An absolutely delightful debut!
Maggie Hope is the cat’s meow and definitely no pushover in 1940 war-time London!
Maggie is English-born but American-raised and is sent on a mission back to London to sell her grandmother’s estate. Along this journey she gathers a gaggle of girlfriends that end up rooming with her in the big & old house (not a good market when war is declared) and lands herself a job working as a typist for Winston Churchill at No. 10 Downing Street!
At first Maggie is flustered and frustrated at being a typist, why she’s a university-educated-mathematical genius and she’s supposed to be starting her graduate studies at MIT for pity’s sake – not working as a mere typist!
However, working for the Prime Minister comes with much intrigue, inside knowledge and that math degree does come in handy after all! Maggie finds herself breaking codes, becoming embroiled in intercepting a nasty plot to assassinate the PM and uncovering the identity of murderers and IRA members. All of this may sound far-fetched, but MacNeal has written a gem of a story that keeps you reading! The characters are so wonderfully real and the banter between Maggie and her friends, family and co-workers is stellar.
Maggie Hope is a whip-smart spy (she’s tapped to work for MI-Five at the end) and I’m for certainly looking forward to following Maggie on her new adventures. Mr. Churchill’s Secretary comes with just the right amount of mystery, intrigue, war-time history and romance. I’m giving it 4.5 stars – really enjoyed it! It also reminded me to go back and start watching the rest of Foyle’s War! :-) And…Maggie is a wonderful heroine to match with Maisie Dobbs! SO pleased about that!
The Lit Bitch also has great things to say about Mr. Churchill’s Secretary. You can read her review here.
You can also find out all about Susan Elia MacNeal at her site here. Even find out about her forthcoming book in the Maggie Hope series, “Princess Elizabeth’s Spy” (AND it says there are 2 more coming! Yahoo!) (so Princess Elizabeth and Maggie Hope…together = excellent & can’t wait fiction!!)