Susan Elia MacNeal immerses the reader in a thrilling World War II adventure in wartorn London with the King's Justice. Maggie Hope is taking a break from spy action by working in the London bomb disposal squad. A serial killer has just been sentenced to death; Maggie was his last victim and the only one to survive. Meanwhile another serial killer emerges trying to outdo him. Who is targeted ? Is the killer male or female. What is the tie in to Maggie? Can Maggie find a missing Stradivarius? Missing Italians? Will Maggie get over her PTSD? Will her latest love interest last. Surprises around every corner.

Thank you to Random House-Ballentine, Netgalley and the author for an ARC of this book to review.

This is the ninth installment of Ms. MacNeal’s Maggie Hope series, and she just keeps getting better. Throughout the series, Maggie has grown from a naive young girl who becomes the Secretary to the Prime Minister, to a spy, to a broken, hurting woman working with a bomb disposal unit in London in 1943. Reeling from the murders and aftermath of a serial killer, the latest installment finds Maggie dealing with pain and heartache like so many of us do-danger, drink, and more dangerous behavior. After her near death experience, Maggie tries to stay away from police cases and solving crimes, but she is pulled in to another serial killer case who seems to be trying to outdo Nicholas Reitter, the man she just helped capture.

This time, however, we are drawn into the world of the conscientious objectors, the “Britalians”, and how they were treated during the war. Not going to give away any spoilers, but Ms. MacNeal keeps the action going from chapter to chapter.

Ms. MacNeal’s writing and characters have matured since book one. I can’t wait to go back and read the ones I’ve missed, and can’t wait for more from Maggie!

Maggie Hope is back! And I couldn’t be more thrilled! I love this series and I give kudos to Ms. MacNeal as she can make each installment in this series different and interesting and compelling.

If you like WWII stories with strong, smart women, then the Maggie Hope series is for you!

Thank you for my ARC!

The King's Justice is the 9th book in the series featuring Maggie Hope written by Susan Elia MacNeal. Released 25th Feb 2020 by Random House on their Bantam imprint, it's 352 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats.

This was the second book in the series for me, with a long hiatus since having read the first book some years ago. As such, I don't feel like I enjoyed the full experience of connecting with the returning characters and easily placing them in their relationships with each other. The plot worked well enough as a standalone, there was just a lot of backstory referenced in the narrative which I wasn't familiar with (including big spoilers from the last couple of books). I recommend reading them in order.

The plotting and narration themselves are superb; the author is an adept and skillful wordsmith. This is a period wartime mystery and the realities of WW2, rationing, violence, racism, homophobia, and the leftover remains from England in siege under the blitz are very well rendered by Ms. MacNeal. The dialogue is believable and well written.

There are some uncomfortable themes: substance abuse, domestic violence and abuse, racism, war, etc, but the denouement and resolution are satisfying and well written. The language is clean and unobjectionable. I liked that the narrative is worked around a framework of actual historical events, people, and occurrences. The author is skilled enough that it's sometimes difficult to distinguish where one ends and the other begins.

This is an enjoyable quick read. Highly recommended. Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

"What you call 'evil' is contagious, like a virus. It's spread through violence and cruelty, passed down from generation to generation. Until the cycle is broken."

This suspense read was a little grittier than what I usually read. The descriptions of the killings and the process were more detailed than I prefer. Although it is a World War II setting in London and I am sure the activities of the younger men and women involved in war work or military roles were a little more frenetic due to the times and events in which they were caught, I found the heavy drinking, smoking, and intimate activities offputting.

They suspense itself was well developed and only a few clues pointed towards the possible solution which did make the book enjoyable. Maggie's emotions in this book seemed to be all over the place, and I did like the choices she made at the end of the book. It appeared that she understood her previous choices had led to her emotional upheaval, and she knew she needed to change in order to find peace and comfort. I especially liked the discussion on whether or not the death penalty was the answer for people who committed horrible offenses.

**I received a complimentary copy of this book from Random House through NetGalley. Opinions are mine alone. I was not compensated for this review.

