The first in a historical cozy mystery series about a woman during WWII. Evelyne finds herself working for Churchill when she stumbles across a dead body. She investigates with the help of an aide in the War Rooms.

I think this debut was trying to do a lot. I’ve read historical cozies before that I’ve enjoyed but they are more set in an era than during a big world event. I just worry about the longevity of this series as it’s set during WWII. I think even just post war would’ve helped narrow the focus in. I couldn’t tell if it was trying to be more cozy or more historical fiction.

A Traitor in Whitehall is a delightful debut novel in Julia Kelley's "Parisian Orphan" mystery/spy series. Evelyne Redfern is recognizable to many because her father, a famous titled adventurer/ne'er-do-well and mother, a French woman who was a bit of a femme fatale, had a huge public custody dispute over Evelyne that was in all the papers. Each accused the other of scandalous behavior and her mother got the worst of it. She died when Evelyne was 13 and her father promptly put Evelyne in boarding school and under the care of her Aunt Amelia over holidays. Now, she is in her 20s and working in a munitions factory. England is at war but London has not yet been bombed. Evelyn rooms with her best friend from boarding school in a rooming house for young women. With her university education and her stint as a copywriter in an ad agency, she is bored in her current war job.

Then, Evelyne runs across an old family friend, Mr. Fletcher. He offers to secure her a position in a typing pool for the Cabinet War Rooms, deep underground 3 days on/2 off. It would be a change. She never did use her secretarial training that she completed after university. All Mr. Fletcher asked her to do, in addition, was to monitor the environment/people for unusual things and report to him. While she began her observations and tried to figure out what Mr. Fletcher, might want to know about, she finds one of her coworkers in a room she was sent to - dead with a knife in her throat. Evelyne is a British detective novel aficionado with a lot of raw talent. She finds her way into the double investigation of the murder and the search for a mole who is leaking classified information.

Kelly is a charming writer, painting a great picture of the settings, i.e., the rooming house, the underground bunker where Evelyne works, her evening at the Ritz, the change when the blitz begins, shortly after she starts her job. We know enough about the players to enjoy the hunt and the suspects' secrets. There were definitely some things I suspected, but it was not so obvious that I fully solved the crimes and it was an enjoyable read throughout. I really appreciated the accuracy of her research, including the phase of the war, the blitz period, what day to day life was like with ration books for food and no access to gasoline, the terrible losses emerging from the blitz etc. I was obvious by the way Kelly integrated all of these things into the story that she knows her subject and is not playing the game of throwing in a fact here and there to remind us this is a WWII book. I look forward to more Parisian Orphan novels.

As a historical fiction fan, this book is a hit.

Evelyne is offered a position by an old family friend while out for drinks one night with friends. She doesn't quite know what to think of the proposition and doesn't quite know if she should believe it either. Taking a chance, she goes to the meeting offered and is quickly given a position at a special ops bunker in the UK. She is still able to stay in her boarding house and stays there 4 out of 7 days, when she is off duty.

Just days after starting as a typist, a fellow typist is murdered and Evelyne is the one to find her. Evelyne continues to find herself around a Mr. Poole, and soon begins working closely with him. Evelyne and Mr. Poole are challenged with identifying a leak in the system. As they work through suspects it is considered that there are many, which means everything just continues to get more complicated. Evelyne enlists the help of friends from the boarding house and a former typist. As always, skeletons begin to fall out of closets and secrets are revealed.

Read to find out who the killer is and if it is the same person that is leaking information to the enemies!

Thank you @minotaur for the #gifted copy of this book!

What it’s about:

Set in London in the 1940’s, Evelyn is working in a factory during the war. She is out one night and runs into one of her fathers old friends. He invites her to meet in his office where she is peppered with many questions, some of them striking her as odd. She ends up taking a job in Winston Churchill’s cabinet war rooms.

