“The King’s Justice”, by Susan Elia McNeal ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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“The King’s Justice” is the ninth novel from author Susan Elia MacNeal to feature the flame-haired, British-born, America-raised protagonist Maggie Hope. I read this book without having read any of the previous eight in the series, and while I am always wary of jumping in on a long-running series late in the game, MacNeal keeps newcomers like myself in the picture with a judicious amount of back story, but not so much as to bore continuing readers with details that they already know.

It’s March 1943, and London has survived the aerial Battle of Britain and the bombing campaign of the Blitz. “The King’s Justice” finds Maggie working with a bomb-disposal unit in London after earlier adventures with the SOE (Special Operations Executive) and time spent supporting the Metropolitan Police in apprehending a notorious sequential murderer (or serial killer, as we call them in the USA) known as the “Blackout Beast”.

While the “Beast” sits in jail, a new killer has begun to stalk the streets of London, a killer who deposits the flensed and flesh-stripped bones of their victims in suitcases thrown into the Thames which wash up on the banks of the river within the city. There is one important clue which the Met have kept from the public: each suitcase full of bones also contained a white feather, a symbol of cowardice dating from the Great War, now being handed out to conscientious objectors – some of whom work with Maggie in the BDU.

“The King’s Justice” is a complex, well-plotted tale of a city in the grip of the terror of an unknown murderer, in the midst of the greatest conflict of modern times. Maggie rides around the city on her BSA motorcycle, trying to avoid being dragged into the search for the new killer terrorizing the city while she pursues her dangerous work as an ordnance disposal expert.

The twists and turns of the plot show Maggie working through the experiences of the recent past that still haunt her, while slowly being drawn into the effort to identify the new killer stalking the streets of London. Author MacNeal spins a cleverly plotted tale, slowly but inexorably weaving the skeins of the story into a satisfying, but never obvious fabric of murder and madness. This was my first Maggie Hope book, but it won’t be my last – and long-time followers will, I expect, be well pleased with the latest addition to the series.

“The King’s Justice” is scheduled for release on February 25th, 2020.

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