The Hollywood spy

Set in 1943, MacNeal's meticulously researched if overstuffed 10th Maggie Hope mystery (after 2020's The King's Justice) takes Maggie, an American stationed in England who works for MI5, to Los Angeles, where Gloria Hutton, the fiancée of RAF pilot John Sterling, has been found dead in a hotel swimming pool. The police are quick to label the deceased a "hophead" and rule her death an accident, but Sterling refuses to believe their assessment and asks Maggie to investigate. Maggie's inquiry, which takes her to film sets, nightclubs, and other Hollywood locales, eventually leads her to a charismatic L.A. cop who heads the local Ku Klux Klan and is plotting to blow up a theater during the premiere of an important war film. Appearances by such real-life notables as Linus Pauling and Walt Disney serve to highlight the widespread discrimination casually perpetrated against people of color, Jews, migrants, and LGBTQ communities. Amid all this social commentary, the search for Gloria's killer tends to recede into the background. Still, fans of golden age Hollywood will find plenty to like. Agent: Victoria Skurnick, Levine Greenberg Literary. (July)

In her tenth outing, London-based American codebreaker/spy Maggie Hope leaves war-torn Europe for 1943 Los Angeles, split by Disney-generated wartime cheers and zoot suit riots. There's also a woman floating dead in a pool, which Maggie has been called to investigate.

In her tenth outing, London-based American codebreaker/spy Maggie Hope leaves war-torn Europe for 1943 Los Angeles, split by Disney-generated wartime cheers and zoot suit riots. There's also a woman floating dead in a pool, which Maggie has been called to investigate.

Maggie Hope has a feeling she isn't in London anymore. Much like Dorothy upon arriving in Oz, Maggie can't believe how truly different World War II Los Angeles is from London under the Blitz. But Maggie can't let her initial reactions to the City of Angels distract her from her reason for returning to the States. Her old friend and ex-fiancé John Sterling, a British pilot, is convinced that the recent death of his new fiancée Gloria Hutton was no accident, and he wants Maggie to use her special skills to investigate. In the 10th superbly crafted addition to her "Maggie Hope" series (after The King's Justice), MacNeal deftly captures both the dazzling side of 1943 California, with cameo appearances from Hollywood stars galore, and the dismaying aspects of the Golden State's darker side, with its homegrown network of Nazis and other racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan sowing dissension against the U.S. government. VERDICT Longtime fans of the series will savor the perfectly calibrated mix of intriguing plot and engaging characters in the latest "Maggie Hope" mystery, and the impeccably written book should also work as a good introduction to the series for newcomers.—John Charles, formerly at Scottsdale P.L., AZ

Set in 1943, MacNeal's meticulously researched if overstuffed 10th Maggie Hope mystery (after 2020's The King's Justice) takes Maggie, an American stationed in England who works for MI5, to Los Angeles, where Gloria Hutton, the fiancée of RAF pilot John Sterling, has been found dead in a hotel swimming pool. The police are quick to label the deceased a "hophead" and rule her death an accident, but Sterling refuses to believe their assessment and asks Maggie to investigate. Maggie's inquiry, which takes her to film sets, nightclubs, and other Hollywood locales, eventually leads her to a charismatic L.A. cop who heads the local Ku Klux Klan and is plotting to blow up a theater during the premiere of an important war film. Appearances by such real-life notables as Linus Pauling and Walt Disney serve to highlight the widespread discrimination casually perpetrated against people of color, Jews, migrants, and LGBTQ communities. Amid all this social commentary, the search for Gloria's killer tends to recede into the background. Still, fans of golden age Hollywood will find plenty to like. Agent: Victoria Skurnick, Levine Greenberg Literary. (July)