Soon after she starts her new job she stumbles upon one of her colleagues murder. She is determined to use her skills to find out who the culprit is. Her quick thinking, perseverance, and patience pays off as she closes in on the real killer!

Thoughts: If you’re in the mood for a cozy historical fiction mystery grab yourself a copy of this one! I loved Evelyn and her sassy, strong-willed personality that made it so she refused to take a back seat to this investigation! She was feisty and I loved that about her! There is a larger cast in this book but the author has the characters very well fleshed out and they were easy to keep track of. The pacing was perfect and there was action and mystery the entire time which made the book fly by for me! It was the a perfect believable ending that uncovered infidelities and the tangled web of lies!

This is the first book in the Parisian Orphan Series so if you’re a lover of cozies and historical fiction this is a great place to start. Looking forward to the next mission the Parisian Orphan tackles!

A Traitor in Whitehall
By: Julia Kelly

5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was thrilled to get an advanced copy of Kelly’s book which is a first in a series about Evelyn Redfern. She was known as “The Parisian Orphan.” I have loved all of Kelly’s novels and this one was no exception.

1940
While working at a munitions factory she is sharing rooms with several woman. She runs into one of her fathers friends and he offers her another job filled with intrigue.

She gets a secretary job but one of the girls is murdered. Therein lies the mystery and Evelyn wants to find out what happened to her. After all, she witnessed the murdered woman!

Interesting turn of events when she meets David Poole an aide and he gets in her way. She quickly finds out that he is looking for a traitor. They make a unique team. Will they find the traitor before anyone else is killed? I love a good mystery and Kelly nailed it. A great mystery with all the elements you want.

I look forward to more of this series. Kelly always delivers fascinating novels with a wide range of topics. Thank you Minataur books, Macmillan audio and Netgalley for these advanced copies. This novel is due out October 3, and I have preordered my hard copy. 🖤

#minotaur, #atraitoratwhitehall, #juliakelly, #minotaur, #macmillianaudio, #netgalley, #bookstagram, #bookreview, #booksconnectus, #stamperlady50

*****Publishing October 3, 2023****

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Miss Redfern had worked in a royal ordnance factory before being offered a job in the typing pool for Prime Minister Churchill’s secret underground bunker by one of her parent’s friends.

When Miss Redfern is instructed to go for the required sun lamp treatments, she finds Jean dead, a fellow typist, and when she tries to leave, the door is locked. When Miss Redfern screams to get the door to open, the police are called to investigate. When she informs her boss, Miss Wilkes, she doesn’t seem surprised. Could she be linked or know who killed her?

When Miss Redfern is asked to carry out some of Jean’s duties, will she get some insight into who killed her? This book will have you turning the pages as the secrets are revealed to find out who killed Jean!

Julia Kelly’s writing just draws you into the story. Her research into the characters and storyline are evident as she creates a well thought out and entertaining mystery, while including what it was like to be a woman working during WWII, especially as a typist in Churchill’s secret underground bunker. What will be next for Miss Redfern? I look forward to reading the next book in the series! A highly entertaining book that is hard to put down and should be added to your TBR list! A great book club pick as well as it will lead to many great discussions!

Thanks to St. Martin's Press (Minotaur Books) I was provided an ARC of A Traitor in Whitehall by Julia Kelly via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great cozy mystery that started with an unexpected twist and kept them coming! The main character, Evelyn, is plucky and determined with a zest for life that jumps right off the pages. It was a very fun locked room mystery with some great characters and twist after twist. It also felt like fall, I can’t even explain why but there was something that made it feel absolutely perfect to read as the weather changes. I’m so glad this is the first in a series and can’t wait for the next!

I did a combo of audio and digital and both are excellent options!

