Mr. Churchill's Secretary: A Maggie Hope Mystery

by Susan Elia MacNeal

Paperback, 2012

Description

Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:For fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Laurie R. King, and Anne Perry, Mr. Churchill�??s Secretary captures the drama of an era of unprecedented challenge�??and the greatness that rose to meet it. London, 1940. Winston Churchill has just been sworn in, war rages across the Channel, and the threat of a Blitz looms larger by the day. But none of this deters Maggie Hope. She graduated at the top of her college class and possesses all the skills of the finest minds in British intelligence, but her gender qualifies her only to be the newest typist at No. 10 Downing Street. Her indefatigable spirit and remarkable gifts for codebreaking, though, rival those of even the highest men in government, and Maggie finds that working for the prime minister affords her a level of clearance she could never have imagined�??and opportunities she will not let pass. In troubled, deadly times, with air-raid sirens sending multitudes underground, access to the War Rooms also exposes Maggie to the machinations of a menacing faction determined to do whatever it takes to change the course of history. Ensnared in a web of spies, murder, and intrigue, Maggie must work quickly to balance her duty to King and Country with her chances for survival. And when she unravels a mystery that points toward her own family�??s hidden secrets, she�??ll discover that her quick wits are all that stand between an assassin�??s murderous plan and Churchill himself. In this daring debut, Susan Elia MacNeal blends meticulous research on the era, psychological insight into Winston Churchill, and the creation of a riveting main character, Maggie Hope, into a spectacula… (more)

Publication

Bantam (2012), Edition: Later Printing, Paperback, 384 pages

Media reviews

The Toronto Star
MacNeal’s first novel offers such a giddy premise and gathers so much impulse in its opening half that we root for her to close the deal in the second half. Alas, no such luck. The setting is London during 1940’s Battle of Britain; the heroine is a plucky young American named Maggie Hope who
Show More
wins a job as a secretary to Winston Churchill. Maggie soon finds herself up against German spies, traitorous English Nazis and IRA terrorists. She outwits all the villains with much aplomb until the story stumbles on its own preposterous plot twists.
Show Less
1 more
Publisher's Weekly
A plucky heroine isn’t enough to salvage a plot overly dependent on contrivances, as shown by MacNeal’s debut set in 1940 London, the kickoff to a series. The murder of Diana Snyder, a secretary in Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s office, creates a vacancy that American expat Maggie Hope
Show More
agrees to fill, despite her umbrage at having been previously passed over for a more substantive position there. Maggie adjusts fairly quickly, even as the people of London strive to withstand both German bombs and IRA outrages. Since those behind Snyder’s fatal stabbing as well as their motive are identified early on, the suspense mainly lies in whether Maggie will be able to use her intellect to foil a plot aimed at decapitating the British government. On several occasions, disaster is averted purely by chance, undermining efforts to credit Maggie with saving the day.
Show Less

Original publication date

2012-04-03

Physical description

384 p.; 8.01 inches

ISBN

0553593617 / 9780553593617

Similar in this library

Page: 0.0714 seconds