The Traitor Beside Her is the second title in Evans’s WWII set series. (First in the series was The Physicist’s Daughter.) It offers an enjoyable read.

As the novel opens, Justine is working as a welder and training for secret missions. What does she see at her job as the story begins and what does that mean? This will lead readers right into the story and Justine’s new assignment.

Justine will be incognito as Samantha Ogletree, appearing as the daughter of a Southern minister and his wife. Her cover job is to be the the assistant to a Doctor Van Dorn in the German section at Arlington Hall, a place where cryptologists work. Of course, Justine is really there to figure out who is “The Traitor Beside Her.” Plans change however and readers will find out why.

Some favorite characters appear again in this story. They include Georgette, Paul and Jerry.

Readers will hope for Justine’s success as she tackles espionage, murder and maybe some romance. There is much to enjoy here.

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for this title. All opinions are my own.

Note: This book can be enjoyed even if a reader has not read the first in the series.

This was one of those books that kept me up reading well past my bedtime. It was full of mystery, intrigue and suspense and definitely had the 'just one more chapter' factor.

Set during WWII in Arlington Hall, an intelligence facility in Virginia, the main character, Justine, and her friend, Georgette, are thrust into a world of secrets and spies. It was an excellent plot with just the right amount of twists and turns along the way.

It was not a predictable plot and I did not guess who the titular traitor was. I very much enjoyed reading Justine's thought process as she attempted to ascertain his or her identity. I appreciated her character's intelligence and intuition. It was an exciting and tense read and I enjoyed the romance aspect as it added a bit of lightness to the story.

We are thrown straight into the action when we find Justine Byrne, our main protagonist, working undercover at a steelworks. She's a fairly new recruit, sent to uncover secret plots. But when she reports a suspicious scene, she's in for a surprise.

Soon after, she is sent on a new mission, to Arlington Hall, the base where every day thousands of coded messages are decoded by a brainy team of workers. But it appears, there's a spy – and murderer – in their midst, selling secrets to the enemy and removing anyone in their way.

On her arrival, Justine – despite her disguise as a drab young woman who arrived from the countryside to do her bit for the war as a secretary – is immediately recognised by an old friend of her academic parents, and with her cover blown, she starts working for the old scientist. As a result, her friend and co-undercover agent, Georgette, takes up her original place.

Soon, the young women find plenty of suspects, but without any proof, their hands are tied. Jerry, another member of their team, is also brought in, to keep an eye on them and their safety, and through Jerry, Justine manages to smuggle important details to their boss, Paul, a man with two faces, who she feels drawn to, despite his, at times, rather cold, professional persona.

But soon, more girls disappear, and a renewed sense of urgency pushes Justine and Georgette on to take greater risks. When Justine herself comes under attack, the team go on the offensive. But will they secure the spy before another woman loses her life? Find out!

From the start, we find that Justine is a resourceful young woman, not lacking in courage or ingenuity. She has her moments of uncertainty, which makes her human, and we also see glimpses of her growing feelings for Paul, her boss at the agency. She is a likeable character, honest (despite living a lie, something she berates herself for at times), and reliable. But also not adverse to taking risks, which lead her into trouble.

Georgette, her sidekick, is from a different social background, and a far more earthier character than Justine. She's very down to earth. This leads to interesting exchanges between the young women. Georgette feels drawn to wheelchair-bound Jerry.

Jerry and Paul are the other members of the immediate team, with Paul being the boss – the connector between the team members and the top of the agency. We see him under pressure, which is portrayed very well, as agencies have to show results.

There is a plethora of other characters, at Arlington Hall. Some become friendly, others not so. It can be a little confusing, keeping track of who is who, and I had to retrace my steps occasionally, especially when the plot refers to the many women working on the site. But this doesn't detract from the overall story, which twists its way to a satisfying – and surprising – conclusion.

The setting itself is realistic, and we get a true sense of the important site, the necessary security, the heightened sense of secrecy – even between friends – and the life spent uncovering messages that may be depressing, shocking, and even dangerous. There is a strong, realistic spectre of war hanging over the institution and their inhabitants, although they do try to have fun occasionally. But there's always the niggling reminder that, in other parts of the world, people die that very moment.

The Traitor Beside Her is an intriguing, clever murder mystery set in the dangerous world of decryption and spies. It got me hooked right from the beginning, and I read on deep into the night.

Oh, and I do hope we'll see more of Justine and her brilliant team in future...