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the alc and Minotaur Books for the arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of Churchill’s War Rooms and loved visiting on my trips to London, so I was thrilled to get an ARC of Julia Kelly’s first historical mystery. Set in the underground bunker that became the British WWII war hub, a young woman with a checkered family story, Evelyne Redfern, is thrust into a world full of intrigue, betrayal, and treason that could affect the entire war effort. When she finds a fellow typist in the secretive war rooms murdered, she teams up with a mysterious government agent, David Poole, to get to the bottom of who is the killer and who is leaking government secrets.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and kept flipping the pages to get to the end. Kelly’s writing draws you into the claustrophobic atmosphere of the war rooms and puts you in the middle of the action. I especially loved her descriptions of the bustling world underground, from the smells of the latrines to the food in the canteen. Evelyne is a great character to root for, and I especially enjoyed her relationships with David and her best friend. I am excited to see where the next mystery takes her!

If you have read previous books by Ms. Kelly, please note this book is nothing like her previous novels. The book is a mystery written as historical fiction during the blitz of WWII in England. The main character, Evelyn finds herself thrown into work as a typist in Churchill’s government working on top secret documents. It is in this capacity she finds herself solving the mystery of the traitor. It is a quick fun read. I look forward to reading more in the Parisian Orphan series.

Thank you #NetGalley, #St.Martin’sPress, #MinotaurBooks, #JuliaKelly and #ATraitoinWhitehall for the advance copy for my honest review.

Mysterious, atmospheric, and engaging!

A Traitor in Whitehall is a suspenseful tale that takes us back to 1941 London and into the life of Evelyne Redfern who, after stumbling upon the body of a fellow secretary on her first day working in Winston Churchill’s war rooms, finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation that’s a little more complex than it originally appears, and for which she may have to join forces with the enigmatic, handsome David Poole who seems to be secretly working on a case of his own.

The prose is descriptive and light. The characters, including the intelligent, independent heroine, are multi-layered, intriguing, and well-developed. And the plot is a well-paced whodunit full of red herrings, duplicity, amateur sleuthing, deduction, attraction, and, of course, a touch of the unexpected.

Overall, A Traitor in Whitehall is the first book in the Parisian Orphan series, and if you love historical mysteries, this one won’t disappoint. It’s an entertaining, cosy, satisfying tale by Kelly that is not only a real treat to read, but a great start to what could be a fantastic new series in a slightly different genre than the author is predominantly known and revered for.

A Traitor in Whitehall
By Julia Kelly

This story starts as a murder mystery, then grows to encompass highly classified information being leaked to the Nazis from the Cabinets War Rooms, Churchill's most secure bunker.

The heroine, Evelyne Redfern, is a new recruit in the typing pool of the CWR. Within days of her arrival, a very unpopular member of the typing pool is murdered and Evelyne is the one who finds her body.

As well as the murder, there are rumors of a mole who is supplying information to the enemy. When the Military Police seem to bungle the investigation, Evelyne starts investigating on her own. In the course of her investigation she meets and eventually partners with David Poole, who is assigned to discover who it is passing information to the Germans.

The author has written a very British mystery. The speech patterns, the man-woman dynamics the conditions under the blitz – all are very authentic to the times. I look forward to the next in what appears to become a series about Redfern and Poole.

Julia Kelly's A Traitor in Whitehall is fantastic--fast-paced, entertaining, and suspenseful. It takes place in the Cabinet War Rooms, an area that maybe doesn't get written about by women as much as it should--Kelly does a great deal with the typists and I'm sure there were other intriguing characters stuck underground there as well. I was so excited to finish and realize that this was to be the first in a series. I look very forward to coming back to these characters again.

I always enjoy Julia Kelly’s historical fiction books and was excited to read her first historical mystery. Evelyn Redfern is recruited to work in Churchill’s War Rooms during the Blitz in London in WWII. There she teams up with David Poole as they try to find both a murderer and a mole who is leaking secrets to Germany. Evelyn is a young strong female character and I look forward to reading her next adventure.

