Susan Elia MacNeal's Mr. Churchill's Secretary
Books about smart and plucky girls solving mysteries in the first half the 20th century = easily one of my favorite genres, and the Maggie Hope series is getting a lot of buzz lately (the third one just came out). I wanted to start at the beginning, and boy, there is a LOT going on in this first one. Maggie is supposed to be starting grad school in mathematics at MIT, but has decided to stay in London as war breaks out (whyyyyyy) and ends up taking a job as a secretary for new PM Winston Churchill (all the while railing against the institutional sexism that won't let her have a more prestigious position, ha) after one of his previous secretaries is murdered. There's also a mysterious woman involved with that murder, some IRA bombings, and a society of anti-Semites who blame the Jews for the war (sadly, historically accurate). Plus Maggie has a whole cadre of friends and coworkers and love interests, and OH YEAH there's a secret about her father that everyone knows but her. Somehow all of these plotlines come together to create a surprisingly action-packed story, and one full of GIRL POWER. I'm feeling it. A-.
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