The Last Hope is the final installment in the Maggie Hope series which follows main character, Maggie Hope through World War two. As all the rest of the series it is packed with adventure and suspense, and we watch Maggie's character grow and develop. I found this book especially interesting because Maggie travels to Spain on a spying mission so I enjoyed a look at what that country was like during the war. On the downside I was disappointed that we didn't get to finish out the war with Maggie. The series ends before the war does. Still this is a good read for anyone who like World War two historical fiction.

This is the final book in the Maggie Hope series and I’m sad to see it end. This is a series I will reread. Out of all the books in the series, this one was my favorite. Each of these books is steeped in history, intrigue, sometimes light romance, memorable characters. These books have always kept my attention, sometimes even on the edge of my seat. There’s often a twist, i didn’t see coming. Very British. I was blessed with a free ARC, and I’m voluntarily leaving my review. Highly recommend the entire series.

Thoroughly enjoyed this latest Maggie Hope novel. The combination of history and plot twists keeps you turning the pages.

I've read all of the Maggie Hope World War 2 era historical mysteries and have thoroughly enjoyed them all. I'm sorry to see the series end with this book. This final installment may well be the best of the bunch.

Here, Maggie is sent to Madrid to meet fashion designer Coco Chanel and bring home a peace proposal and also to meet Werner Heisenberg, the physicist behind the German atomic bomb program, to see whether the bomb is nearing completion.

Besides the plot, the book offers plenty of interesting insights into life in a "neutral" country during the war.

A real page-turner and, at times gut wrenching book. One I would highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for the ARC of this book, the final chapter on the Maggie Hope series.

This series appears to have been well-researched and held to the truth, at the same time making it thoroughly enjoyable. Throughout the course of the series Maggie Hope grew into a strong and adept agent working for Britain, as well as a mature woman.

Interesting series!

I love this entire series. The thought that this is the last one, makes me a little bit sad. But I am almost tempted to start over from the beginning and read all of them in a row. This is the 11th and claims to be the final. I do hate when these end, but I also hate when they go on for too long and the characters ruin out of their magic juice.

We knew from the last book (or maybe the one before) that Coco Chanel was going to reappear at some point, and she is back in this one. I love what the author does with these historical characters. She has a way of sliding in nuances that the characters might not pick up on but that any reader with a decent knowledge of history will pick up on basically as a dig (looking at you Kim Philby). She also has fictional characters as the main focus and inserts real people into the story in a masterful way.

I am excited to see where the author will go next and what path she will take now that Maggie has reached the end of her story line.

I definitely recommend this entire series.

There are so many feelings to sort through with this last Maggie Hope book. She looks back herself and notes how her perceptions have changed from black or white to gray from the start of the war to the start of 1944. This final chapter is exciting and tragic with personal sacrifice and joy.

"All will be revealed in this no-holds-barred finale of the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated Maggie Hope series as the intrepid spy teams up with fashion designer - and possible double agent - Coco Chanel to bring down the physicist behind Nazi Germany's nuclear program.

Maggie Hope has come a long way since she was Mr. Churchill's secretary. In the face of tremendous danger, she's learned espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance. But things are different now that she has so much to lose, including the possibility of a family with John Sterling, the man who's long held her heart.

British Intelligence has ordered Maggie to assassinate Werner Heisenberg, the physicist who may deliver a world-ending fission bomb for Germany. She's shaken. An assassination is unlike anything she has ever done. How can the Allies even be sure Nazi Germany has a bomb? Determined to gather more information, Maggie travels to Madrid, where Heisenberg is visiting for a lecture.

At the same time, couturier Coco Chanel, a spy in her own right with ambiguous loyalties, has requested a mysterious meeting with the British ambassador in Madrid - and has requested Maggie join them. As the two play a dangerous game of cat and mouse, Maggie tries to get a better understanding of Heisenberg, but is faced with betrayal and a threat more terrifying than losing her own life.

Maggie desperately wants to find her happily-ever-after, but as the war reaches a fever pitch, the stakes keep rising. Now, more than ever, the choices she makes will reverberate around the globe, touching everyone she loves - with fateful implications for the future of the free world."

You just KNOW Susan Elia MacNeal has been holding on to this perfect title for the last book in her series.

The Last Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal is the eleventh and final book in the Maggie Hope historical mystery series. Maggie Hope has had numerous jobs including secretary to Winston Churchill, a defuser of bombs that were dropped in London by the Germans, but had not exploded, and currently, a spy. In this one Maggie is sent to Madrid, Spain, with a few stops along the way. She has two parts to this mission. The first part is to meet with fashion designer and possible double agent Coco Chanel. The second task is to assassinate a German physicist, Werner Heisenberg. Meanwhile there are events and revelations occurring in Maggie’s personal life. The events occur in 1944.

