Review: Princess Elizabeth's Spy

Princess Elizabeth's Spy

By Susan Elia MacNeal

Published: October 16, 2012

My review:

In this sequel to Mr. Churchill's Secretary, Maggie Hope hopes to join MI-5 but unfortunately she is deemed unsuitable to be an operative in the field and instead she is assigned to find out who is involved in a plot against the Royal Family while posing as a math tutor to Princess Elizabeth.

While I liked Princess Elizabeth's Spy, it was primarily because I like the protagonist Maggie Hope and the historical time period. The ending also introduced some promising plot developments for the next book which I appreciated. Unfortunately the mystery in this book just did not live up to book one. It was easy to predict and I didn't find much to surprise me. I also thought the feel of the historical time period worked better in the first book with the start up of the air raids and the effects of that and rationing on the characters. I did find it interesting to learn about the young Princess Elizabeth and what her life in that time would have been like. I don't know how accurate the portrayal was of the Princesses or the King and Queen but I liked getting a behind the scenes look at their lives. I just wish the mystery was less predictable.

Still, in spite of its flaws, I liked the book. Maggie is an admirable character and in this book she is dealing with some difficult emotional circumstances in her personal life on top of career disappointment and trying to figure out who the spy is at Windsor Castle. While the main mystery disappointed me, I liked the twists in Maggie's personal life and the introduction of  some new characters. I am hopeful that book three, His Majesty's Hope will be a much better effort because this author is capable of writing a great historical mystery.