Book Review: Princess Elizabeth’s Spy: A Maggie Hope Mystery by Susan Elia MacNeal

 

Princess Elizabeth’s Spy: A Maggie Hope Mystery

by Susan Elia MacNeal

I chose this book because our book club theme this month is espionage, because I wanted something from our digital collection to read on my ereader, and because the cover appealed to me. I know, I know, but an appealing cover is a factor when I’m deciding, I admit it.

The main character is Maggie Hope, a plucky secretary to Churchill who grew up in America and becomes a British spy. She is sent undercover as a math tutor to Windsor Castle during World War II, when a plot to kidnap or kill the princesses is suspected.

This was a pleasant mystery, as much as anything that involves murder and World War II can be. The descriptions of unpleasant things are kept rather matter of fact, giving it more of a cozy mystery feel than a gritty realistic one.

I would consider this a formula mystery with some good historical trappings. I enjoyed the characters, particularly the sweet characterizations of the two young princesses, though everything was somewhat one dimensional. There was a bit of a romance, but rather perfunctory of the No, no, we mustn’t variety.

It was a bit simplistic at times, some of the thoughts and actions of the main character didn’t quite make sense, they seemed there to serve the plot without being true to the character. Maggie leaps to conclusions regarding her father that are clearly not warranted. Her father sends her a book with a message and she’s not even curious about it, even though she recently found a secret message in another book. Then, when she’s angry at him, sure she knows he’s done something awful, she picks it up to read just to distract herself. Most people wouldn’t touch it at that point. 

The historical trappings are interesting, though the author goes pretty far afield from what actually happened. They mentioned Operation Edelweiss several times but never really went into what it was. At one point, I thought it was a plan to kidnap Princess Elizabeth, but on looking it up, I discovered it was much more complicated and had nothing to do with the book I was reading. It was just a point of historical reference.

Would probably appeal to fans of Jacqueline Winspear. A relaxing type of murder mystery with just enough intrigue to draw me on throughout the book, but not enough to convince me that I want to read the rest of the series.

In conclusion, meh, it was okay. A good series to buy for your grandmother to read, or if you are looking to just relax.