Unfortunately, this series took a turn to the dark side of human frailties in the last book that carried over into The King’s Justice. Maggie’s mental state has begun to drag down the series. Hopefully, this will turn around in future books because this is generally a great series with lots of information about World War II and what it took to win.

As usual, the writing is excellent, characters are believable, and dialogue is realistic. With the rich setting of WWII Great Britain, this series is a true winner. MacNeal’s ability to describe the setting of the war and the time period is exemplary. While this is a good story with a strong ending in which Maggie’s mental state improves, the darkness Maggie goes through to get to that ending may turn off readers who read about and loved the strong character we knew as Maggie Hope.

The ninth mystery in the Maggie Hope Mysteries is set in London in 1943. The Blitz is seemingly over, but the city is in ruins. After her experiences since the beginning of the War, one could say that Maggie is in ruins herself. The things she saw and did working as a spy behind enemy lines have left her disillusioned and wondering if she has taken the wrong path. Maggie feels betrayed by her government and is taking a leave from the SOE. She still has a talent for solving murders, but the last one she helped Scotland Yard with was the Blackout Beast, Nicholas Reitter, a serial murderer who was terrorizing the city. Her up-close and personal encounter with Reitter almost cost her life. Her escape is drinking too much, smoking too much, riding a motorbike at high speed, and de-fusing unexploded bombs in the streets of London. Most of the men she works with are conscientious objectors and "Britalians," British citizens of Italian extraction. War has changed Maggie in ways she never expected.

Her "boyfriend," Detective Chief Inspector James Durgin, is worried about her and wants to involve her in a new case, the theft of a Stradivarius. Maggie is reluctant but agrees, not expecting the theft will intersect with another serial murderer operating in London, "Jimmy Greenteeth." This murderer targets not women but conscientious objectors, disposing of the bodies in a particularly gruesome fashion. That makes it personal for Maggie.

I had not read this series before, so I felt somewhat at a disadvantage at the beginning. However, MacNeal brought me up to date on many of Maggie's very complicated life events without divulging them all. Now I must start at the beginning of the series to catch up, not a chore! The story drew me in with its vivid portrayal of wartime London immediately. There is a wealth of historical detail about wartime measures of which I was unaware. Even not at her best, Maggie is an engaging character who struggles with the moral complexity of living through War and surviving.

I am looking forward to finding out more about how this American girl landed in Britain and started as Mr. Churchill's Secretary. I highly recommend "The King's Justice'.

Thanks to Bantam and NetGalley for a digital copy. The opinions are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book. The most recent in the Maggie Hope series. This is less a spy thriller than a murder mystery as the serial killer is brought to justice. Great story.

i really enjoy Maggie Hope as a character and I always enjoy reading this series. The characters and setting are always great and I look forward to more from the author and Maggie's adventures.

Author Susan Elia MacNeal (http://www.susaneliamacneal.com) published the novel “The King’s Justice” in 2020. This is the ninth book in her “Maggie Hope Mysteries” series.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in late 1943 London. The primary character is Maggie Hope. She has had an eventful few years so far during the war. Previously she was a secretary to Winston Churchill, an SOE agent, and spy. Now she works to defuse unexploded German bombs.

Her experiences have traumatized her. She has begun to live life on the edge. She handles UXBs, races around London on a motorcycle, drinks and smokes heavily. She has no real interest in getting involved in another mystery.

When a priceless Stradivarius violin is stolen she grudgingly begins to investigate. She had no idea that the theft would lead her to a series of murders. Someone is hunting and killing conscientious objectors. She also has things from her past dug up.

I enjoyed the 8.5+ hours I spent reading this 354-page WWII era mystery. Even though this novel is the ninth in a series, it reads well on its own. Of course, reading the first eight in the series before hand would be preferable. I have been fortunate to have read the prior work in the series (The Prisoner in the Castle). Both of these novels were very enjoyable. I enjoy the mix of mystery and WWII setting. I do like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a 4.3 (rounded down to a 4) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

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One of the better Maggie Hope mysteries, this one kept me intrigued and I felt like Maggie Hope was back with us after the traumatic events of the past couple of books. Bending and breaking gender stereotypes wherever she goes, this Maggie is certainly tougher than previous books. I think I love her even more.

I will admit I suspected the serial killer's identity, but the reveal was worth the wait, for sure.

Long Live Maggie Hope!

Following the previous book where Maggie is responsible for bringing down the Blackout Beast, she tries to settle into a position where she defuses unexploded bombs in war torn London but she is again drawn into investigating a serial killer who is targeting the conscientious objectors of the time. The Blackout Beast says that he knows who it is and that if Maggie will visit him in the Tower before he is executed, he'll tell her.