The Traitor Beside Her is Mary Anna Evans’ second book featuring Justine Byrne, daughter of deceased physicists, former welder at an aircraft factory, now an agent working with military intelligence. Justine and her best friend Georgette have been placed at Arlington Hall, a code breaking center near Washington D.C., a center that appears to have a leak. The skills Justine learned early from her parents will be needed if the agent who has caused Allied and civilian deaths is to be stopped.

It is late 1944 and, after the successes brought by DDay, progress in the war in Europe for the Allies has slowed. Then a new surprise attack by the enemy has actually caused a setback. To have their code breaking capability compromised was too dangerous at this point.

The novel follows Justine and Georgette as they begin this new job, meet new fellow workers, judging them all the while, and continue their relationships with their handlers/friends Paul and Jerry. I enjoyed the give and take of their friendship. I also enjoyed learning more about this type of setting which I knew existed but have never read about in fiction or nonfiction in an American setting. There were a few moments that I found a bit stretched but overall I really enjoyed the story and the writing. Evans has been a favorite from her Faye Longchamp Archaeological Mysteries series. Recommended.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an eARC.

This is an exciting spy/codebreaker/secret agent story that takes place in Washington DC as WWII is nearing the end. Justine and Georgette are sent into a secret code breaking facility under cover to try to find out who is the traitor working there. The question is will they find the traitor before they are killed.

I was happy to discover another historical fiction book based on WWII. I was drawn in from the beginning and was held captive until the very end. The characters are well developed and the focus on how the people working in Arlington Hall were challenged to help end the war. The fact that the book was based in the U.S. made it a different read for me. Lots of mystery and intrigue, learning more about intelligence gathering and code breaking, and a sprinkle of romance. It is evident that the author did an amazing job with researching the details. You will come away with knowledge and an appreciation for the efforts made to help the U.S. win WWII.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

For more reviews, please visit my blog at: https://www.msladybugsbookreviews.com/. Over 1000 reviews posted!

Good historical setting, just ok plot-wise. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Justine can trust no one. Not the people working beside her, and not even the man she might love.

Justine is on assignment and staying at Arlington Hall, a former women’s college in Virginia that has been taken over by the United States Army. She’s working beside them, handling the most sensitive secrets of World War II. But she isn’t there to decipher German codes, she’s there to hunt out a traitor.

As Justine works side by side with everyone, she struggles with identifying who could be a spy. These are some of the most brilliant people in America. As she befriends everyone trying to determine what makes them tick, she is racing against a ticking clock counting down her own life.

My favorite part of this book was that it was a STEM novel written by a STEM author. I just love women in STEM representations and this one was great in that regard. We need to do everything we can to normalize women in STEM and books like this help that. I didn’t like that this book was a little slow and I just didn’t get a ton of emotion from the pages. It felt a little stale. The friendship between Justine and Georgette was fantastic and I loved it. This was a great female James Bond story – including fun gadgets!

If you are looking for a fantastic woman in STEM book and one with a great friendship, then check this one out June 6th.

Thank you so much to Poisoned Pen Press, @poisonedpenpress, and Netgalley, @netgalley, for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderful second entry in this series!

The Physicists’ Daughter was one of my four or five most favorite mysteries of 2022, so I’ve been eagerly looking forward to the next book in the series, The Traitor Beside Her. And it doesn’t disappoint!

All of the same elements that I loved in the first book are still there in this one, however now Justine and her best friend, Georgette, are official employees of the US government. So rather than having to figure out that something is wrong on their own, this time they’ve been sent on purpose to suss out a suspected spy among the codebreakers at Arlington Hall. The stakes are high, since, as you might guess, a traitor in the midst of the operations there would have access to highly sensitive information that could change the course of the war.

At first it seems as if the entire mission might go awry on the first day, when Justine is recognized by a close friend of her parents, and her carefully developed cover story is blown. But she quickly adapts, and eventually her sharp brain and analytical skills, and Georgette’s own home-grown skills (duck hunting with her brothers!) and down-to-earth way of looking at things, enable them to piece together what is going on. And there was a very nice twist at the end that I didn’t see coming, which is always fun.

Even more enjoyable, however is the detailed and fascinating picture of WWII life on the US home front that author Mary Anna Evans again paints. When reading The Physicists’ Daughter, I got so fascinated with the background that I searched and read up on the Higgins Boat Factory. In A Traitor Beside Her, it was the quirky lives of the codebreakers themselves that are central to the story – a group of (mostly) young women, often on their own for the first time, with odd talents for math, or languages, or puzzles – or all three. Having read Liza Mundy’s excellent non-fiction account of the US codebreaking program, Code Girls, not too long ago, everything just felt so right. And also as with The Physicists’ Daughter, I felt a personal connection of sorts: in this case, my grandfather and great-uncle were two rare anglo Navajo speakers, who worked with the Navajo code-talkers during the war, so I could remember their stories while I was reading about Georgette’s Choctaw-speaking brothers doing the same thing.