I've read all the previous titles in the Maggie Hope series, and this title is true to form. Maggie is a bit of "do it all" type of woman, a spy, tracking serial killers, and diffusing bombs. In this title, Maggie faces demons from her past, while trying to understand the mind of serial killers. It has been a while since I've read a Maggie Hope book and felt I needed to catch up with some aspects of the story. I did though, and enjoyed this title. There was also a hint of the next book in the series.

A Story of Hope

The King's Justice finds our hero, Maggie Hope, disoriented and disillusioned after helping to apprehend a serial killer. This latest installment is all about her journey of redemption, set against the backdrop of the countdown to the serial killer's execution. Meanwhile, there are two more mysteries to solve.
What I enjoyed about this book was continuing to imagine what life was like during WW2 in Great Britain and how a strong, smart woman could play a part in finding justice and restoration in the midst of tragedy. Highly recommended for Maggie Hope fans, and for other readers who enjoy WW1 or WW2 era mysteries. I would encourage new readers to read the previous 2 books before this one, as it builds so much on the previous narrative. Enjoy!

Maggie Hope is back and good lord am I ready for her just to be happy. I love the stories and how the plot line of her mother is deftly interwoven. But, I am just ready for her to have some real and true happiness. I feel like we are getting close to it!

A solid read!

After having escaped the serial killer Nicholas Reitter, dubbed by the press, the “Blackout Beast”, Maggie Hope's life is grim and becoming more so. She's frenetic, drinking too much, smoking too much and defusing bombs with the Bomb Disposal Unit. She is doing all she can to feel alive whilst flirting with death, to live in the moment. After all she's been through, with Reitter and her "false imprisonment and near death" at the hands of the Special Operations Executive, Maggie feels not only betrayed but shattered. In today's parlance we'd say she's experiencing PTSD.
Her relationship with Detective Chief Inspector James Durgin has rocks strewn in its path. It seems Maggie's looking for the quick fix but Durgin is holding back. They are drawing further apart. And then there's Maggie's mother, a constant undercurrent in her thoughts.
Nicholas Reitter is convicted and sentenced to death. Maggie attends his sentencing but even that doesn't bring her peace. Really it just opens up more wounds.
When a new serial killer starts to upstage him Reitter requests her presence. He knows who the killer is and he will milk his meetings with Maggie until the very end. The victim, persecutor, rescuer, triangle seems to be closing in as they unwittingly interchange roles. That the victims seem to be Conscientious Objectors or those escaping from military service adds further frisson and impetus to finding the killer.
On top of this there's the rumored possibility that the King might commute Reitter's sentence to life imprisonment. Such a move is called the "King's Justice." Maggie is shattered. She starts to investigate what makes a serial killer and seemingly has an ephinany about captital punishment after her readings. It is only after this that she can step outside the roles assigned her in her meetings with Reitter and look for a new way through the miasma of their association.
I found the story fascinating on many levels, but this was not a comfortable read. Maggie is at a crossroad. As she metamorphoses throughout the series, a new pathway beckons. And yes there are clues throughout, particularly the Phoenix reference. What Maggie's rising from the ashes will look like is for the future.

A Random House Ballantine ARC via NetGalley

3.5 stars

When I first stumbled on Maggie Hope, it was early 2012. I was one of the first people to read and review Mr Churchill’s Secretary and I fell head over heals for Maggie right then and there!

I have adored many of the books in the series thus far and I can’t believe we are on the 9th book already!

Obviously when this book came up for review, I was thrilled to be reading more about Maggie’s journey and checking in with many of my favorite characters in the series. After the last book, I had high hopes for this one as well!

Summary
London. December, 1942. As the Russian army repels German forces from Stalingrad, Maggie Hope, secret agent and spy, takes a break from the Special Operations Executive division to defuse bombs in London. But Maggie herself is like an explosion waiting to happen. Shaken by a recent case, she finds herself living more dangerously–taking more risks than usual, smoking again, drinking gin and riding a motorcycle–and the last thing she wants is to get entangled in another crime. But when she’s called upon to look into a stolen Stradivarius, one of the finest violins ever made, Maggie finds the case too alluring to resist.

