Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Princess Elizabeth’s Spy-Susan Elia MacNeal

Princess Elizabeth’s Spy


Susan Elia MacNeal

Bantam, Oct 16 2012, $15.00

ISBN 9780553593624



Following the Battle of Britain, the country remains on alert anticipating a blitzkrieg invasion. In that fearful atmosphere, American expatriate Maggie Hope left her position as Mr. Churchill’s Secretary to become an MI5 agent in training though she knows her superiors, peers and instructors consider espionage a man’s job in spite of her being one of the best code-breakers.



Her first assignment annoys Maggie as she expected to head to the continent not Windsor Castle where she goes undercover as fourteen year old Princess Elizabeth’s math tutor. However, instead of ennui, Maggie finds the castle finds a disturbing one as she investigates a murder that leads to a possible traitorous conspiracy reaching high in the royal family



The second Maggie Hope WWII mystery (see Mr. Churchill’s Secretary) is an entertaining whodunit that brings to life Windsor Castle and England during the war. Maggie is a superb heroine as she begins to realize the scope of sedition and knows if she fails the Battle of Britain will have been lost at Windsor. The storyline starts slow while the cast is introduced; but once that is done Princess Elizabeth’s Spy turns into a fabulous thriller.



Harriet Klausner



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