Susan Elia MacNeal

Returning as a teacher to her former training camp after a traumatic undercover mission, Maggie investigates a series of poisonings and Churchill's growing stockpile of biological weapons in anticipation of a Nazi invasion. By the Edgar Award-nominated author of Princess Elizabeth's Spy. Original. 35,000 first printing.

The Prime Minister's Secret Agent

Sahi K

When your protagonist is a badass spy who manages to make her way through high society Berlin during the war and brings back one of the most notorious German spies, you tend to expect so much more from her next adventure. And that’s why this book failed the expectations game, at least for me.

Maggie has returned to Scotland as an SOE instructor and is seemingly suffering from PTSD after having killed a man in self-defense. She is hard on her trainees but it’s understandable because she just wants them to be tougher. When she travels to Edinburgh to watch Susan’s play, she finds that two women are killed and Susan is critical. Her investigation into this and the catching of the culprit takes just a few chapters and it was so quick, I thought how was this even possible. Wasn’t this the plot of the book, at least according to the blurb. Most of the remaining book deals with the circumstances preceding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. There was also another plot line of Clara Hess imprisoned in the Tower of London, her regression and some insight into her past.

I read these books because I like Maggie. That’s also the reason I was disappointed here – there was so much less of her. The murders were hardly a mystery and I felt they were not up to Maggie’s standards. The mystery should at least be complicated enough for her to deploy her skills. The plot dealing with the Pearl Harbor attack is fiction of course, but it did make for an interesting perspective of how the imminent attack was planned and the intelligence failures that prevented from anticipating it. I was a bit confused about the whole Clara story and it didn’t make me feel any sympathetic towards her. On the whole, this book wasn’t bad, just not enough.

World War II rages on across Europe, but Maggie Hope has finally found a moment of rest on the pastoral coast of western Scotland. Home from an undercover mission in Berlin, she settles down to teach at her old spy training camp, and to heal from scars on both her body and heart. Yet instead of enjoying the quieter pace of life, Maggie is quickly drawn into another web of danger and intrigue. When three ballerinas fall strangely ill in Glasgow-including one of Maggie's dearest friends-Maggie partners with MI-5 to uncover the truth behind their unusual symptoms. What she finds points to a series of poisonings that may expose shocking government secrets and put countless British lives at stake. But it's the fight brewing in the Pacific that will forever change the course of the war-and indelibly shape Maggie's fate. Praise for The Prime Minister's Secret Agent '[A] stellar series . . . [Susan Elia] MacNeal has written an impeccably researched, wonderfully engaging story.' Minneapolis Star Tribune 'A treat for WWII buffs and mystery lovers alike.' Booklist '[MacNeal] seamlessly mixes fact and fiction.' Publishers Weekly 'Splendid . . . riveting . . . The research is complete and fascinating. . . . The scenes are so detailed that readers will feel as if they are next to the characters and listening to them speaking.' RT Book Reviews (Top Pick) 'Fans of Jacqueline Winspear and Charles Todd will feast on this riveting series chronicling Britain's own 'Greatest Generation.' MacNeal's research and gift for dialogue shine through on every page, transporting the reader to Churchill's inner circle. The Prime Minister's Secret Agent is both top-drawer historical fiction and mystery in its finest hour.' Julia Spencer-Fleming, New York Times bestselling author