Meanwhile, there’s a serial killer on the loose in London and Maggie’s skills are in demand. Little does she know that in the process of investigating this dangerous predator, she will come face to face with a new sort of evil…and discover a link between the precious violin and the murders no one could ever have expected (summary from Goodreads)

Review
This series has been pretty solid for me with Maggie evolving from a secretary to spy to now a shadow of her former self. In some of the earlier books, Maggie took a bit of a turn for the darker side of things when it comes to how the war and her missions impacted her which I found realistic and appropriate for her character. The book prior to this one found Maggie investigating a serial killer who tried to make Maggie one of his victims and in this book we again see that effect on her character. There were times though where I felt like we had already kind of been through this with Maggie in previous books. She struggled after her missions with her moral choices and the things she saw and did for the war and her government. When Maggie gets in these funks, it’s hard for me to relate to her because she is hell bent on self destruction and we don’t really see anyone doing anything about it.

Her friends all comment on it but no one really tries to take the bull by the horns and help her other than maybe James. James resists her advances for what I can only presume are honorable intentions but we don’t ever really get to explore that in this book which was a surprise. The focus is really on Maggie struggling with her inner demons. Which ok—I’m willing to go with in this book, but I just feel like we have been here before with her to some degree.

The mystery in this one was just so-so for me. The identity of the killer was noted fairly early on which left the reader with the ‘why’ of the crime which I thought was for the most part—satisfying. Although I did hope for a little more in the way of mystery around who the killer was even if the ‘why’ was the focus.

If you have read this series then you won’t necessarily find this a spoiler, but it is a small-ish spoiler so just stop reading if you don’t want to know or skip to the next paragraph. I thought that Maggie left John Sterling behind many books ago but there is a potential for her to reconnect with him in the future and I don’t know how I feel about that. I feel like too much has happened between them and individually to Maggie herself, that I just don’t know if reconnecting with him is something I want to see happen for her. I felt like her and James were much better suited but I also understand that James was more about the job than anything else, though I just feel like John Sterling and Maggie had their time and perhaps Maggie doesn’t need a love interest at this stage? I don’t know, but either way I am looking forward to seeing how that unfolds—for better or for worse—in the next book.

Overall I don’t know I loved this book as much as I did some of the others in the series. It wasn’t bad by any means, in fact I found it to be a quick easy read that I spent an afternoon wrapped up in. I always enjoy spending time with Maggie and her friends plus the mysteries are usually fun and interesting—and the time period is ALWAYS well researched. This one in particular. I loved learning about the conscientious objectors as that was a bit about WWII that I was unfamiliar with! But for me it felt like the transition book. The Queen’s Accomplice, where we first encounter the notorious ‘Blackout Beast’ killer, marked a turning point in Maggie’s life and now that the ‘Blackout Beast’ plot has wrapped up in this book, it sounds like Maggie is going to be turning down a new path and I am excited to see where that takes her. While I might not have loved this one, it was still an important read in the larger series and for Maggie’s character. I can’t see where how things go for Maggie in America!

Book Info and Rating
Kindle Edition, 352 pages
Expected publication: February 25th 2020 by Bantam
ASIN B07S8LCBB7
Free review copy provided by publisher, Bantam, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Genre: historical fiction, mystery

