Secret agent Maggie Hope is back in THE KING’S JUSTICE – the ninth novel in the Maggie Hope Mystery series by Susan Elia MacNeal. THE KING’S JUSTICE will be published on February 25th 2020 by Bantam.
Maggie Hope is living on the edge. She’s seen too much – and done too much – during World War 2, and everything is catching up to her. Having quit her job as a secret agent, Maggie is now working as a bomb diffuser in London. If the risk of accidentally blowing herself up on a daily basis isn’t enough, Maggie is also drinking heavily, smoking, and zipping around London on a rickety motorbike. The last thing Maggie wants to do is get caught up in investigating another crime. But, when a recent string of murders threatens her coworkers and links back to another serial killer whom Maggie tracked down, she finds herself drawn into Scotland Yard’s investigation.
I am a huge fan of the Maggie Hope Mystery series, and I was excited to read THE KING’S JUSTICE. Maggie is in a bad place mentally, and this novel is much darker than the previous ones. The continuing war and her past is catching up to Maggie, and she is having a hard time coping. Maggie’s mental state is a heavy factor in the novel as it shapes her current actions and decisions. The war is also negatively affecting some of her friends, and their struggles are part of the novel. As always, MacNeal brings to life WW2 era London while addressing the British treatment of Italians in England and PTSD in soldiers. MacNeal also questions the morality of the Death Penalty through the continuing storyline of the Blackout Beast whom we first encountered in THE QUEEN’S ACCOMPLICE.
The two serial killers in this novel – one whom Maggie encountered in a previous novel; the other one new to the series – are both intriguing and chilling. In my opinion, THE KING’S JUSTICE is the most thought provoking novel in the Maggie Hope Mystery series so far.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.