Reviews for The Paris spy : a Maggie Hope mystery

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A British spy walks the fine line between brave and foolhardy in Nazi-occupied Paris. Maggie Hope has played many roles in war-torn Britain, from Churchill's secretary to Special Operations Executive spy (The Queen's Accomplice, 2016, etc.). Now she's in Paris waiting for forged identity papers and hoping to find her half sister, Elise Hess, a Resistance fighter who'd escaped from Germany, and learn the whereabouts of SOE agent Erica Calvert, who's been collecting sand samples to help determine where the invasion forces should land. When the documents arrive, Maggie checks into the Htel Ritz posing as neutral Irishwoman Paige Kelly, who's shopping for her trousseau. But tending to the wounds of a German knocked down by a bike as she's on her way to the Ritz brings Maggie to the highly consequential attention of Generaloberst Christian Ruesdorf. At the Ritz, Maggie's befriended by Coco Chanel, who introduces her to high-ranking Germans she'd rather avoid. Chanel invites Maggie to the ballet, where Sarah Sanderson and Hugh Thompson, two of Maggie's fellow agents and close friends, are working, posing as a dancer and a cellist, respectively. Erica, it turns out, was captured and tortured by the Germans but kills herself before confessing anything. Her bag of samples is now in the hands of Sarah, who passes them on to Maggie. On the home front, SOE and MI6 continue to battle each other. Despite many warnings, SOE's head ignores the fact that radio reports are coming from France without the code that's supposed to guarantee their authenticity. As Maggie finds her sister hidden in a nunnery along with a wounded English pilot, the Germans back in Paris capture Sarah and Hugh, seriously endangering their plans. The secret of the invasion landing is the most important in the war, and Churchill will do anything to protect it. Can Maggie pull off a great escape and save the day? Though the heroine's latest adventure is far from her best, it's packed with just about every plot device you'd expect from a World War II thriller, from horrifying plans to destroy the Jews to clever ploys to fool the Germans about Allied intentions. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Set in 1942, MacNeal's engrossing seventh Maggie Hope mystery (after 2016's The Queen's Accomplice) takes the American-raised British spy, disguised as a fashionable Irish lady, to Nazi-occupied Paris. There Maggie searches for her German half-sister, Elise Hess, a Resistance fighter, and for fellow agent Erica Calvert, whose coded transmissions have raised concern-and whose mission is vital to the success of the Allies' planned Normandy invasion. Unbeknownst to Maggie, one of her colleagues is a double agent. A chance encounter with designer Coco Chanel brings an entrée to an elegant world of ballet and masked balls in which Parisian aristocrats mingle with German officers. These scenes raise complex moral questions and showcase subtle acts of resistance. Those unfamiliar with previous novels might be confused by Maggie's family background and Elise's choices, but series fans should appreciate the development in their relationship. A fast-paced climax leads to an ending that will leave readers eagerly awaiting the next installment. Agent: Victoria Skurnick, Levine Greenberg Literary. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The seventh installment in the Maggie Hope series (after The Queen's Accomplice) finds Maggie undercover in Nazi-occupied France as Paige Kelly, a young Irish woman shopping for her trousseau. In reality, she is on a mission to find out what happened to SOE spy Erica Calvert and to find her half sister, Elise Hess. But all is not well at the SOE: a deeply embedded double agent is working to find out where Britain will invade mainland Europe. It is a race against time, not just with the war but with Maggie and her fellow operatives. Readers who have fallen in love with the series will be well pleased with this new title as it showcases their heroine quite well. The action is well paced and performed by a solid cast of both historical characters (e.g., Coco Chanel) and well-drawn fictional ones. MacNeal did her research, and fans will delight over even the most mundane details. Verdict Newcomers don't have to read the previous books to enjoy this title but some may wish to do so to grasp Maggie's backstory. For someone looking for a new historical mystery with similar characters, Maggie is a mirror image to Bess Crawford, the star of Charles Todd's World War I books. [See Prepub Alert, 2/13/17.]-Laura Hiatt, Fort Collins, CO © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Entries in the WWII-era Maggie Hope series range from traditional mysteries to spy stories; this seventh installment is firmly in the latter category. In the spring of 1942, Maggie a math crackerjack who's risen in the ranks of Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) is in Paris posing as an Irish bride-to-be shopping for a trousseau. In truth, she's searching for fellow SOE agent Erica Calvert, whose recent radio transmissions have been puzzling, and for Erica's half-sister, Elise Hess, a member of the Resistance. As British spy services wait for Calvert's soil samples to help determine where the Allies will invade France, a mole is revealing the inner workings of the SOE to the Nazis, endangering individual lives and more. MacNeal vividly portrays Paris during the German occupation, contrasting resisters with collaborators, as personified by anti-Semite Coco Chanel, who befriends Maggie while they both stay at the Ritz and takes her to the ballet and Maxim's, where the flow of food and drink belies the city's shortages. With its riveting plot and cliff-hanger finish, this is a solid addition to a series as well researched as it is entertaining.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2017 Booklist

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