The word that comes to mind to describe this latest outing for Maggie Hope is struggle. Maggies has suffered through a lot of very dark and damaging events and is running from her demons by drinking way too much, driving her motor cycle recklessly (sometimes while drunk) and her current job is to diffuse unexploded bombs in London. Add to that, The Beast is now awaiting execution in the Tower of London and that brings memories front and center for Maggie. It also causes her to look inward and think about how she feels about the death sentence. Horrible as The Beast's crimes were, if it's accepted that the actions come from a defective mind, is that a reason to execute him? When a new series of crimes occur, The Beast wants to make a deal - information in exchange for a life sentence hence the book title, the King's justice.
Maggie is also at odds with her policeman boyfriend with each approaching the relationship from a very different place. She wants to go fast and he wants to slow things down. Along with all of the other things going on, he presents her with an offer, asking for her help on a case involving a stolen Stradivarius violin. There is a lot going on, many twists, turns and a few red herrings and a very well constructed plot. Maggie is truly a wonderful character, a very real one. I hope she finds some peace in the next book. She's earned it.
My thanks to the publisher Bantam and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I fell in love with Maggie Hope about three years ago, and it’s been a continuing affair ever since. I’ve been waiting for this book, because no one could go through what Maggie has gone through in the last several books and NOT be affected to the extreme. It’s a dark book, but one that allows us inside Maggie’s head, giving us insight into everything has happened since the Blitz, and the mental anguish she has tried to bury for too long.

Ms. MacNeal weaves the storyline along with new characters and new settings almost effortlessly into this new book, giving the reader a glimpse into the realities of war, crime, punishment, and morality. It’s a story that sucks you in almost instantly, but forces you to also chew on issues such as capital punishment, euthanasia, mental illness. Does it provide answers? No. You have to find them on your own, in the midst of the drama and thrill of the story itself.

I have been reading the Maggie Hope mysteries since the first title, Mr. Churchill's Secretary, was published in 2012.  The King's Justice is the ninth in this historical mystery series.  Any of the books can be read as a standalone but readers of the series will relate to familiar characters including members of Maggie's family.


The King's Justice is a complex tale.  By the time that this story takes place, the stresses of war and Maggie's work life (currently as a bomb disposal expert) are taking their toll.  Maggie is smoking and drinking too much and pushing for intimacy in a relationship where it does not appear wanted.


Into this tense and chaotic life come new challenges.  A Stradivarius violin has been stolen.  Will it be connected to the bigger cases of the novel? 


Maggie is working with many Italian conscientious objectors in the UXB squad.  Why are they disappearing?  Are they dead or alive? Where would they go? Who is responsible for what is happening?


As if this were not enough, an imprisoned serial killer from a prior case wants to see Maggie.  He tantalizes her with the possibility of helping to solve another serial murder case that is being investigated, the one dubbed the Jimmy Greenteeth case. Readers will gradually watch the aspects of the story come together.


The author has done her research and posed some big questions.  I learned a lot about how the Italian community  in Britain was treated during WWII.  There are also questions raised as to what justice is or should entail. 


There are big themes here and a story that reads very quickly.  My time with Maggie and her circle was well spent.  I already am looking forward to where the author will takes me in the next novel in the series.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.  I honestly recommend all of the books in this series.

I have previously read and enjoyed books in the Maggie Hope Mystery Series, so when the newest release in the series The King's Justice by Susan Elia MacNeal became available I knew I wanted to read it right away and am glad I did.

The King's Justice find Maggie in London where a previous criminal whom she had helped to capture has just been sentenced to death. Maggie has officially stepped away from her previous spy roles and is instead employed to detonate bombs in London. Doing so, she becomes acquainted with a number of individuals called "Britalians" who are British citizens of Italian descent and a number of individuals who are conscientious objectors. I had not previously realized that the Britalians were treated poorly and many put in "camps" similar to how the British treated Germans who were living in Great Britian during the War and how the U.S. treated Japanese and German Americans. While not working as a spy, Maggie still had many contacts in the spy and police world and becomes pulled into a new investigation involving a new serial killer. MacNeal does a marvelous job of drawing several different threads together into one coherent story and drawing in background information from the previous books in the series. She also leaves a cliffhanger so that you know book 10 is coming!

While previous books in the series benefited from being read in order, but if you hopped it you could follow along, I would not recommend reading The King's Justice if you have not read the other books. There are many allusions and references to previous experiences Maggie had and not being familiar with those would diminish enjoyment of this book. I even found that enough time had passed since reading the previous books that a refresher of the most recent books would have been helpful. I would encourage individuals who have read previous Maggie Hope books to read this one as soon as possible. If you have not you become acquainted with Maggie Hope, I hope you will read these exciting and well-written spy novels as soon as possible.

