I have read almost all of the Maggie Hope books by Susan Elia MacNeal and have enjoyed them thoroughly but this one is head and shoulders above the others. With this book, Susan Elia MacNeal rises into the pantheon of great mystery writers. This book is reminiscent of the careful crafting of Dame Agatha Christie. The story is skillfully written and the suspense remains intact throughout. I read it while on vacation and couldn't put it down. My wife kept asking if I wanted to do this or that or the other thing and I would reply, "No! I want to read my book." It is that compelling. Maggie Hope is a great character strong, intelligent, and resourceful the other characters come to life and one can easily picture them. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

The Prisoner in the Castle is the eighth Maggie Hope mystery. This is the first I read of this series and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will be starting the first very soon and getting caught up.

Being the first of the series I have read puts me at a slight disadvantage in reviewing it. It could very well be a stand-alone novel, but because it is so well-written and has such a good story it would be a shame to just read The Prisoner in the Castle.

If you are a fan of Maggie Hope and thereby the writings of Susan Elia MacNeal, I highly recommend this addition. I won’t get into the particular story as it would be too hard not to spoil it for another reader.

Instead, I would like to comment on the amount of research that went into the finished product. There are no less than eight books and two documentaries the author consulted. The historical accuracy of the times, speech, mannerism, and events hold up to scrutiny. Those are the kinds of historical fiction I enjoy reading. Not only was there a well-told story, but I learned more about those troubled times in England and Scotland.

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine in exchange for my honest review. Thank you.

This eighth in the Maggie Hope Mystery series is the strongest: Maggie is more mature, she has learned from past naive and unwise decisions, and in this episode she tackles significant mystery and war-related challenges.

After the drama of past missions and significant loss, Maggie and her friends come back together, and each seems on the road to healing. There may even be hope for Maggie and a stable romantic relationship. And several loose ends and characters are mentioned -- there is more to resolve in future releases.

An enjoyable, engaging read. Look for it this August 7 (2018).

Folling in the footsteps of Agatha Christie, Susan MacNeal pits Maggie Hope against the odds in this newest release in the series. I have always admired Maggie for her pluck in soldiering on in spite the circumstances ala Winston Churchill. Maggie has been detoured to a "cooler" for spies who know too much. There she finds that her fellow spies are being killed one by one. Not until a German spy is suspected of killing them is Maggie called in to lead and discover the killer. The exciting standoff between Maggie and the spy lead to an exciting ending to this tale. Maggie again earns the begrudging respect of the men in charge, and seems closer to finally finding someone who will love her for who she is, spy and all.,

This is the first book I've read in the series. Its not quite what I thought it would be. While it wasn't my type of book I can see how others would really like it.

What a delightful (belated) introduction to a new-to-me-writer! For readers who ask about each series, "Do I have to read the books in order?", my answer in this case is, apparently not. I enjoyed Prisoner in the Castle, #8 in the Maggie Hope series, and plan to chase down the earlier installments.

Since this is a historical mystery, set in the UK during WWII, it seemed fitting and satisfying that the style and literary techniques had a vintage feel. Character development was good, and I had only one quibble about the credibility of a character's behavior (that would be Anna, who I can't picture making it through the rigorous training required of an espionage agent. She seemed more like a neurotic recluse.)

But the rest of the group -- a dozen or so British spies being held captive by their own government in a so-called cooler facility -- were great fun to hang out with, particularly as my suspicion swung from one to another of them.

Author Susan Elia MacNeal did well with the pacing, too. She hit the "Goldilocks" point where the book was neither too long (thus dragging) nor too short (leaving the reader unsatisfied and the plot unresolved.) It was just right!

Reading this book (which I obtained from Netgalley as an ARC prior to US publication) was time well spent.

I really enjoyed this book! It starts as almost a homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None with a number of characters stranded on a remote island with a killer on the loose (It’s even mentioned in the early pages of this book!), but there are enough twists to make it unique; most of the inhabitants have been there for months or years for one. They’re also trained agents - prisoners of their own government - rather than having been invited there by the killer. Likewise, the action switches between the island and the mainland - there’s still a sense of isolation on the island, but it’s tempered with the mainland.

My only quibble is that a few characters seem to have more modern sensibilities. When the original title of Christie’s book is mention (complete with a vulgar term), one character reacts to it. Given the book was published a few years before this book is set, it feels a little contrived, as if Ms. McNeal is apologizing for Christie’s title.

Another pet peeve of mine is when a book isn’t the first in the series, I find references to prior books distracting and sometimes annoying. In this case, however, I’m intrigued and want to start back at the beginning of the series, see how the different relationships and prior cases have led to this one. And reading other reviews, this book might not be the strongest one in the series, so I'm looking forward to reading more of Maggie's adventures.

Overall, an enjoyable read with just more than enough suspense and mystery to make it hard to put down.

Highly recommended.

The Maggie Hope series has gotten grittier over time and while I really enjoyed the Paris Spy, I wasn't sure if I was up for more of the torture Maggie and Sarah had endured in Nazi-occupied France. So it was a bit of a relief to catch up with Maggie back in Britain and in a fairly standard murder mystery. This story is a riff on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. Instead of invited guests, the characters here are prisoners in an old manor house on a remote island in the Hebrides. Maggie and her fellow "guests" are all trained SOE agents being held on ice because they know too much or have been judged unfit for missions. As they are murdered one by one, Maggie has to investigate and try to save herself from the killer. In the meantime, DCI Durgin is trying to find Maggie to testify as a witness against the Blackout Beast, and starting to get suspicious about not getting any answers to his inquiries about her. I enjoyed the story, but I'm ready for Maggie to be reunited with her friends and back to work on the war effort in some capacity.