I thought that this book was very well-written, the characters along with Maggie were gripping, and the problems and reactions to the war and all it entailed kept the series moving forward in an entertaining way.
The only problem, now I have to wait for Maggie's next adventure.

The King’s Justice is the ninth book in the Maggie Hope series set during the WWII years in London. Maggie, a trained secret agent has been traumatized by her previous her career and is presently a defuser of Nazi bombs that had not yet exploded. She is not only taking risks at work but in her personal life as well. This book deals with a broken engagement, dating a Detective Chief Inspector investigating the theft of a Stradivarius, and dealing with the sentencing of a serial killer that she trapped as a secret agent.

I have read all the books in the series and this was as good as the previous books. Maggie has gone through so many harrowing adventures and her development of her character has been further developed in this book. I will definitely be waiting for the next book!

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review the book.

Maggie Hope is stressed from her last case as a secret agent. She is done once she sees a serial killer put to death for his crimes. She is drinking and smoking too much and has taken on the task of diffusing unexploded bombs in central London. Most of the fellows helping her are conscientious objectors so she is concerned when there appears to be a copy cat of her imprisoned serial killer targeting conscientious objectors in London by killing them, removing the flesh from their bones, putting them in a suitcase and throwing it into to the Thames. She refuses to help with that case but agrees to help find a stolen Stradivarius only to discover that the two may be connected.

This series has been absolutely wonderful. The author manages to capture the spirit of the times and the characters are really well rounded. Maggie Hope is a women girls could really look up to. It makes me grateful for all the women who gave their service during WWII. They helped win the war as much as our fighting men. This is one of my favorite series.

I really liked this book. It is the first one in the series that I have read, but I will definitely start now with the first book to understand more of the backstory. Maggie is realistic as she has many quirks, flaws, and vices. The storyline was very good, and I look forward to reading more of her adventures.
Many thanks to Bantam Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

It’s been a good four years since I listened to the second book of the Maggie Hope series. I found other historical fiction novels to read that were darker and more serious than this good-natured series. But my curiosity was piqued when the ninth book in the series popped up on NetGalley. Would this book be as light as I remembered? Would I need to know all events prior for this novel to make sense? Would I be inspired to go back and read the six books in the series that I had skipped?

Despite the grim topics - a sequential murderer and post-traumatic stress disorder - this novel felt neither dark nor deep to me. For some inexplicable reason, it still felt light a light-hearted romp. The braided narrative of the mudlarks, the main character, and the hospital nurses actually relieved the tension in the story line rather than built it. The identity of the sequential murderer was revealed to the reader chapters before the main character figured it out. I thought there would be more drama and tension had we learned the identity through the main character’s eyes.

Fortunately, this novel made sense without having read the six books in between. The flashbacks and exposition filled in the majority of the gaps in the background that were necessary for the plot to make sense. Would I have felt the novel more deeply if I known more about the main character’s involvement in the apprehension of the serial killer going to trial at the beginning of the book? Or if I had read the novels about her leaving the SOE and escaping from a prison in Scotland? Perhaps. Or perhaps it would have read worse because the exposition of her past vastly outweighed the subtle allusions to it. In fact, this probably could be read as a stand alone novel because all the key factors of her personality - brilliant American-born mathematician in London with a penchant for cryptography - were adequately illustrated and explained. If a reader so desired, they could probably dive right into the next book just having read this one.

Overall, I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for a World War II historical fiction novel that won’t give you nightmares. The three plot lines moved quickly and the characters were fairly interesting. Unfortunately, for all the reasons cited above, reading this book did not inspire me to go back and read the six that I missed. Nor did it excite me for the tenth book, which the last ten percent of the novel was spent setting up.

The serial killer the Beast is sentenced and Maggie Hope is London bound while his days count down. She is off the front lines and busy helping defuse bombs in the City of London. Many unexploded ordinances are all over the place. It was interesting to learn that many who undertook this role were Conscientious Objectors, immigrants and Quakers for instance. This was a bit darker in tone, touching on the toll war takes on those fighting it. I am not sure when PTSD becomes an actual diagnosis, but it was well shown in this story. Maggie even gamely admits that she is much like the bombs she is working on.

MacNeal's Maggie Hope series continues on in good form, as Maggie is called in from working in a bomb disposal unit to help hunt down a serial killer who is protesting the upcoming execution of another killer Maggie helped capture. The combination of great historical detail with suspenseful mystery makes this another fantastic read in a great series.

I can't believe this is the ninth Maggie Hope mystery I've read. It seems like just yesterday I was reading #1 - Mr. Churchill's Secretary - and yet, it was back in 2012.