I love Julia Kelly's historical fiction so was excited to read her latest which is a foray into the mystery genre. A Traitor in Whitehall is set in 1940 London around the start of the Blitz in World War II. Evelyne Redfern has been working at a munitions factory when she is recruited by an old friend of her father to work in the typing pool in Churchill's Cabinet War Rooms (CWR).

Within days of starting her new job, Evelyne stumbles on the body of another secretary and is determined to put her amateur sleuthing skills to work (she's a fan of detective fiction) to solve the crime. She soon teams up with David Poole, a minister's aide who is investigating an information leak from the CWR and believes there might be a link between the murder and the mole who is providing top-secret information to Britain's enemies,

This is an enjoyable read that straddles the line between mystery and cozy mystery. Having visited the CWR a couple of times, I loved the underground setting and could imagine the action taking place there. Evelyne is a fun character - she's a plucky, intelligent young woman who refuses to be limited by gender norms and won't let anyone stand in her way.

It appears that this might be the first in a new "Parisian Orphan" series and a fair bit of the beginning of this book is establishing Evelyne's character and her background particularly the scandalous high-profile divorce of her parents and death of her mother when she was a young girl. Parisian Orphan is the name that was given to young Evelyne by the press. I enjoyed this enough that I'll definitely read the follow-up book to find out how Evelyne's story progresses.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I have read and enjoyed other of Julia Kelly’s books, especially The Last Garden in England, so I was eager to read this one, the first of a new series. And, although I did like it, I found it somewhat disappointing.

The basic storyline is an interesting one: Evelyne Redfern becomes a typist in Churchill’s cabinet war rooms and becomes involved in the investigation into the murder of one of her co-workers, joining forces with her colleague David Poole (who is working on catching an insider who may be providing information to the Germans). This should definitely be classified as a cozy mystery, and because it is the first of a new series, it provides the reader with much background information on the main characters. And although entertaining, it is definitely a very light mystery with quite a few implausible elements. Nonetheless, it was a good read, and perhaps I will find the second in this series more to my liking.

A Traitor in Whitehall by Julia Kelly
Parisian Orphan #1
Narrated by Marisa Calin

1940, England: Evelyne Redfern is working on the line at a munitions factory in wartime London. Stuffing shells with powder is dull and boring work but Evelyne is happy to be doing her part for the war effort. When she is asked by Mr. Fletcher, an old friend of her estranged father, to work as a typist in Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s cabinet war rooms (the CWR), Evelyne is more than glad to take on this new job. Especially since Mr. Fletcher wants Evelyne to keep her eyes open for any irregularities at her new job.

Evelyne has been a fan of detective and crime novels since she was a young teen, hiding herself in the world of fiction and books as mother and father conducted a very public custody battle over her. This story incorporates well know crime writers and books in a clever way, as Evelyne will refer to them throughout her sneaky ferreting out of information. When she enters a reluctant (on his side) partnership with David Poole, a minister’s aide, we find that he loves detective novels, too, but to Evelyne's horror he thinks the American writers are better than the British writers.

Just a few days into Evelyne's new job there is a murder of one of her co-workers. Whether he likes it or not, Evelyne pushes her way into David's investigations of a leak in the CRW and the murder investigation. In reality this seems unlikely to happen since Evelyn discovered the body but if there was ever a WWII historical fiction that could be considered a cozy historical fiction, this is it. There is a lightheartedness to the story despite the inclusion of the real life peril all of London is experiencing with air raids, the destruction of the city and the surrounding areas, rationing, and all the terrible news of the war.

Evelyne and David's relationship goes from David being a stone wall to Evelyne's pushiness, to his accepting her help, to almost the point of her running the show. Evelyne is muleheaded, determined, impulsive, funny, and very clever and in the end David accepts her as his partner since he has taken so much abuse from Evelyne by telling people she's helping him by taking notes. The relationship between the two is friendly, funny, and respectful and I look forward to more about this pair, in the future.

