The Hollywood Spy: A Maggie Hope Mystery
- Susan Elia MacNeal
- HardCover
- Bantam Dell
- 14/09/2021
- ISBN: 9780593156926
RRP: $46.99 (Inc. GST)
Description
Maggie Hope is off to California to solve a crime that hits too close to homeâand to confront the very evil she thought she had left behind in Europeâas the acclaimed World War II mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Susan Elia MacNeal continues.
âA swift, vibrant novel that peels back the asbestos curtain on the complex history of Los Angeles, home to heroes and villains.ââSteph Cha, author of Your House Will Pay
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 Californiaâs trendiest hotels.
When American-born secret agent and British spy Maggie Hope learns that this woman was engaged to her former fiancĂ©e, John Sterling, and that he suspects her death was no accident, intuition tells her heâs right. Leaving London under siege is a lot to askâbut John was once the love of Maggieâs life . . . and she canât 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 arenât always the way things appear in the moviesâand the political situation in America is more complicated, and dangerous, than the newsreels would have them all believe.
Ages 12+