This stand alone novel from the author of the beloved Maggie Hope series, is based on actual people and events. I had no previous knowledge of the spies and Nazis in Los Angeles in 1940, so I found this very interesting and educational. I enjoyed the mother/daughter spy team and their courage.

Loosely based on a real life mother and daughter that become spies after reporting to the FBI that there was a sinister group of people within the Los Angeles area that was plotting against the Jewish people and Roosevelt’s re-election prior to the United States’ involvement in WWII. I was not aware of how wide spread and deeply infiltrated the Nazi movement was in America during that time. The author provides additional information on the real life characters at the end of the story which I found very interesting. While not a heart pounding thriller there is some intrigue. This is a quick read that I enjoyed and have recommended to friends and family.

This historical fiction novel was based on the real life duo of Sylvia and Grace Comfort; in fact, many of the main characters are based on real people. It is remarkable to think that these things were really happening in America at that time. MacNeal brings the suspicians of the era to life. The novel is enjoyable, a quick page-turner. I enjoyed the characters and the story. The writing is straightforward and no frills. But I love spy stories—especially ones with brave women—and Veronica and Violet were compelling and inspiring.

This is a riveting, suspenseful and well researched book centered on the various plots within the U.S. to bring Hitler and Nazism to America. Veronica and her mother, Vi, move from New York City to Los Angeles seeking a fresh start. Veronica takes a job as a typist and finds herself in the midst of Nazis. After trying to report this to the police and the FBI with little success, daughter and mother are recruited by a Jewish led group to go undercover, with hopes of exposing this danger before it is too late. Susan Elia MacNeal has created realistic, three-dimensional fictional characters to represent the real individuals involved in the actual mission to stop the terrorists within our country. Veronica and Vi both see the two sides of those involved in the plots but soon realize that "nice" is not the same as "good". It is a chilling look on what might have been, and the brave individuals who halted it. The author's notes at the end are a must-read part of this book! This was not always an easy read but kept me spellbound throughout! Thanks to Netgalley, the author and Bantam/Random House for the advanced copy.

A fascinating look at Nazis lurking in Los Angeles during World War II told through Susan Elia MacNeal's well-researched spy escapade. ***** GoodReads

Mother Daughter Traitor Spy is a WW2 novel set in Los Angeles in the early days of the war. It is a book about a mother and daughter that go undercover as spies in a Nazi cell in LA. I love any books about mothers and daughters and this one was just fantastic. It was gripping and had me holding my breath. I also liked that it was a WW2 book set in the USA. I haven’t read many set here during that time. Overall, fantastic historical fiction based on a true story.

This was an interesting slice of history and it was obviously very well researched. It is a fictional story based on the true lives of a mother and daughter in LA in 1940 who infiltrated an American Nazi group as spies.

For me, the marriage of the fictional and the nonfictional aspects of the story was unsuccessful. I had anticipated a lot more suspense. The narrative moved rather slowly and never picked up speed and as the story dragged on I was tempted to skim or resign it to my DNF shelf. However, I persevered, hoping for more excitement and a satisfying conclusion, but ended up with neither. This was sadly an average read for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have received a completmentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
Spencer Birt





Mother Daughter Traitor Spy
Susan Elia Mac Neal


.Not the first World War II spy thriller I've enjoyed but the first based in the United States with two females as the lead characters. Early on, prior to the United States declaring war on Japan and Germany the German machine was building a strong presence in the Los Angles area. This is the story, based on extensive research, of two real people who get involved almost by accident. Follow Vi and Veronica through the struggles of every day life in the '40's combined with their undercover activity so dangerous to their existence. You will enjoy how the author blends day to day survival, coming out of the depression, with the dangers of working for the evil people of the German Bund! I particularly enjoyed the “Afterword” where Ms. Mac Neal identifies her characters with the actual people living the great story she has written for us to enjoy.



Review will be posted on Wild Sage Book Blog the week of August 1st.
Wildsagebookblog.com

I received a free copy from NetGalley. Spies in the US as WWII is getting started. Interesting that it was a mother/daughter pair and the dynamics that brings to the story. I appreciate all the detail given to letting us know at the end what was fact and what was fiction. Topics still much too relevant today.

A mother and daughter become spies, infiltrating Nazi organizations in CA, prior to America's entry into WWII. While I was aware of the Nazi gathering at Madison Square Garden, I don't think I fully appreciated how pervasive the Nazi/Anti-Semitic sentiment was in America during that time. I couldn't read this novel without thinking (a lot) about the similarities to where we are today, with the MAGA/America First crowd and the Anti-Semitism, racism, and "blame the immigrant" mentality. And the openness with which people feel comfortable expressing their hate.

I was bothered, however, by the characterization or rather lack of character development. The mother was especially flat, although none of them felt fleshed-out of real. The fact they were so underdeveloped made it hard to truly care about any of them, but because the pacing was good (and I wanted to know how the story ended), I did keep reading.

Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy. This book is fantastic! 4.5 stars! I devoured it one sleepless night. It is definitely a spy novel and dare I say a little feminist power?! It was intense and thrilling from being to end. There is only scene that I recall being a slightly graphic. If you looking for a romantic twist… there really isn’t one. Not to say there isn’t a “love interest” or two, it’s just the scene are implied rather than spicy. Overall this book took real historical events/people and made them come to life with these fictional main characters. The one thing I haven’t noticed in other reviews is the startling similarities of the these historical facts that speak so loudly to our current climate.

Violet and Veronica Grace have made a decision to move to California after Veronica’s dreams of being a journalist have been shattered. To them, Los Angeles doesn’t compare to their hometown of New York, but they are determined to become useful citizens and make a decision to work as spies for the FBI, fully committed to bringing down the Nazi regime. Veronica works as a typist and clerical worker and uses her almost photographic memory to report what she finds to the authorities. Her mother, Vi, takes in needlework from rich women while ingratiating herself into their world of Nazi parties and Hitler idolizing, while reporting what she knows. These two women go above and beyond what us mere mortals would only dream about doing.

While reading this book, it’s hard not to make comparisons to today’s political atmosphere where racists are commonplace and authoritarianism seems almost a reality. Mother Daughter Traitor Spy is based on the true story of Sylvia and Grace Comfort, a real-life stenographer and her mother. They helped bring down the Nazi sympathizers based in Los Angeles through their heroism and tenacity.

I am giving this book 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5. I learned a great deal about Nazis and how they were lulled into their idolization of Hitler. It’s fascinating stuff.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House for the advanced reader’s copy.

“Mother Daughter Traitor Spy” is a historical fiction/spy thriller based on the real life mother-daughter spy team, Grace and Sylvia Comfort, German American women who were tapped to go undercover to infiltrate isolationist and Nazi organizations in Los Angeles. In this novel, Violet (“Vi”) and Veronica Grace move to Los Angeles in 1940 from Brooklyn, New York. When Veronica finds work typing for a middle aged couple, she discovers to her horror that they are publishing a pro-Nazi, Anti-Semitic newsletter and propaganda. When Veronica and her mother Vi try to notify the authorities about the couple’s activities, their concerns are dismissed since the focus of the police and FBI at that time was on finding communists. However, when Vi contacts a close friend of her dead husband’s, who works in Naval Intelligence in San Diego, he puts them in contact with Ari Lewis and his assistant, Jonah Rose. Ari, with a background in Naval Intelligence, runs a private spy ring, whose primary focus was on the Nazis in America.

Ari and Jonah convince Vi and Veronica to go undercover and infiltrate the isolationist and Nazi organizations in Los Angeles, reporting their discoveries to Ari and Jonah, who then report those findings unofficially to the FBI and other appropriate officials. Vi and Veronica try to suppress their own fear and revulsion as they pretend to sympathize with the Nazi Americans’ cause.

With her vivid descriptions, the author does an excellent job of bringing the sights, sounds and scents of 1940’s Los Angeles to life. She also makes the reader feel both the fear and contradictory emotions that the women experience as they become enmeshed in the Nazi organizations, feeling both repulsed by and attracted to the seemingly ordinary people they encounter among these groups.

I’ve always enjoyed historical fiction which sheds light on little known aspects of history, and this book excels at that. Moreover the fully realized characters bring the story to life, while also ratcheting up the tension as Vi and Violet fear their cover has been blown on multiple occasions. I highly recommend this book to historical fiction fans as well as readers who enjoy an engaging spy thriller.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review).

Excellent story concerning Nazi cells in the United States. Learned lots I didn’t know, and was thoroughly entertained! Thank you Net Galley!!!

“Mother Daughter Traitor Spy” is an espionage thriller and historical novel set in Los Angeles during 1940-41, before America enters World War II. I thought author Susan Elia MacNeal did a better job with the history of the times than with her characters and their spying. Even so, it’s a pretty good novel that explores the LA chapter of the German American Bund and its attitudes and aspirations, chilling as they were.

Mother and daughter Violet and Veronica Grace are second- and third-generation German Americans living in Brooklyn in the spring of 1940. “Vi” is a Navy widow still grieving over her husband. Veronica is just graduating from Hunter College and set to begin her dream job as a journalist for “Mademoiselle Magazine.” But when Veronica’s affair with an older, married New York Times reporter comes to light, “Mademoiselle” rescinds its offer and Veronica is blacklisted and unemployable as a journalist in New York. Vi’s brother, a California oncologist who wants family closer, offers them his summer home near the beach in Santa Monica. They accept and move to LA.

Almost immediately, the two women meet members of the German American community. Both appearing to be the ideal of German womanhood (blond-haired, blue-eyed, etc.), they are introduced to the "Deutsches Haus," a meeting place and social venue for German American Nazis. When they attempt to report some of the disturbing attitudes and actions they witness, a Naval intelligence officer and a Jewish attorney invite them to “go undercover” to report on Bund plans and activities, which invitation they accept. What follows is the story of their undercover work, fictional, but based in part on real events and people.

