OBSESSED!  This book was everything I wanted it to be and more.

The Prisoner in the Castle by Susan Elia MacNeal

Thanks to NetGalley, I got the opportunity to read this book before it comes out in August.  Now, I’ve written about the Maggie Hope series before here and here. I’m such a huge fan.  Maggie is just an ordinary woman who does extraordinary things in a dangerous time (WWII). At the end of the previous book, we ended up on a cliffhanger with Maggie being “taken” by her own government.

This book continues from where we left off.  Maggie is sent to an island in Scotland (Isle of Scarra) were “spies” who know too much are sent to neutralize them.  People can’t spread secrets if they are isolated on an inhospitable island with a dubious past.  Similar to the Agatha Christie novel, “And Then There Were None” (one of my absolute favorites), there are then mysterious deaths on the island that are slowly claiming the inhabitants of the island one at a time.  Is it the ghost of the old lord of the manor, is it a fellow member of the British spy service gone mad, or is it a double agent in their midst?  While all this goes on, Maggie’s friends in London are concerned when no one can determine where she is.  Detective Inspector Durgin, erstwhile partner and sometimes love interest, digs deep into Government politics to try and find Maggie.  One of his cases needs her testimony to proceed, but he’s also concerned about her on a personal level too.  This book hits on all the characters of the previous novels and shows how much Maggie touched lives across London (including the Prime Minister himself).

I was so happy to read this early….I highly recommend this series and this installment especially!

Also, still waiting for official word on some stuff….but, keep watching this space!