Category: mystery (or history!)

Review: In this 9th installment of the Maggie Hope series, MacNeal’s heroine is really struggling.  Poor Maggie has been through the wringer is the first 8 books, and has taken up living on the edge as a way to deal.  She’s zipping through town on her motorbike, smoking, trying to get her new boyfriend into bed with her, and defusing bombs left over from the Blitz.  She’s convinced herself that this is perfectly acceptable, until another serial killer hits the streets of London.  Despite her best efforts, she can’t help but get involved, especially when she figures out that her new comrades in bomb defusing, many of whom are conscientious objectors, may be the killer’s targets.

This serial killer seems to have a connection to the killer she thwarted in The Queen’s Accomplice (book #6), even as that murderer is counting down the days to his execution.  Much as Maggie might like to be able to put those memories firmly behind her, she must confront him in order to try to apprehend the new murderer, and deal with her conflicting feelings about the death penalty as well.

Like Maggie’s other adventures, there are more than a few red herrings thrown across our path, and quite a bit of pedantic dialogue, but overall MacNeal keeps this mystery rolling along nicely.  Maggie might be a little out of control, but readers will empathize with her, and of course root for her to solve the mystery, protect her friends, and even find a little bit of emotional peace.