His Majesty's Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal, a Mysterious Review.

Review: In 1940, Maggie Hope, a young American in London, found work as a secretary to Sir Winston Churchill. By the following year, she had advanced to being a trainee in Britain's Special Operations Executive, Churchill's black ops division. It is there that she has proven herself to be a brilliant code breaker and a fearless agent, now ready for her first assignment abroad in His Majesty's Hope, the third mystery in this series by Susan Elia MacNeal.

Maggie is assigned to Nazi-occupied Berlin, the first woman to be parachute-dropped behind enemy lines since the start of the war. There, she was to deliver a radio part to a resistance group as well as to plant a bug at the home of Commandant Clara Hess, a high-ranking Nazi military intelligence officer. With the help of an undercover agent already embedded in the city, Maggie is able to quickly fulfill her mission. Reluctant to leave when she believes she can do more, she penetrates the highest levels of Berlin's elite, gathering information to pass on to London. Some of the secrets she uncovers seem to involve Hitler's rumored "final solution" for a perfect society, though proof that such a plan exists was elusive, prompting Maggie to take even greater risks to obtain it.

The fictional story of His Majesty's Hope is seamlessly integrated into historical fact, anchored throughout by the clever and resourceful Maggie Hope. She's a little larger than life, almost too good to be true, but not so much that she is becomes too incredible to believe. There is a nice balance of action and drama in a narrative that moves the exciting plot forward at a brisk pace. This is an enjoyable series, once that promises to get even more intriguing in the next book as this one ends chronologically just before America enters the war.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of His Majesty's Hope.

Acknowledgment: Random House provided an eARC of His Majesty's Hope for this review.

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His Majesty's Hope

A Maggie Hope Mystery by Susan Elia MacNeal