I received a complementary copy of The King's Justice from NetGalley. I was not required to provide a positive option and all opinions are my own.

This is the ninth book in the Maggie Hope mystery series. In this story, Maggie has turned her life upside down. Because of her spying efforts in the War, and because of her near miss at being one of a serial killers victims, she has turned to something other than fighting the war.

She is still doing her part by diffusing unexploded bombs that litter the landscape in London. It is a hard job and one that is generally filled by conscientious objectors. A number of these are the British citizens of Italian descent. Rather than fight their families in the war, they turn to other ways of helping.

At the same time, there are two crimes that occur that Maggie is asked to get involved in solving. One is the theft of a Stradivarius from a famous violinist. The other is the murders that start happening and which seem to target conscientious objectors.

Maggie is hesitant to get involved in either as she is still recovering from the shock of having almost been killed. Her attacker is coming up his sentence of hanging being carried out. He is using every method to try to stop his death including trying to get Maggie involved in stopping it.

The story was, as always, interesting and engrossing. There were parts of the resolution to the whodunnit that surprised me but were a great ending.

I’ve read all but one of the books in this series (how I missed it, I don’t know.) As this book is transitional, I suggest reading at least the prior two books before reading this one. It can be read stand-alone, but the stories explain how Maggie got to the point of where she is when this story begins.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.

Now that I have binged the entire three seasons of Netflix's The Crown, I couldn't wait to return to the world of WWII in Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope series with her ninth book, The King's Justice.



We last left Maggie on an island in Scotland where she was forced to stay with other British intelligence agents who had been deemed security risks in The Prisoner in the Castle. Now Maggie is a back in London, but she is no longer working for British intelligence.



Her job is still dangerous though, as it is 1943 and Maggie is part of a team who dismantles the many unexploded German bombs that lie in wait around London. She is training a young man, a conscientious objector who wants to do his part.



Maggie is dragged back into her past as the man she shot and helped put behind bars, Nicholas Reitter "the Blackout Beast", a wannabe Jack the Ripper, is awaiting sentencing for his crimes. While he is in prison, a copycat killer is on loose.



Reitter, in a Silence of the Lambs scenario, will only talk to Maggie, so she is pressed back into service to help track down the new killer. The scenes between Maggie and Reitter are incredibly tense, something MacNeal excels at as a writer.



MacNeal also does a great deal of research for her Maggie Hope novels, and in this one we learn about the prejudice facing Italian immigrants in Great Britain during WWII. I had no idea that Italian immigrants were rounded up and placed in custody, much like the United States did to Japanese- Americans following Pearl Harbor.



When it becomes apparent that the killer is targeting conscientious objectors, Maggie believes that that the police, including Detective Chief Inspector James Durgin whom Maggie has worked with and cares deeply about, should warn the objectors. Durgin doesn't want to tip off the killer and refuses, which causes Maggie much anguish.



Now that we are back in London after books set in Paris and Scotland, we see the toll that the war is taken on Maggie and her friends. Maggie is drinking way too much, her flatmates Nigel and his wife Charlotte are having marital problems, and her friend Sarah is still struggling after her horrific intelligence mission in Paris.



The King's Justice gives us everything we want in a Maggie Hope novel- a suspenseful mystery to be solved, catching up with Maggie and her friends, and a new look at a piece of WWII history we knew little about. (And as someone who recently visited the Tower of London, I really enjoyed the ravens section, we loved our tour of the Tower.)



Fans of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series should begin the Maggie Hope series right away while we await the next Maisie book due in 2021.

