Princess Elizabeth's Spy

A Maggie Hope Mystery

By: Susan Elia MacNeal

Narrated by: Susan Duerden

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Susan Elia MacNeal introduced the remarkable Maggie Hope in her acclaimed debut, Mr. Churchill's Secretary. Now Maggie returns to protect Britain's beloved royals against an international plot - one that could change the course of history.

As World War II sweeps the continent and England steels itself against German attack, Maggie Hope, former secretary to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, completes her training to become a spy for MI-5. Spirited, strong-willed, and possessing one of the sharpest minds in government for mathematics and code-breaking, she fully expects to be sent abroad to gather intelligence for the British front. Instead, to her great disappointment, she is dispatched to go undercover at Windsor Castle, where she will tutor the young Princess Elizabeth in math. Yet castle life quickly proves more dangerous - and deadly - than Maggie ever expected.

The upstairs-downstairs world at Windsor is thrown into disarray by a shocking murder, which draws Maggie into a vast conspiracy that places the entire royal family in peril. And as she races to save England from a most disturbing fate, Maggie realizes that a quick wit is her best defense, and that the smallest clues can unravel the biggest secrets, even within her own family.

©2012 Susan Elia Macneal (P)2012 Random House Audio

Narrator voice is a HUGE distraction.

What did you like best about Princess Elizabeth's Spy? What did you like least?

This should be a pleasant light read, but the narration is so distracting that I almost had to stop listening.

What other book might you compare Princess Elizabeth's Spy to and why?

Pretty similar to the Rhys Bowen series.

What didn’t you like about Susan Duerden’s performance?

There are problems with the narration. The weird breathiness was the first thing that I noticed. It sounded like she was narrating a dream sequence. It wasn't long before I noticed the very strange cadence that marked every sentence of the third person narration. It was kind of like she was a BBC newsreader. Very strange and distracting to the point that I almost stopped listening. But I paid for the download and I felt compelled to finish. The other very annoying thing was her interpretation of Maggie's voice. There is a tendency for some British actors to make their Americans sound like idiots, but this one was over the top. It sounded much like the voice of the "Barbie" doll in the Toy Story animated movies. Maggie is a mathematics genius, not a bimbo. It made me laugh when she would say something technical, because it was so ridiculous to hear that voice citing math theory. I thought maybe I was being hard on Ms. Duerden, thinking she was directed to have her voice have the weird monotone, breathy cadence,so I went and listened to a sample of some of her other books. Unfortunately, they were the same. So, if I want to read the rest of the series, I will probably get the books from the library.

Did Princess Elizabeth's Spy inspire you to do anything?

Avoid Susan Duerden narrations.

The narrator was so distracting!

What did you love best about Princess Elizabeth's Spy?

I loved the first book and the narrator was fantastic. I should have taken a closer look at the reviews and just bought the second book instead of buying the audiobook. I am having a difficult time not being overwhelmingly distracted by Susan Duerden's manner of speaking. While I was listening to this audiobook, my 12 year old daughter walked in the house with no prior knowledge of this book or my opinion of the narrator and said "What's wrong with her voice? Why is she talking like that?" Wanda McCaddon, the narrator of the first book, does a terrific job of bringing Maggie Hope into my living room. The version of Maggie Hope I discovered in Book 2 seemed flighty, breathless, insecure, and overly "girlish." I don't believe that Maggie actually changed between Books 1 and 2, but it did illustrate to me how very different a character might seem depending on the narrator.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Susan Duerden?

Wanda McCaddon!

Reader Turns Main Character 2 Shrill Caricature

I really enjoyed the first installment in Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope series, and found that narrator, Wanda McCaddonm, perfectly suited to the story and the characters. I was really looking forward to listening to this second book in the series, but listening to the sample did give me pause. I did not like the narrator at all, but I told myself that I had so liked the first story, well, perhaps I would get past the new narrator and her annoying rendition of Maggie. Well, that never happened. Why oh why do they change narrators??? Susan Duerden did not read Maggie's character with her own voice, but a voice that was higher and much more shrill. At one point she says, "But I am smart." She does not sound like a mathematical genius or someone capable of being a spy, she sounded like a tween on puppy uppers...big time annoying. Whenever there are shouts of, "Cheers!" in this narration, believe me,they are shouted!

There is a lot of interesting stuff going on in the story, and though you can pretty easily see what is coming, there is enough humor, dread, tension anticipation, and even a teeny bit of romance, to keep it going, and it all would have been just so much more enjoyable with a different narrator I really don't like being so negative about anyone, but I literally found myself grimacing, when Maggie's character was speaking or thinking. I think that wanting to shove a sock in the main character's beak is not the effect the publishers should be striving for!!

Captivating Historic Novel

The Maggie Hope series set during the years leading up to and including World War II in England is interesting. it is so great to have a female protagonist who is smart, independent, and brave.

Love the story and the writing,

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I love the story and the writing, do not at all like the narrator. Much prefer the narrator for the first book and wish they would bring her back.

Good story

I liked the plot line, and I continue to enjoy the character development. I did not care for this narrator, though. I preferred Donada Pierce's voice talent more. This narrator was too high pitched of a voice for my taste.

Story ruined by narrator.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series, Mr. Churchhill's Secretary, I was anxious to listen to this second book in the series. However, the narrator has been changed from the excellent Donada Peters to Susan Duerdon who's annoying upward turn at the end of every sentence ruins the story from the beginning. Her artificial inflection made listening to the story itself impossible. I will not finish this book or continue with the series with her narration. A very poor decision by the author to change narrators. Such a shame.

Narrator's odd cadence made it hard

I liked the story but I barely made it through till the end -- the narrator has a really unnatural cadence that set my teeth on edge. I hope the next book in the series is read by someone different!

The oral pesentation.

There was nothing to dislike about the book and audio. It was a superb work.

Bring back Wanda McCaddon as narrator

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

no. I would recommend reading this book, not listening. Susan Duerdon has too modern a speaking style with her "up speak" ending every phrase with a high note.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Susan Duerden?

Bring back Wanda McCaddon. Susan Duerdon might be great narrating a modern novel where the characters speak in that irritating modern upspeak (the high rising terminal I just learned from Wiki). No one talked remotely like that until the last decade or so. Having a characters from 1939 speak with such a modern accent is as irritating as any other inaccurate and inappropriate accent. I could not get lost in the story which is why I love to listen to audio books.