All-in-all, The Traitor Beside Her is a totally worthy follow-on to The Physicists’ Daughter, and I highly recommend it for anyone who likes historical mysteries, and even folks who just like historical novels. And there’s a nice little hook at the end, so hopefully the next book in the series will be coming soon. I’ll be waiting with fingers crossed! And finally, my thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the advance review copy!

Yes this is the second in what appears to be a new series featuring Justine and her pal Georgette who hunt spies and yes you might find yourself struggling a bit to fill in the blanks early on but persevere and it's a pretty good novel about intrepid young women working to protect the US by using their brains. They've been sent by their mysterious USG employer (not the FBI which won't hire women but an agency that report to someone very high up in the USG) to Arlington Hall, where codes are broken and messages sent. There's a traitor and Paul, their boss, wants them to use their language skills- Justine is a German speaker and Georgette has Choctaw- as well as their wiles to find him or her. There are some cool James Bond like things (a pen that can fire a bullet) that are incongruous. There's a romantic interest or two and then there's Jerry. I can't be the only one who wonders how he's making it around everywhere in a wheelchair in the pre-ADA days. Evans muddles the mission of Arlington Hall a bit and you don't really learn much about the work done there but it's still a good read. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. And now off to Los Alamos!

I have discovered a love for historical mysteries recently, and this propulsive spy mystery was a great read. I was captivated by Justine’s story from the very beginning and didn’t want to stop until I knew who the traitor was in the war room. I loved how the author brought in cryptology, which we associate with the British at Bletchley Park, and it was so interesting to learn about the American code breakers. The main characters in the story have a believable chemistry and are unique. I can’t wait to read more in the series!

Justine has been recruited as a spy and her new assignment has her working with an old family friend in a code breaking office for the government. Unbeknownst to her friend, Justine is also there to find a German spy who is passing off information. She can trust no one with her secrets but her roommate who is there to help her. Then they find out women are going missing and one has been murdered. Justine tries to tread carefully but someone is watching her and when she's attacked things turn serious.
I enjoyed the story and found it to be entertaining with just the right amount of romance and suspicion. This is an easy read with lots to keep you reading.

Not long after the US Government commandeered Arlington Hall as their new location for military intelligence and cryptoanalysis work through the War Powers Act, Justine Byrne was sent there on assignment because it was believed that there was a traitor among the code breakers.

The advice she was given: “Trust no one.”

I was spellbound as Justine overcame obstacles and learned to circumvent possible challenges by focusing on what made these code breakers tick rather than what they were actually doing.

I loved the preparation involved and the tension that was created by placing a spy among the most intelligent people in the country. Furthermore, the idea that one of their own would risk their secret getting into the wrong hands. After all, they’d been trained to know of the devastating repercussions, not only for themselves but for the lives of those they had pledged to protect.

The spotlight of a Native American language, Choctaw, being used added to an already compelling read and I appreciated the author’s diligence in bringing something new to the table.

Things I loved:
✔️STEM novel written by a STEM author
✔️a plot that had me running to Google things I didn’t know
✔️an intelligent read
✔️mystery
✔️character I was already familiar with from book 1
✔️unpredictablitlly
✔️tension/risk
✔️spying and tools of the trade

Things I struggled with:
✔️not enough emotion
✔️pacing

I was gifted this copy by Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

The Traitor Beside Her by Mary Anna Evans is the second in a series following the equally phenomenal The Physicists' Daughter. It is a refreshingly clean historical mystery chock full of suspense and atmosphere with enough originality to really elevate it within the genre. I was transfixed whilst reading it and took great pleasure learning more about code breaking and deciphering during WWII. Who doesn't love stories based on real life events and people about espionage, intelligence gathering, inveigling and identity switching?

Justine drew inspiration from her parents who were physicists and also inherited their predilection for maths and languages. Her loyalties are tested more than once and she is hired to break codes in Washington, DC. But not everything is as it seems. Justine must actually discover an infiltrating traitor. She and her best friend Georgette become involved in dangerous missions and armed with special skill sets, perseverance and fascinating gadgetry, they are up to the task. Adventures ensue. Love is on the line, too. War's effects are far reaching and I like the slices of reality the well-researched historical bits add.

The author's evocative writing really connects with me. Her words pack a subtle yet powerful punch and her pacing is spot on. There is just something about this series that gets me right in the heart.