Maggie Hope is back and her mission is not what she signed up for. She has been sent to an island with other agents that are a security risk and none of her family or friends know where she is. Things get worst on the island when people start unexpectedly dying.. Who can Maggie trust? Meanwhile her friends in London start asking questions and searching for her. A mystery with some history that will wanting more from Maggie.

An intriguing story with interesting characters. Well developed. Lots of twists and turns that keep you guessing until the end.

Maggie Hope has been sent to a Scottish island to the Killoch Castle because she knows too much about what is going to happen to end the war. She is not alone though, there are a group who for one reason or another have been sent there to stay until the war ends.Suddenly those on the island start dying. Who is behind it? They would all like to know. In the mean time it is discovered there is a German spy among them. This comes from the mainland where hardly anyone knows they are on the island. Maggie is needed for a trial as witness and her friend David starts looking for her. Can they find what happened and get to the island before it is too late?

The Prisoner in the Castle is the story of British Intelligence agents who are sent to Scarra Island for further ‘training’. In actuality, remote Scarra Island and its castle are a prison to remove those agents from the rest of the world. One by one, everyone on the island is being murdered.

Sadly, this was not one of my favorite books. I believe the author took on too many characters to work into the story. As a result, those characters became shallow and, in many cases, either predictable or not credible.

The story itself, including the side story of why Maggie was supposed to be found, was dry and slow-moving. There was too much detail, and not enough story. Details were given to the nth degree and became distracting rather than supportive of the story. For example, the details regarding fly fishing had me skimming over that part of the tale. The ending was far too contrived to be realistic.

There were several phrases that didn’t fit in with the time period. For example, the term ‘African-American’ was yet created; instead, ‘Negro’ (or possibly ‘colored’) would have been used. As well, the term “… slept with him …” was not is use in the ‘40s.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Ms. MacNeal for the opportunity to read and review this book. I wish my review were more complimentary.

Tensions rise, the game changes, and everyone could be the killer. Just when you think you have decided who is behind the game, they are the next to perish. An enjoyable read and more so with a storm brewing outside.

Maggie is a brave, educated, strong young woman who I have come to love through the series. The ending of The Paris Spy was an unexpected cliffhanger and I was eagerly waiting for this installment, but unfortunately this was a disappointment.
Nothing really happens on the Island of Scarra where all these agents are isolated and imprisoned. They start getting killed off one by one but and I thought Maggie would get an opportunity to investigate and find the killer, but that’s not what happened. Whatever she learned, she just stumbled upon by accident. I hoped atleast the story arc of the German Spy would be interesting, but it turned out to be quite anticlimactic. None of my favorite characters seemed to have much to do here.
I would still probably continue this series because Maggie is a wonderful character but this book was definitely forgettable.

A very interesting concept for a mystery. A group of highly trained agents (all capable of murder with their bare hands) being restricted to a remote Scottish island without any communication with the outside world. When they start being murdered, and dropping like flies, suspicion and mistrust abound amoung the survivors. Can Maggie Hope (also being detained) solve the mystery and survive? The book must be read to determine the outcome.

I have rated this book 4 stars

I received an ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased review.

If you like Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and WWII intrigue, you will certainly like this book. I have read and enjoyed all of the novels in this series, starting with Mr. Churchill's Secretary. Maggie Hope is a resourceful, smart and spunky protagonist who takes great, and possibly foolish, risks, in order to help with the war effort. In The Prisoner in the Castle, Maggie has been exiled to an island where agents who pose a risk to security are secretly being housed. Over the course of Maggie's stay on the isolated and claustrophobic island, life goes on with one big exception...Maggie's fellow agents are being killed at a rapid, daily rate. Why? What danger do they present? Who can be trusted? How will the murderer be stopped? Will Maggie survive or could this be the end of the series? You will need to read the novel to find out.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a fun read in an enjoyable series.

This was a sad disappointment, the mystery was thin and I knew too early who the villain was. Very repetitive and sadly lacking in the suspense of the earlier novels in the series. A bridge too far in the series, in my opinion.

In this new Maggie Hope mystery, we take a break, mostly, from spying and the war to have an old-fashioned Agatha Christie-style manor house mystery. [cue spooky music] Isolated on a Scottish island, residents are dying one by one. Maggie Hope must solve the case!!

A couple of things were a little silly - a man interred in a vault twenty years before would not emit a strong smell of decay. Some to the characters were a tad overdrawn and caricaturish. Characters include one character who carried a taxidermied fox around, another kept talking about ghosts, and one had a club foot. Some poor editing, as well: one character was noted to leave the house in one scene, then be in the room to go get paper and pencil (chap 20), then mentioned to be outside.

Still, it was an entertaining book, with rich historical information and atmosphere. The characters were fun, and I doubt if they'll be back in the series. The book feels very separate from the others. I enjoyed reading it.

I received this book from Netgalley.

The Prisoner in the Castle #8 in this Series is historical mystery fiction worthy of Agatha Christie. Maggie Hope is an American who has family in both England and Germany. Her loyalties are firmly with England serving during World War II in many capacities and lately as a Intelligence agent in special operations. I highly recommend this book and the entire series if you like thrillers, spies, unusual murder mysteries and military action. I have read every book in the Maggie Hope series and enjoyed them all. I wish to thank the author, publisher and netgalley for making this book available for me to read and review.

Ugh, nothing happened in this book. The main character wasn't integral to the plot at all, she was merely the vehicle through which we watched the story. She didn't find the bad guy, she didn't do a good job protecting her fellows, and she didn't [spoiler alert] even take down the bad guy on her own: he met his demise accidentally while she was trying to escape. This character is a strong, educated, brave woman when she's the leading lady; this book wasn't about her at all.