Maggie is traveling to the United States as Prime Minster Churchill's secretary, though she has been promoted far beyond typing confidential memos. Mr. Churchill is on his way to meet President Roosevelt to insure the US military support of the Allies in Europe.
The day they arrive at the White House, one of Mrs. Roosevelt's staff members fails to come to work. By the end of the day with no call, Mrs. Roosevelt decides to check on the woman. Maggie Hope accompanies her to the apartment only to find the secretary dead of an apparent suicide.
While US involvement in WWII is assured by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt still needs support of the Congress. Racial tension over the death sentence of a black farmer is the main debate around D.C. and may affect how southern officials will vote - especially if the President interferes with the sentence like his wife would life him to. Civil rights lawyer Andi Martin is leading the protests and public debate about a man, Wendell Cotton, who was convicted not by a jury of his peers, but by white sharecroppers who paid a tax to be a part of the jury.
MacNeal captures the time period, December 1941, and seamlessly weaves a mystery into the politics of the time. Over two weeks beloved characters from the series add a new dimension to this wonderful historical series - the addition of the United States into the war. Fans of mystery, history, or just great writing will love this series - and the great protagonists whose stories guide it.
MacNeal, Susan Elia. (2015). Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante. New York: Bantam Books.
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