My sincere thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this sublime novel. Mary Anna Evans is an author I will happily automatically read. No blurb necessary.

I was so excited to see a second book in this series, after the excellent Physicists’ Daughter. Justine and Georgette are back, this time officially on assignment. You could read this one first, but I highly recommend starting with the first book, not least because it’s very good. Justine’s unusual skill sets come in handy again, although she is now working in a very different environment from the first book in more ways than one. The new characters in this book provide different challenges for Justine, as does her relationship with her mysterious boss.
The mystery is very well done, and I enjoyed seeing Justine piece it all together. This books seems to set up nicely for a third, which I am already looking forward to. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I read and enjoyed this book not realizing that it was a sequel to The Physicists' Daughter. I will certainly make a point to read that book soon. The author did a great job bringing to life the people doing secret intelligence work on the American home front during World War II. I appreciated learning about the intense pressure on these people and their motivations for doing this work, as well as and their backgrounds and special abilities. The book was very suspenseful with concerns about traitors, women disappearing, and murders. I found the book very atmospheric, and I learned a lot about the work being done here during the war. This was my first book by the author, but I look forward to reading more in what seems to be a new series as well as her previous books. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read an advance copy of this book. I highly recommend it.

historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-research, historical-setting, espionage, mystery, cryptography, code-talking, suspense, intrigue, informants, information-mgmt, spy-gadgets, friends, friendship, thriller, 1944, WW2, Washington DC, traitor, unputdownable*****

Excellent follow-up to The Physicists’ Daughter!
Justine may be anachronistic in her time, but so were her mother and godmother back in Louisiana. She is added to a relatively new intelligence gathering agency in Washington, DC to find a traitor. At first it seems as if she is not up to the job. Then the work planned for her is railroaded into an even more useful one. That also results in being reunited with her friend and helping her to finish learning high school subjects while being taught Choctaw as a coded language. Lots more twists and surprises make this an excellent read! I found the story and the writing riveting and insightful with evidence of real research. As a dedicated history geek, I loved it!
I requested and received an EARC from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

This is an excellent World War II spy mystery with an intelligent and appealing female protagonist and an interesting and detailed setting in an Arlington Virginia cryptogram center and a women’s dormitory. The book has a good momentum and convincingly portrays the domestic World War II environment

Big thanks to both Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of The Traitor Beside Her!

Expected publication June 6, 2023

A former women's college in Virginia has been taken over by the United States Army. Justine works among them, handling the most sensitive secrets of World War II. She isn't there to decipher German codes, however. She's there to find a traitor.

This was a fun book to read! As others have said, Justine is a bit like James Bond. Make that a very YOUNG James Bond, as is her best friend, Georgette. I loved reading about the gadgets they were given!! There was a lot of suspense and mystery, as well as plenty of other well-fleshed-out characters. Don't take it too seriously. Just hang on to your seat and enjoy the ride!

The last line of the book totally hooked me. I hope this is going to be a series!

World War II novels are quite popular, but they seldom take readers into the homefront, and seldom into the world of spies here in the U.S. When we meet Justine Byrne, she’s welding ships in the Washington Navy Yard in late December, 1944. But, that’s just training for her real job, and she hasn’t been training long. It’s an emergency, though, and she’s given the name of Samantha Ogletree from Summerville, Georgia, assigned to work in a massive cryptoanalysis operation run by the army. Someone there is a spy, and Justine is assigned to poke around until she can find the person who caused the loss of a bridge and lives in Europe.

Justine’s handler didn’t expect her to be recognized, though, the minute she got off the bus at her new assignment. Karl Becker from the Signal Security Agency knew Justine’s parents, who were physicists. She’s suddenly working for Becker while her friend, Georgette, takes Justine’s identity as Samantha, and her original job as a secretary.

Justine and Georgette have an intense few weeks as they ask questions of the women they live with in a dorm-like environment, and as they watch fellow employees. They get closer and closer to the spy, as they uncover stories of women who have disappeared. Then, it’s Justine’s turn to become a threat to the spy, and she only has a few months of training to help her when she’s in danger.

Here’s my takeaway from The Traitor Beside Her. I liked Justine and Georgette, but they were so young, only 21! By late in the war, their training was rushed. There was no time to adequately prepare them for undercover work. They were lucky that Justine’s godmother provided them with a few weapons because their handler didn’t. “In undercover work, safety is constantly at odds with secrecy”, and it certainly was in this case.

Looking for a woman’s view of espionage on the homefront? Check out Mary Anna Evans’ The Traitor Beside Her.