The characterization is well done. Maggie is a mathematics major, enjoys recognizing patterns, word games, and puzzles. She’s also been trained as a spy, is a skilled marksman, and has a complicated personal and family life. Her internal conflicts felt realistic and appropriate.
The writing is well-done, the plot is engaging and thought-provoking, as well as heart-wrenching during at least one scene. It was interesting to get insight into the somewhat neutral countries and life within them. Several strong themes run through this novel including the horrors of war, betrayals, spies, collaboration, assassinations, double agents, blackmail, guilt, propaganda, and much more.

Overall, this novel is entertaining and moving. It’s a strong and impactful tale with plenty of action and suspense. I feel like this series is best read in series order. The back-story will enhance a reader’s enjoyment and understanding as the series progresses. Readers who enjoy historical mysteries and espionage novels will likely enjoy this book.

Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine – Bantam and Susan Elia MacNeal provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via Net Galley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for May 21 2024.

I so wanted to love this book. I've eagerly devoured the Maggie Hope mysteries and have enjoyed her journey and her merry band she's collected along the way. (Glad to see Mr. K reappear! And in the historical note that he survived the end of the war.) But as a final book in the series this just didn't do it for me. Some aspects were very repetitive - I got tired of how many times (sometimes multiple a page!) Maggie's gun got mentioned or how Chanel was always described as wearing "ropes of pearls." It also leaves some loose threads - about Maggie's mom and dad and sister, about if an agent is a double agent, and others. It was a quick, enjoyable read but ultimately not my favorite of the series.

I found The Last Hope very interesting. The title is a play on words, obviously, referring to the main character’s name and the desire for the end of World War II. Hope/Maggie’s assignment to assassinate a professor working on the atomic bomb for the Nazis. Her mission is the last hope to stop any advancement in that development . The other hope was held by some Nazis for a deal with the Allies to barter a peace and join to thwart the. Russians. Through the efforts of Coco Chanel and Maggie they hoped they would succeed.
I had read before that Chanel was a collaborator with the Nazis, but I didn’t know to what extent. Since the Allies knew all about her alliances, it is interesting that she was allowed to operate freely. She obviously served a purpose or she would have been imprisoned as a traitor.
The glimpses into life “outside of the war” were fascinating. The story told of the coexistence of Allies and Axis in cities declared neutral. I haven’t read any books where that lifestyle is described. It seems like a different universe, I think this aspect of the book is what sets it apart from other stories about World War II.
I really enjoyed reading The Last Hope. I had not heard of this series before. Does the title allude to the end of this series? I hope not, yet it probably does since it the end of the war. Time will tell. Now I will look for some of the previous books.
Will I recommend this novel? Yes. It is a good, engaging read.

In The Last Hope, we see a possible future for Maggie Hope and her friends: World War II isn't over, but the end is in sight, and super-spy Maggie has been ordered to assassinate Werner Heisenberg, a physicist specializing in nuclear fission in case he is helping Germany build a nuclear bomb. Maggie is uncomfortable with the assignment and tries to discover if Heisenberg is actually working on this, and if Germany is indeed close to having a bomb. Maggie travels to Madrid for this mission and intrigue ensues with designer Coco Chanel, bullfighters, agensts and double agents.

I've read every book in this series and am truly sad to see it end. This book is very well researched and the fears about a post-war power structure feel so real. That said, readers new to the series will still understand the context and appreciate the characters.

"The Last Hope," the last in the Maggie Hope series, " is Susan Elia MacNeal's most suspenseful.

Maggie has to leave all her friends and her fiance to meet Coco Chanel in Spain. Chanel helped Maggie out in an earlier book and Chanel expects Maggie to repay the favor.

Chanel wants Maggie to hand deliver a letter to Churchill. As Maggie leaves on the mission, her superior gives her a gun with instructions to assassinate a German scientist who may be working on a bomb.

Will she or won't she? And if she does, will she get home alive? After all, this is the last book...

I’ve really enjoyed reading the books in this series over the years and I’m sad to see it end. Maggie Hope has had some great adventures and this last one—set in Spain and Portugal—was a wonderful finale. Maggie encounters some fabulous people, including a bullfighter, a physicist, and Coco Chanel, and there were some unexpected moments. Longtime admirers of this series will be pleased with how it all wraps up. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You don't need to read all the books in this series to appreciate the characters and understand the important events during the time period. I have only read two of the 11 books and had no problem understanding and appreciating the events and characters. All the main movers of the period play their parts with the world moving toward and then dealing with the aftermath of war.

Thank you to publisher for copy through NetGalley.

Wow! I have loved this series since the beginning and although I’m sad this is the finale it was a great ending! Run don’t walk to get this book when it releases. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Fun, interesting and fast paced. The setting was wonderful. The characters draw you in and don't let go. A must read for historical fiction fans!

I’ve been a full on fan of this series from the publication of Mr. Churchill’s Secretary (2012). MacNeal’s combination of adventure story, history and a vivid and intrepid heroine in the form of Maggie Hope has been irresistible. Maggie, an American who came to Britain during the war and snagged a job in Churchill’s office, finds herself coming full circle: in the first novel she found an assassin, in this last novel, she’s asked to be an assassin.

