The Queen’s Accomplice: A Maggie Hope Mystery
London, 1942: Maggie Hope, working in the Special Operations Executive offices, is troubled by the disappearance of some young women recruits, as well as her suspicions that SOE operatives in France are in serious trouble. But those concerns must be set aside when the corpse of a viciously slain young woman is found in Regent’s Park. Maggie, reassigned to help investigate the murders, works with the intriguing DCI Durgin while her good friends train for their own assignments as SOE agents. But Maggie has attracted the attention of a deranged killer, and her efforts to catch this monster may cost her life.
This was my first Maggie Hope novel, and Maggie’s determined quest to catch this Ripper wanna-be works as a suspenseful stand-alone. The inequality with which women agents were treated during WWII makes for an interesting and informative theme, and wartime London is vividly portrayed. Several ongoing plot threads from previous novels in the series might be better appreciated if the books were read in sequence, although nothing is really left hanging. Recommended for those who like their historical mysteries with large servings of suspense – I couldn’t sleep!
