Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Susan Elia MacNeal

Susan Elia MacNeal is the author of The New York Times, Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today-bestselling Maggie Hope mystery series, starting with the Edgar Award-nominated and Barry Award-winning Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, which is now in its 22nd printing.

Her latest book is The Prisoner in the Castle, the eighth novel in the series.

Recently I asked MacNeal about what she was reading. Her reply:
Oh, I’m always trying to make more time to read fiction, which is hard because I’m already a working mom and also reading so much non-fiction to research whatever Maggie Hope novel I’m working on at the moment.

However, here’s a little reading hack I like to use—because I’m always on the go and don’t want to miss a subway or train stop, I like to read shorter things, on an e-reader for convenience. But I love print books and support independent booksellers. So what I’ll do is download a bazillion of the sample chapters to my e-reader, that I go through on the subway, at the dentist office, waiting for the PTA meeting to start, on airplanes—you name it. But, when I find something I really, really love, that’s when I head to the local bookstore!

Right now I’m reading for research (but it’s also fascinating) Agent M: The Lives and Spies of MI5's Maxwell Knight by Henry Hemming. How’s this for a tag line? Spying is the art of knowing who to trust—and who to betray. I read the sample snippet on a train from London to Scotland and picked up the book itself at Waterstones in Glasgow. It kept me company all the way home and I’m still riveted!

Other books I’ve read the introductory chapters for, missed my subways stop because of, and will definitely pick up this summer are: Megan Abbott’s Give Me Your Hand, Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson, and Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams.

Happy summer reading!
Visit Susan Elia MacNeal's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Prisoner in the Castle.

--Marshal Zeringue