I was able to read the digital version of the book while getting to listen to the audio version of the story. Marisa Calin does a very good job of narrating the story. I can see Evelyne being a good fit for what is to come in the future, with her smarts and ready to tackle anything attitude.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars

[ Thank you @minotaur_books & @netgalley for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own! ]

PUB DATE: October 3, 2023

THOUGHTS:

If you like mysteries and historical fiction, then this is the perfect book for you! I really enjoyed Julia Kelly’s novel, The Last Garden in England. So I knew I had to read this new one by her.

I really loved Evelyne. We learn a lot about her character and her background in the beginning of the book. She’s feisty and is ready to solve this murder.

There is a large cast of characters with all the other girls in the typing room with Evelyne. But it’s pretty easy to differentiate between everyone. There’s a lot of red herrings, twists and turns I didn’t see coming!

Every time I picked this up to read, I was surprised by how quickly I flew through it. It was hooked the entire time! It was fun and engaging!

I can’t wait to see where Kelly takes us with the next novel in this new series! 🔎

Julia Kelley has a knack for historical fiction and the mystery in this one was done well.
Evelyne was a fabulous character and had spunk and heart after becoming the "the Parisian orphan" after her infamous parents pass.
As in all historical fiction, I learned a lot and enjoyed Evelyne's snooping to solve the "who done it?"! Well done!

Link coming soon.

Thank you to @minotaur_books and NetGalley for my advance electronic copy. My opinions are my own.

It seems that no sooner has Evelyne Redferne accepted a job in Prime Minister Winston Churchill's underground warren of cabinet war rooms from an old friend of her parents, Mr. Fletcher, than she stumbles over a dead body. That of one of her coworkers. Just at the start of the Blitz. But it's not for nothing that Evelyne has been reading mysteries all her life--and spending too much time with her nose in them rather than socializing, if you ask her best friend Moira. She plunges straight in, brazening it out and proving to the police and to a mysterious aide David Poole that she has the skills and tenacity to hunt down the mole selling secrets to the Nazis. But will she and David be able to find the mole in time?

I loved Evelyne and I'm so excited that it looks like this is the start of a series! She is a fellow mystery lover, especially of the "Golden Age" of detective fiction (authors like Sayers, Marsh, Christie, etc.). To say the book is rich in historical detail is an understatement--I felt like I was right there alongside Evelyne, smack in the action in that time period. I admire how Evelyne sticks up for herself without making herself obnoxious, and all this despite a horribly traumatic childhood. The story grabbed me from the first chapter and kept my attention throughout. I loved how the past was brought to life, and I loved following a heroine I can admire. Well-done, Julia Kelly!

A Traitor in Whitehall is the new book by Julia Kelly that centres around a typist working in a top-secret bunker in London during WWII who finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and conspiracy that could aid the Nazis.

The story takes a bit to get going and has a surprisingly strong cozy mystery vibe that will require readers to suspend disbelief with its implausible elements. The strongest part of the book for me was Evelyne. She's a likeable main character who hails from an interesting, dysfunctional and privileged family (which could provide good fodder for future books).

What Evelyne has a lot of is luck because she quickly goes from working a dull job in a munitions factory to being given a typist job in the Cabinet War Rooms (CWR) in the underground bunker in Whitehall that quickly turns into a spy mission. After only days in her new job, Evelyne finds a dead body (as one does) and is quickly elevated to crime solving maven with only her love of detective novels, her intrepid eagerness and her collaboration with David Poole, a man who is tasked to find the person who is feeding intel to the Nazis from within the CWR. Evelyne is asked to keep an ear out for any suspicious activity among her fellow typists, of which there are many, and quickly finds herself at the heart of the investigation.

This book has a strong whodunnit, cozy mystery feel and would be a good pick for readers who like lighter historical fiction and a plucky main character who will, no doubt, find herself in interesting predicaments in future books.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Minotaur Books who provided me with a complimentary digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.