I thought author MacNeal most successful in portraying what it must have been like to live in 1940s Los Angeles and be involved in the German American Bund. Her descriptions of the films, fashions, and fragrances of the times, her explications of the battling ideologies of fascism and democracy, and her portrayal of the attitudes of the German American Nazi community seemed carefully researched and illuminating (even if exceedingly unpleasant). I learned some things I was not aware of.

Ms. MacNeal was less successful at telling a compelling tale of espionage. While I found the plot basically believable, I had trouble with some of the characters, including most especially, Veronica. There were times when she seemed more like a character in a 1940s-50s Hollywood propaganda film or B-Movie than a real person. Some of the problem lay with the dialogue and the lines she was given. They made her seem either hopelessly naïve or the mouthpiece for whatever message the author was trying to get across. It didn’t help that, sometimes, Veronica’s patriotic, democracy-loving speeches, came right in the middle of, and thus interrupted, scenes supposed to be filled with tension and danger.

And, speaking of tension and danger, there wasn’t enough of it and it was inconsistent. Sometimes the tension just died. And the danger, when it arrived, came abruptly and out of the blue.

Nevertheless, despite those flaws, Ms. MacNeal did a creditable job exploring the roots and causes of the kinds of xenophobia that can lead to Nazi-ism, or fascism, or any other type of -ism based in hatred. Even though her tale is one set in the faraway 1940s, it has much to say to us today.

All in all, 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

My thanks to NetGalley, author Susan Elia MacNeal, and publisher Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for providing me an ARC. The foregoing is my independent opinion.

MacNeal's Mother Daughter Traitor Spy is an interesting look at the pre-WWII world of the Lost Angles area German Bund, and their attempt to give the US to Hitler. Given the precarious times we live in, the book is also an eye-opening look at exactly how the fascists among us are tipping us ever more toward authoritarianism. While the plot is typical predictable MacNeal, I give an extra star for timeliness and the humanity of the "enemy" characters.

Thank you #NetGalley and #SusanEliaMacNeal for the ARC of this excellently researched and written piece of historical fiction. I am a big fan of the genre and the author, both. Mother Daughter Traitor Spy is a superb example of all things I love about the combination.

Ms. MacNeal is the author of a the Maggie Hope mystery series, of which I have read several and enjoyed each and every one. They are a sort of campy series set in the WWII era, during which Maggie becomes deeply involved in the spy game and does all sort of non-traditional female tasks in order to further the war effort. She jumps from planes, goes behind enemy lines, decodes secret messages and even is lauded by Churchill. But this is not a review of those books -

Historical fiction has become a favorite of mine over the past couple of years. I love the blending of truth and fiction. Those two elements make the reading some of the best that I do and Ms. MacNeal has proven herself to be up to the task with MDTS.

MDTS is based on a mother/daughter spy team from the WWII era, incarnated as Violet and Veronica Grace. Veronica, a graduate of an elite university in New York, is disgraced and fired from her promised job (magazine journalist) before she has taken a crack at a day's work. She and her mother, a widow, decide to take her Unicle up on an invitation to move to California. Once installed in her Uncle's Malibu beach home, Veronica and Vi find it harder than expected to find jobs. By happenstance, they begin working for a group of American Nazis, which they both abhor. They turn to all sectors of law enforcement before they are offered the chance to infiltrate the Nazi organization and gather intelligence to protect the states. From there unfolds a story that I knew little about - the rampant work of groups supposedly loyal to American values, but working to install a Hitler-like regime in the U.S.?

I knew little of this time period and the activities of any such groups operating in the U.S. Did you? From a historical perspective, I'm sure Nazi activities in the U.S. were largely overshadowed by the war in Europe, the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the growth of communism in our country. This book did an entertaining job of helping to educate us about, what I believe is, a little-known piece of history. To me that's one of the hallmarks of historical fiction. Likely, there are many more such stories out there. Let's hope Susan Elia MacNeal takes up the pen and continues to write them and the Maggie Hope mysteries.

Am engaging novel about a mother/daughter team of spies at the beginning of world war 2. While it is fiction, it is based on well researched facts regarding nazi-ism in California before ww2. The story kept my attention and I enjoyed it. A shift off of the Maggie Hope series but from the same time period (although one assumes the last Maggie Hope novel led the author to want to learn more about this topic).

Fascinating and totally gripping novel of an American Nazi group in the 1940s, I infiltrated by a mother and daughter, Violet and Veronica who relocate from NYC to their brother's available West coast house, to start a new life. Once there, Veronica is offered a job typing for what turns out to be a very active and hideous group of American Nazis, working to ultimately overthrow the American system of democracy and replace it with a nation under the furor's control. Veronica travels with her boss to Nazi support events while reporting back to her handler as a horrifying plot to bomb and kill Americans is being worked on by the group.
Not true yet based on true characters and events from the Nazi movement in California.
Hard to believe and American could ever commit to that fascism.
Scary to read but excellent writing.

How close was the government of the US to being overthrown by American Nazis in 1940? Based on real events and people, Mother Daughter Traitor Spy, by Susan MacNeal, tells the story of two women who infiltrated Nazi cells in Southern California. It shows how "average" people can be fed false information and be easily led down a wrong path. It is a story of courage and patriotism, of a life of hate versus a life of compassion.