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.
My Rating: 3 stars
Author: Julia Kelly
Genre: Historical Fiction (WWII)
Type and Source: eBook from publisher via NetGalley
Publisher: Minotaur Books
First Published: October 3, 2023
Book Description from GoodReads: Evelyne Redfern’s family specializes in notoriety. Her father is Sir Reginald Redfern, a feckless, louche second son of an English baron, and her late beloved mother was a glamorous French party girl. Their disastrous marriage ended in divorce and a very public custody battle over nine-year-old Evelyne that only resolved when Genevieve died three years later. However, the damage was done, with the press dubbing Evelyne “The Parisian Orphan” and making her the most notorious child in the world.
Years later in 1940, Evelyne is estranged from her father and working on the line at a munitions factory in wartime London. She’s bored and craving more from her life, but the only contentment she can find is with stacks of mystery novels that fight for space with her roommate Moira’s ever-expanding wardrobe.
When Mr. Fletcher, one of her father’s old friends, spots Evelyne at a night out at the Ritz, Evelyne seizes the chance for a change and finds herself plunged into the world of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s cabinet war rooms. However, shortly after she settles into her new role as a secretary, one of the girls at the war rooms is murdered and Evelyne must use all of her amateur sleuthing expertise earned from years of reading mysteries to find the killer. Little does she know that doing so will put her right in the path of David Poole, a cagey minister’s aide who seems determined to thwart her investigations. That is, until Evelyne finds out David’s real reason for being in the cabinet war rooms is to root out a mole selling government secrets to Britain’s enemies, and the pair begrudgingly team up.
With her quick wit, sharp eyes, and determination, Evelyne is a heroine to root for. But can she find out who's been selling England's secrets and catch a killer all while battling her growing attraction to David and her own scandalous past?
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