Many things have happened to Maggie over the course of this long war, and she’s now a full on member of the SOE – Special Operations Executive – Churchill’s squad of espionage agents, of whom more than 3,000 were women. Their work involved going into occupied Europe and working undercover. The SOE was formed in 1940, and it was dissolved in ’46, so as this series draws to a close, so does the war and the SOE itself. It’s a fitting arc for this wonderful character.

In her last outing, she’s going to be sent to Madrid to meet up with Coco Chanel. Chanel was a Nazi sympathizer and collaborator and as the war appeared headed for an ending, she knew which side her bread would be buttered. She’s advocating for a “separate peace”, where the Allies reached an agreement with Germany but fought on with the Soviet Union. Obviously communism was seen as a huge threat. Chanel’s idea was for Maggie to carry a letter from her to Churchill, an acquaintance she felt she could prevail upon.

Maggie is not only being asked to meet with Chanel, however, she’s also being asked to assassinate Heisenberg, who the Allies felt might be close to creating a fission bomb. Maggie agrees but insists on meeting and talking with him first to see exactly how close he is to a bomb. Unlike Einstein and many other brilliant scientists, Heisenberg chose to stay in Germany and continued to work with the Nazi government.

This is a full on Maggie story, however, Chanel and Heisenberg are supporting players. As Maggie leaves London she must leave behind her boyfriend and possible fiancée and she’s just not feeling like herself. She’s a little heavier and she’s very hungry. Any woman could spot what’s happening and Chanel certainly does when they at last meet up, chiding Maggie for the poor fit of her clothes.

Wartime Madrid is also a character. Maggie’s “handler” warns her that it’s a city full of spies, and that no-one can be trusted, and in fact people around Maggie start falling like flies. This beautiful city, under Franco, sees a mix of all nationalities, all uneasily coexisting in a fragile space. Maggie is able to get in practically anywhere when a very famous bullfighter takes an interest in her, and MacNeal gives the reader a bird’s eye view of a bullfight and the culture that surrounds it.

There is much underlying tension in this story and Maggie’s life is certainly in danger as she weighs a decision on what to do about Heisenberg. MacNeal skillfully pulls in these details of the War and of Europe at a very specific time and manages to keep this book feeling, not like a dry historical tome, but a vivid story of a brave girl trying to do the right thing. And that essentially is the thread of the series. Maggie is plunged into events beyond her control, and manages to do the right thing. She’s a wonderful character.

MacNeal also nicely wraps up the series, providing closure of some the details of Maggie’s personal life. As the war heads to an ending, the reader is certainly wondering what’s next, but if you’re at all like me, you’re hoping it’s all good for Miss Maggie Hope. Thanks for the reading memories.

Maggie Hope’s last mission takes her to neutral Spain. She is not entirely comfortable with her assignment and has personal issues that prompt much soul searching (no spoilers here!). She reunites with Coco Chanel as part of her mission. I enjoyed the setting as I believe this is the first book I’ve read set in Spain during WWII and am curious to learn more.

This was not my favorite entry in the series. Perhaps the book felt slow at the beginning. Or it could be my own personal regret that this is the final episode. This series was much more than a cozy mystery. I am sorry for it to end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

In early 3/24, I read the first in a series known as the Maggie Hope Mystery Series by Susan Elia MacNeal. I really enjoyed the first book, Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, and now in mid 4/24, I’ve read the last in the 11-book series, The Last Hope. This isn’t the way I typically take on a new series, much preferring to read through the books in order so I can see the characters and storyline develop. I least I know I have nine more books available to look forward to.

Maggie is a compelling character. She is an Irish lass whose parents, or so she thought, were killed in a car crash when she was quite young. She was then shipped to the U.S. to be taken care by her aunt, an academic. Maggie is was a very bright woman who, in the first book, struggled with the misogyny of the WWII era. Despite her mathematical and science background, when she volunteered her services for the British war effort, she was assigned to a typing a pool. Nonetheless, her talents could not be denied and she very quickly rose from being a typist to becoming Churchill’s secretary, and subsequently to being an MI-6 codebreaker, and finally a spy for the British. It was in The Last Hope that she was sent on an assassination mission. She was to meet the German scientist who was responsible for building their atomic fission bomb. There was a “race of the laboratories” between the Allies and Axis powers, and it seemed quite certain that while Germany was already losing the war, if they developed the bomb first, then they would likely be the victors.

Maggie has a fiancé at home as she was sent first to Lisbon and then to Madrid in order to determine if Professor Werner Heisenberg had made enough progress on his own atomic project to really be a threat to the Allies. Complicating the assignment was the unexpected pregnancy that Maggie discovered while she was on this assignment. Perhaps the most interesting character in the story was Coco Chanel, the French woman who was getting rich from the sales of her perfume. Although she was French, Coco was collaborating with the Nazis and the author made it clear that Coco was a horrible anti-Semitic woman. This was a good plot filled with a cast of fascinating characters. Not only do I recommend this book, but I’m assuming the series is a promising one.