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

Disappointed with change of narrator from 1st book

I did not care for the narrator's choice of voice for Maggie. I thought it was too immature sounding, and didn't represent an intelligent, strong, and brave woman. It definitely affected my enjoyment if the story. I will switch to reading the
rest of the series.

Great series.

Not only is this a great series, but WWII history has been inter-woven in the story (I.e., Churchill’s spies). I’m looking forward to the next installment!

Loved the book, not the Reader

I really like this series, but I'm going to switch to the written copies. There's a new narrator for book 2, and she turned the strong Maggie from Mr. Churchill's Secretary into a cutesy-sounding little girl. Maggie needs to sound like an adult!

Great story, have to ignore the narrator a bit

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator does fine when "in character" however when nobody is "talking" she is awful
Trying to make turning on taps suspenseful coming across as stuff and unemotional instead!

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

Bring back Wanda McCaddon

good period thriller

I enjoyed both of these witty novels featuring Maggie Hope--a combination of social and political commentary and thriller (of the less intense sort) set in England at the start of WWII. This second book, however, is marred by the quality of the reading. I hate to say anything negative about someone who did such an admirable job in many ways, particularly her use of different voices for various characters, but her sing-songy cadence sentence by sentence was so distracting that at times I found it hard to listen. I persevered and I'm glad I did,but unless Duerden can overcome this very unhelpful vocal tic, I can't recommend books read by her.

This a EXACTLY THE SAME PLOT as the Alias series !

All originality went out the window when I recognize the plot as being from one of my favorite TV shows, Alias that was popular a few years ago.

oh my God the narrator. Up speak at the end of every sentence makes me want to scream!!

Enjoyable historical fiction.

Would you consider the audio edition of Princess Elizabeth's Spy to be better than the print version?

Audio edition accomplished ambiance greater than print version.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The main character, Hope.

What about Susan Duerden’s performance did you like?

She carried the story with a fantastic voice and suitable accent.

Loved the story

Would you consider the audio edition of Princess Elizabeth's Spy to be better than the print version?

I loved this story. It is well written and entertaining. I have to say I the print version is better in this case.

What did you like best about this story?

I like learning some of the details of Windsor Castle

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

I love audio books. I adore it when someone reads to me. I have a very long commute daily and this allows me to enjoy reading. But this narrator has a habit of 'whispering' dialog when the character whisper. I am hearing impaired and could not understand her. So I missed a good bit of the story. And some of her accents were difficult to catch. I really prefer when they read the story and dramatize it.

great story

enjoyed the storyline and historical approach. Maggie's and Eliabeths voice can get shrill and annoying. Press on it does get better.

The Narrator's cadence is very annoying

Would you consider the audio edition of Princess Elizabeth's Spy to be better than the print version?

Haven't read the print version, so I couldn't say whether the audio version is better. I like to listen to books during my commute, and the books I buy to listen to are very different from the ebooks I chose to read. I like to listen to books that have an historical context and describe the surroundings in detail. The Maggie Hope series keeps me entertained during rush hour driving. Never mind a long commute if I'm listening to a good book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Princess Elizabeth's Spy?

I love books set in a different time period. I like getting a feel for how it was 'back then'.

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

Really disliked the way Susan Duerden reads the narrative. It's the same cadence for every sentence. Each sentence ends on the same note. It is so annoying that once during a long narrative, I had to shut it off. Does a great job on the voices, however. You can always tell when it's a different person talking.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Can't say that I was moved, but at times I was annoyed by the main character's behavior. She's supposed to be a spy, but has very volatile outburst to her handler and boss. Rather than using a logical argument, she's screaming and having a tantrum. Is that supposed to be an 'American' trait? British reserve seems to have gone missing.