. Who was the little girl? Did she drown? Or was she still alive? What was her name? Obviously the answers were to come as I began to read Angel's Rest by Mary Edwards!

When Deirdre (Dee) Anderson was called to the office of Tyler Summerfield, a man she had always called Uncle Tyler, she thought it was going to be about a small inheritance from her grandfather who had recently died. Uncle Tyler had been her grandfather's partner and was now handling his estate. Unfortunately, he now had the responsibility to tell Dee that there was no money. In fact, he had been giving her a small allowance out of his own pocket. He had held $1000 to give to her at this time, but knew that it was not sufficient for the long term.

At the meeting, however, he revealed that he had at least one option for Dee. If she were willing, he had arranged to have her work to restore a home in Mississippi, just outside of Vicksburg, which had been built before the civil war, but long vacant. Dee was in a daze, knowing that she had no background to undertake the work, but was able to think clearly enough that she realized she had no choice. If she didn't take this opportunity, she would have to immediately start her own search for a position.

Raised by her grandfather, Dee had become a rather independent woman and so, after the shock of losing her grandfather plus having to assume a position for which she did not feel qualified, she pulled herself together and made the journey. Immediately she would meet a number of individuals: Sean Wilson was to oversee the work she would be doing and Bill Brooks, a local veterinarian who was a friend of those involved at the home. She also met Melanie Nash who was to assist Dee and Sadie Lucas, who had years ago helped keep house at Angel's Rest.

There was one major problem, however. Dee had been told a little about some of the people who might be discussed when she arrived and she had been told not to reveal that she knew anything about them. The problem was that Dee indeed did not know anything but, regardless, she soon found that someone was trying to get her to leave!

Dee had known little about how her parents had died so that her grandfather raised her. Now she was in a place that she seemed to remember and she began to have visions of past scenes that seemed to have taken place within the home or on the grounds. In trying to begin a new life, she had accepted the individuals she was now living with at face value as potential friends, and she would enjoy their company, only to have them do or say something that was so strange that she began to doubt or trust them. Both men had shown a romantic interest, but then she would see that they were involved with others as well. Soon, she could not even tell herself how she really felt about her beaus!

Readers will feel the fear and terror and, mostly, frustration that Dee experienced. It results in a page-by-page suspense that will keep you on edge. Nobody was allowed to talk about the past, yet everything happening seemed to be based on it. For instance, why had Sadie started calling the home, Angel's Rest? And who was the little girl Sadie claimed to see there? Soon Dee decided she had to find out or possibly lose her life!

Mary Edwards tells the story of Angelique, the little girl that had been carried from the water so many years ago to haunt Angel's Rest until the girl found her own rest. Enter the horror of that search into which Dee Anderson has fallen, and through which she must now find her own personal salvation! Visit this southern, mysterious home and help solve the mystery--you'll be glad you joined the search!

G. A. Bixler