![\"accomplice\"](\"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Accomplice.jpg\")
<\/a>Maggie Hope, intrepid spy, code-breaker and all-around spunky young woman, is at it again, in the thick of World War II action and intrigue. Susan Elia MacNeal\u2019s sixth Maggie Hope mystery offers plenty of intrigue, excitement and insight into how life went on for people in the dark days of the war.<\/p>\nHaving returned to London recently from accompanying Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the White House after Pearl Harbor finally brought the United States into the war (Mrs. Roosevelt\u2019s Confidante<\/em>, 2015), Maggie is biding her time working as a \u201cgirl Friday\u201d (too often, that means serving tea and enduring sexist slights) at the Special Operations Executive\u2019s offices on Baker Street. Far from being \u201conly\u201d a secretary, Maggie has succeeded at challenging secret-agent assignments and has taught aspiring spies. But she\u2019s trying to wait patiently in London until her recently discovered half-sister, Elise Hess, a resistance fighter in Berlin, can be brought to safety there.<\/p>\n As might be expected, Maggie is not in for a quiet respite, much as it might be needed. \u201cJack is Back\u201d \u2013 Someone is brutally killing young women in a ghoulish re-creation of the Jack the Ripper murders, leaving messages in case anyone fails to make the connection. But these victims aren\u2019t prostitutes; they are daring young women who are volunteering to be spies and saboteurs for the war effort. Maggie finds herself working with MI5 and the London police to try to stop the \u201cBlackout Beast.\u201d Unfortunately, the blackout that\u2019s necessary to protect Londoners from Nazi bombings affords the new Jack lots of opportunity to carry out his deeds unseen.<\/p>\n Other things are happening as well, lots of things. Maggie is convinced that something\u2019s badly wrong with one of the female agents in France, but she can\u2019t get her boss at SOE to pay attention to her worries. Friends help her move back in to the house she inherited from her British grandmother, where almost immediately she takes in one of her old friends who how has had to flee her home, infant in tow.<\/p>\n Two other friends \u2013 male and female \u2013 are preparing to head for France as spies, and Maggie\u2019s past with the man makes the woman suspicious.<\/p>\n Maggie briefly sees her father, who\u2019s in hospital, and readers learn that the treacherous woman who is Maggie’s mother as well as Elise\u2019s is still a factor to be feared.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Maggie renews her relationship with Queen Elizabeth and the young princesses.<\/p>\n And in Germany and France, Elise is having her own problems and adventures.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to see why these books have become best sellers. Susan Elia MacNeal deftly weaves a great deal of historical information about a momentous time into fascinating mysteries and the adventures of a daring and determined young woman. These novels aren\u2019t deep, psychological thrillers, but MacNeal gives us enough of a look into the thoughts and emotions of Maggie and other key characters to add depth to the fast-paced stories.<\/p>\n With plenty of action and compelling storylines, these books lend themselves well to audio presentation. I suppose, since Maggie is half American and was raised in the States, an American reader would have worked also, but Susan Duerden\u2019s British accents (yes, she makes appropriate changes for various characters) enhance the story\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n The Queen\u2019s Accomplice<\/em> concludes with enough loose ends, unanswered questions and promises of action to make Maggie\u2019s fan impatient for novel No. 7.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE QUEEN\u2019S ACCOMPLICE. By Susan Elia MacNeal. Read by Susan Duerden. Books on Tape. 10 \u00bd hours; 9 CDs. Also available in paperback from Bantam Books, $16. Maggie Hope, intrepid spy, code-breaker and all-around spunky young woman, is at it again, in the thick of World War II action and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,300,9,5],"tags":[820,461,184,261,714],"class_list":["post-2016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio-books","category-british-mysteries","category-historical-fiction","category-mysteries","tag-audio-books","tag-maggie-hope","tag-mysteries-2","tag-susan-elia-macneal","tag-world-war-ii-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2016"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2736,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016\/revisions\/2736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}