Mr. Churchill's Secretary

February 13, 2012
A plucky heroine isn’t enough to salvage a plot overly dependent on contrivances, as shown by MacNeal’s debut set in 1940 London, the kickoff to a series. The murder of Diana Snyder, a secretary in Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s office, creates a vacancy that American expat Maggie Hope agrees to fill, despite her umbrage at having been previously passed over for a more substantive position there. Maggie adjusts fairly quickly, even as the people of London strive to withstand both German bombs and IRA outrages. Since those behind Snyder’s fatal stabbing as well as their motive are identified early on, the suspense mainly lies in whether Maggie will be able to use her intellect to foil a plot aimed at decapitating the British government. On several occasions, disaster is averted purely by chance, undermining efforts to credit Maggie with saving the day. Agent: Victoria Skurnick, Levine Greenberg Literary.

February 1, 2012
Trying to sell your grandmother's decaying Victorian house back in London can have unexpected consequences. Maggie Hope was born in England, but after her parents were killed in a car accident, her aunt, a college professor, took her along when she accepted a position in Boston. Unable now to sell her grandmother's house, Maggie is forced to take in roommates to keep things going. Her degree in math from a prestigious college apparently means nothing when she applies for jobs that would use her considerable skills to aid Britain, now in the throes of World War II. Her friend David Greene, one of Winston Churchill's private secretaries, prevails on Maggie to take on a secretarial post at 10 Downing Street, where her predecessor was murdered. She does her best with her job and enjoys a busy social life with her friends and roommates: Chuck, an Irish girl training to be a nurse; Paige, a Virginia debutante Maggie met in college; Annabelle and Clarabelle, "the Dumb-Belles"; and, most recently, Sarah, a ballerina. While the Luftwaffe is raining bombs on London, the IRA is doing its best to help Germany with sabotage and espionage. Maggie and her friends are caught up in the situation when it appears one of them may be aiding the IRA. In the midst of this intrigue, Maggie is shocked to learn that her father is still alive. Though she has little time to spare from her job, she's determined to track him down. Brave, clever Maggie's debut is an enjoyable mix of mystery, thriller and romance that captures the harrowing experiences of life in war-torn London.

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Starred review from February 1, 2012

British-born but American-raised Maggie Hope, a math whiz with an MIT graduate school offer on hold, went to London to sell her late grandmother's home. Now it's 1940, and she is passionate about staying to help with her birth country's war effort. As a secretary for the prime minister's office, she is privy to Winston Churchill's inner thoughts. But unbeknownst to Maggie, a mole is working nearby, burrowing deep inside 10 Downing Street and making plans to cripple England's leadership. Already, one secretary has died at the hands of IRA activists colluding with the Nazis, but Maggie's shocking discoveries about her own family further threaten national security. VERDICT Watch out for the smart girl who can crack codes with her slide rule. The appeal of real-life characters populating the story works well in this solid historical cozy debut. MacNeal squeezes in plenty of World War II facts but never slows the pace. I like pairing this with Maureen Jennings's Season of Darkness and Sarah R. Shaber's Louise's War.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2012
Maggie Hope is a twentysomething math whiz, in England to sell her late parents' house when WWII breaks out. Although raised in America, she is caught up in the patriotic fervor of the moment and decides to stay on and work for the cause. Snubbed because of her gender in an attempt to land a code-breaking job, she accepts a secretarial post in the prime minister's office and soon finds herself hunkered down in the War Cabinet Rooms and taking dictation from Winston Churchill. Danger comes not only from German bombers but also from a murderer who has already claimed another secretary as a victim. MacNeal layers the story with plenty of atmospheric, Blitz-era details, and an appealing working-girl frame story, as Maggie and her roommates juggle the demands of rationing and air raids with more mundane worries about boyfriends. Meanwhile, Maggie is pulled further into the murder case. The mystery plot unwinds in fairly formulaic fashion, but the period ambience will win the day for fans of Ken Follett's Eye of the Needle (1979) as well as readers who enjoy Jacqueline Winspear's Maggie Dobbs series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)