Sunday, November 19, 2017

BOOKS: audio mystery series update


Maggie Hope Series by Susan Elia MacNeal  books #6&7
The Queen's Accomplice 
The Paris Spy
 It is still WW2, and Maggie Hope is still earnest and perfect. She is working for SOE as a spy. The Queen's Accomplice takes place in London, with a serial killer on the loose. The Paris Spy sees Maggie heading undercover to Paris to look for her missing half-sister and lost spy Erica Calvert.
I think I've figured out what is off about Maggie. I first thought it was her earnestness, or perfection, but I think her reactions to social situations (homosexuality, women in the workplace, etc) are all prefect present day reactions, perfectly politically correct. She is so ahead of her time that is seems a tad off in 1940s wartime London.


Glass Houses - Louise Penny (audiobook) #13
I've enjoyed this series since I started listening to them from the library. I also like that Gamauche is retired and living in Three Pines full time now.

This one had a different type plot - starting with Gamauche testifying at a murder trial, and then flashbacks take us to Three Pines and the murder that occurred. It takes til the very end to discover who is on trial and who was murdered and why. The story continues in a past and present manner, slowly dropping clues and letting the reader discover what happened. Lots of art and philosophy, and symbolism, as per usual. And of course, things are not quite as they seem. Luckily all the regular characters are around, even stupid Jean-Guy, my least favourite character in these books.