Maggie Hope has always been like such an intelligent, level-headed pillar of strength to me, but in The King's Justice we see a different side of Maggie, a more devil-may-care woman and who could blame her given all she has been through already.

It's now March 1943 and Nicholas Reitter, the Jack-the-Ripper copycat serial killer known as the Blackout Beast, and whose last victim was almost Maggie, has been sentenced to death for his crimes (see The Queen's Accomplice, Maggie Hope Mystery #6). Not sure she can ever put her experience with the Blackout Beast behind her, Maggie has refused to have anything more to do with spying for Churchill's SOE and is no longer working for MI5. Even DCI James Durgin, whom she is dating, can't change her mind, not even to help find a valuable stolen Stradivarius violin.

Instead, Maggie has has taken up traveling around London on a rickety motorcycle, smoking and drinking too much, and volunteering to work with the 107th Tunneling Company of the Royal Engineers, defusing bombs that were dropped by the Luftwaffe during the Blitz. Known as the "Suicide Squad" it is a troop of conscientious objectors, most of whom are Itailan COs.

But now, it seems there is another serial killer on the loose in London, one quickly nicknamed Jimmy Greenteeth. A number of suitcases full of clean white bones have been found during low tide in the Thames River, along with a white feather. Could the bones belong to London's conscientious objectors, possibly even friends of Maggie? But none of the men not showing up for work have been reported missing. Durgin is stumped and Maggie still refuses to help him solve the case.

But then, just days before his execution, Nicholas Reitter, now being held in the Tower of London, claims he can help the police fine this new serial killer, but the only person he will speak to is Maggie Hope. And there's a condition attached to his information - Reitter wants a Royal Pardon from His Majesty, King George VI to stop his execution. Knowing this pardon will never happen, and angry with Durgin that he won't warn the COs about the white feathers found with the bones, Maggie ultimately finds herself involved in the Jimmy Greenteeth case when the young man she has been training, Milo Tucci, goes missing.

Perhaps not quite as action-packed as past Maggie Hope adventures, The King's Justice is nevertheless an exciting, complicated mystery. At first I thought that there would be a problem with linking this book up to a past story and using a specific events and recurring characters. I wondered if new readers might get lost unless there is enough background info given without spoiling too much of the action in each story. Not to worry - new readers don't need to know all the details from The Queen's Accomplice, but could well be inspired to begin reading Maggie's mysteries from the very beginning, or just Book #6.

Old friends of Maggie, like myself, will enjoy her new adventure and, without giving anything away, you know what we are all hoping for in Maggie Hope #10, given how this ends.

One of the things I like really like about Maggie Hope mysteries is the attention to detail author Susan Elia MacNeal gives to presenting an in-depth picture of wartime London in her descriptions, and in this one particularly, the treatment of conscientious objectors, and enemy aliens, as well as in her use of British history, i.e. Jimmy Greenteeth is named after Jenny Greenteeth, a character in English folklore who would pulled people into a river and drowned them (and allows MacNeal to interrogate gendered ideas about who is capable of killing).

I am almost never disappointed when reading a Maggie Hope mystery, and now, I can't wait to see what #10 brings for her.

This book is recommended for readers age 13+
This book was an EARC gratefully received from NetGalley

This Maggie Hope series, featuring Maggie in various (and interesting) World War 2 roles, is among my favorites. I eagerly read each new book as it comes out.

That said, this 9th one one had a different feel. More of a regular whodunnit feel. Maggie stays home and solves a crime. She also seems to have a different personality than usual. This all took some getting used to.

Even so, I loved it. I love the characters and the feel of the times. I love how I learn something with each book.

Also, the author often telegraphs where the next book is going. If I'm guessing right, I'm looking forward to the next one.

Highly recommended!!

Now is the perfect time to escape into a book. I just happened to escape into the latest installment of one of my favorite series. Maggie is back once again and this time diffusing bombs (is there anything she can't do?). Unfortunately for her she might be dragged into the middle of another serial killer that is terrorizing London.

I didn't really enjoy how angry Maggie was in this book. I understand her anger at everything that has happened but I feel like she wasn't getting her emotions out properly. I'm hoping that as the series continues she will be able to get back some of her hope and work through some of these difficult emotions.

I really look forward to reading more in this series. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the galley.

Maggie Hope continues to lead an action packed life in World War II London. Already battle-scarred and traumatized by her wartime experiences, she is in London defusing bombs, drinking too much, and smoking too many cigarettes. I join other reviewers in hoping that Maggie gets back to her spying metier, but the setting and action of this book are entertaining.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received an advance copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. I have been loving this series since day 1 and was so happy to start reading this. The author has done a wonderful job in developing Maggie's character to fit with the times and the situations she has been in. I look forward to the next installment!