The King's Justice by Susan Eli MacNeal is a Maggie Hope story. Maggie is recently returned from her ordeal in Scotland and is adjusting poorly. It is 1943 so the is still on. She drinks too much, she smokes too much. She is pretty much a mess, not ready to deal with any of it yet. She is diffusing bombs in London and training others as well. Most of them are young men; most of those are conscientious objectors. She likes the thrill of adrenalin and she likes the young men, mostly, until they begin to disappear. She understands. They are tortured by people who look down on them for not trotting off to war. It is a difficult time. Then, suddenly suitcases full of bones and a single white feather are being found at the edge of the Thames. At the same time, the execution of Nicholas Reitter, the serial killer she had helped capture was drawing nearer every day. That, as well, haunted her. The, Reitter says he can lead them to the killer but he will only talk to Maggie. She is terrified but decides she has to do it. He won't tell her the first day, just drops hints and requests that she return the next day. Meanwhile she has her own suspicions about the suitcase killer and is pursuing her own leads. Her boyfriend, Detective Durgin, doesn't believe in her ideas so she is on her own.

I love the Maggie Hope series. She is a strong American woman living in England during the Second World War and working for the government as a spy. Things don't always to her way. He fiancé walked away from her, she was falsely imprisoned, she was nearly killed buy a serial killer, but she carries on. In this she is more English than many of the English. She is a terrific character and MacNeal plots the book well, giving us just enough to keep us moving forward, right along with Maggie. She tells separate stories, making them diverge at the appropriate point to it all finishes at the right time. I recommend this and the entire series.

I received a free ARC of The King's Justice from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own.

"Can a stolen violin lead secret agent and spy Maggie Hope to a new serial killer terrorizing London? Find out as the acclaimed World War II mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Susan Elia MacNeal continues.

Maggie Hope started out as Winston Churchill’s secretary, but now she’s a secret agent - and the only one who can figure out how the missing violin ties into a series of horrifying murders.

London, December 1943. As the Russian army repels German forces from Stalingrad, Maggie Hope takes a much-needed break from spying to defuse bombs in London. But Maggie herself is an explosion waiting to happen. Traumatized by her past, she finds herself living dangerously - taking huge risks, smoking, drinking, and speeding through the city streets on a motorbike. The last thing she wants is to get entangled in another crime.

But when she’s called upon to look into the theft of a Stradivarius, one of the finest violins ever made, Maggie can’t resist. Meanwhile, there’s a serial killer on the loose in London, targeting conscientious objectors. Little does Maggie know that investigating this dangerous predator will pit her against a new evil - and old enemies. Only Maggie can uncover the connection between the robbery, the murders, and a link to her own past."

The newest Maggie Hope book brings a little hope into my life.

Emotionally charged The King's Justice is the 9th in Susan Elia MacNeal's top notch Maggie Hope series. Maggie is struggling with the aftermath of the events in Scotland. She's taking time off...by working at diffusing bombs. She is also drinking too much, smoking too much and driving a motorcycle too fast. While dealing with her PTSD symptoms she gets drawn into a case involving a missing Stradivarius and another involving a serial killer. Maggie is real with real problems. And is definately someone to root for. If you are a fan of WWII fiction you don't want to miss this series. While you can read this as a standalone I heartily recommend reading the other books.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 stars

It's London in 1943, and heroine Maggie Hope is back for another adventure. Maggie started out this series as a very over-qualified secretary to Winston Churchill, but the years have passed and she has been a spy, a secret behind the lines operative, and is currently defusing unexploded bombs.

Like most of Europe, Maggie has not had an easy war, and she experiences what we would now recognize as PTSD. She drinks and smokes too much, rides her motorbike too fast, and in general is just dancing on the edge. She's had one relationship go bad and she's lost friends and co-workers and every day is a trial for her.

This time out is particularly painful because the serial killer she helped capture is now in prison awaiting the death penalty. But someone else has picked up his gruesome work and is trying to surpass his number of victims. Maggie wants to stay away, but it's soon obvious the new killer is targeting conscientious objectors, and that includes Maggie's fellow bomb workers.

I believe this series has gotten stronger with time. There are still moments of heavy-handedness, and this one does veer off into poetry and philosophy at times, contemplating the nature of good and evil, no less. The plots have a tendency to be over the top. But there is a lot to like about this series and we are wishing for Maggie to find her way. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.