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Title details for The Hollywood Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal - Available

The Hollywood Spy

#10 in series

by Susan Elia MacNeal
Susan Duerden
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Maggie Hope is off to California to solve a crime that hits too close to home—and to confront the very evil she thought she had left behind in Europe—as the acclaimed World War II mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Susan Elia MacNeal continues.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL • “An absolute triumph . . . Maggie Hope is irresistible.”—Hilary Davidson, author of Her Last Breath
Los Angeles, 1943. As the Allies beat back the Nazis in the Mediterranean and the United States military slowly closes in on Tokyo, Walt Disney cranks out wartime propaganda and the Cocoanut Grove is alive with jazz and swing every night. But behind this sunny façade lies a darker reality. Up in the lush foothills of Hollywood, a woman floats lifeless in the pool of one of California’s trendiest hotels.
When American-born secret agent and British spy Maggie Hope learns that this woman was engaged to her former fiancée, John Sterling, and that he suspects her death was no accident, intuition tells her he’s right. Leaving London under siege is a lot to ask—but John was once the love of Maggie’s life . . . and she can’t say no.
 
Maggie struggles with seeing her lost love again, but more shocking is the realization that her country is as divided and convulsed with hatred as Europe. The Zoot Suit Riots loom large in Los Angeles, and the Ku Klux Klan casts a long shadow everywhere. But there is little time to dwell on memories once she starts digging into the case. As she traces a web of deception from the infamous Garden of Allah to the iconic Carthay Circle Theater, she discovers things aren’t always the way things appear in the movies—and the political situation in America is more complicated, and dangerous, than the newsreels would have them all believe.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Maggie Hope

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 6, 2021

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593345146
      • File size: 327682 KB
      • Duration: 11:22:40

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Susan Duerden reprises her portrayal of feisty Maggie Hope, American-born secret agent for British intelligence during WWII. Visiting the sunny vistas and glamorous Hollywood stars of Los Angeles in 1943, Maggie is helping her former beau, John Sterling, investigate the death of his fianc�e. Duerden is convincing as she depicts Maggie's indomitable courage and intelligence, especially as she navigates a dangerous network of Nazi sympathizers. Sterling is voiced with warmth and a crisp British accent, and the residents of the Garden of Allah apartments are richly presented. Duerden's excellent characterizations provide an enjoyable distraction from the story's heavy-handed treatment of its bigotry theme. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 17, 2021
      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.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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