Maggie Hope mysteries by Susan Elia MacNeal
WWII-set mystery series about Maggie Hope, a British-born mathematician raised in the US after the deaths of her parents by her lesbian, university professor aunt who decides to stay in England to attempt to aid in the war effort after returning to settle the family estate's affairs. Though initially passed over for important jobs because of her gender, she eventually becomes Winston Churchill's secretary through the intercession of a (gay Jewish playboy) friend, and from there gains the attention of the head of MI-5.
I suspect Susan Elia MacNeal is familiar with certain subsets of fandom.
The books are incredibly well researched, with liberties being taken deliberately instead of from ignorance, and the first book in particular is very good in regards to the positions most women were allowed to hold and how people were chosen for positions, and some scenes when Maggie is churchill's secretary are taken directly (with permission) from the experiences of two of Churchill's secretaries, Elizabeth Layton Nel and Marian Holmes. And while I'm not a mathematician or well-versed in codebreaking 9or creating) those aspects seem to be pretty spot on, too.
I like the first book, with the focus on the wartime mindset and society among the people on the fringes of the war effort, the best, but like the other two, which are a bit more into the realm of "glamorous" spy capers, as well. The end of book two introduces the potential of soap opera-like drama, though the parts with the potential to annoy don't really come into play until near the end of book three.
Spoilers:
I was neutral on the reveal that Maggie's father was alive and worked for Bletchley Park, but considerably more interested by her mother being alive and having been a German spy who faked her death, and is now a Nazi commander. I roll my eyes at the fact that Maggie was sent to Germany to spy on her mother (because, really, even the SOE was smart enough to know how very wrong things could go if you send someone to spy on the mother they spent 20 years thinking was dead) but I thought that the plotline was handled pretty well, so far. I also like that when Maggie learns she has a half sister, she spend about five minutes in "But you got to know your parents!" mode before switching to "do not let my sister get arrested by Nazis!" mode.
There's a romantic plotline where...well, the first two books each feature a different love interest, with the first one believed dead until the end of book two (and which Maggie doesn't discover until the end of book three), and my main reaction to that is "yeah, I saw Pearl Harbor too, but at least there doesn't appear to be a pregnancy involved?"The books, in order, are:
Mr. Churchill's Secretary
Princess Elizabeth's Spy
His Majesty's Hope
I suspect Susan Elia MacNeal is familiar with certain subsets of fandom.
The books are incredibly well researched, with liberties being taken deliberately instead of from ignorance, and the first book in particular is very good in regards to the positions most women were allowed to hold and how people were chosen for positions, and some scenes when Maggie is churchill's secretary are taken directly (with permission) from the experiences of two of Churchill's secretaries, Elizabeth Layton Nel and Marian Holmes. And while I'm not a mathematician or well-versed in codebreaking 9or creating) those aspects seem to be pretty spot on, too.
I like the first book, with the focus on the wartime mindset and society among the people on the fringes of the war effort, the best, but like the other two, which are a bit more into the realm of "glamorous" spy capers, as well. The end of book two introduces the potential of soap opera-like drama, though the parts with the potential to annoy don't really come into play until near the end of book three.
Spoilers:
I was neutral on the reveal that Maggie's father was alive and worked for Bletchley Park, but considerably more interested by her mother being alive and having been a German spy who faked her death, and is now a Nazi commander. I roll my eyes at the fact that Maggie was sent to Germany to spy on her mother (because, really, even the SOE was smart enough to know how very wrong things could go if you send someone to spy on the mother they spent 20 years thinking was dead) but I thought that the plotline was handled pretty well, so far. I also like that when Maggie learns she has a half sister, she spend about five minutes in "But you got to know your parents!" mode before switching to "do not let my sister get arrested by Nazis!" mode.
There's a romantic plotline where...well, the first two books each feature a different love interest, with the first one believed dead until the end of book two (and which Maggie doesn't discover until the end of book three), and my main reaction to that is "yeah, I saw Pearl Harbor too, but at least there doesn't appear to be a pregnancy involved?"The books, in order, are:
Mr. Churchill's Secretary
Princess Elizabeth's Spy
His Majesty's Hope