In this latest in the New York Times best-selling mystery series, American-born code-breaker Maggie Hope continues her intelligence work in 1942 London, where she must track down a killer with a Jack the Ripper modus operandi. What's this got to do with the war effort? His victims are all female intelligence agents, like Maggie.

Echoes of classic crime meet international espionage in MacNeal's accomplished sixth WWII mystery (after 2015's Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante). In bombed- and blacked-out 1942 London, a young woman's horrifically butchered body is discovered in Regent's Park near graffiti proclaiming that "Jack Is Back." With the discovery of a second, similarly brutalized corpse, a pattern emerges: the murders explicitly mimic Jack the Ripper's, and both women have been tapped for the Special Operations Executive, a top-secret unit that sends women spies behind enemy lines. American expat Maggie Hope, an experienced SOE operative, joins the investigation jointly conducted by Scotland Yard and MI5. The stakes rise when a young woman trained by Maggie disappears, possibly abducted by the killer that the press dubs the Blackout Beast. Though the titular queen—the current monarch's mother—plays only a minor role, MacNeal's engaging characters, vivid scene-setting, moments of romance, and rich historical detail offer plenty to enjoy. Agent: Victoria Skurnick, Levine Greenberg Literary. (Oct.)