I enjoyed this book! Evelyne's character is an amateur detective and I really enjoyed how she followed a case of a woman murdered at her work. From the very beginning we are plunged into her world and I wondered who to trust and who was a mole or not trustworthy! I love that this book is the start of a new series and I will definitely look for future books to read!! This author does a great job making us feel like we are right there with the characters throughtout the book and I love that!

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel, which was what made me pick it up to read. It was a good read, an easy read, and I enjoyed getting to know Evelyne, Moira, David and Jocelyn. The setting was perfect and descriptions vivid and well placed. I did not realize when I started reading it that the intention was a series but I am quite glad as I would like to see where life and spying take Evelyne. I will be back for more!

I was provided both a print and audio ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this! It is the first book in a new mystery series called the Parisian Orphan. This follows Evelyne Redfern, daughter of an English Royal and a French woman who had a very public and scandalous divorce. Now Evelyne is doing her part supporting the war effort working in a munitions factory, when an old family friend offers her a position as a typist working in Winston Churchill's secret underground. She is to report back to him anything strange she notices while on duty, yet on one of her first days one of her fellow typists is murdered and she becomes embroiled in an investigation to solve the murder and find out who is selling secrets to the Germans with one of the Prime Ministers most trusted aides. Evelyne has a way with people, and she is able to get potential suspects and witnesses to divulge information about the victim and potential suspects that the other investigators were not able to uncover. Paired with the aide, David Poole, the two are able to piece together a timeline and list of suspects for the murder and the mole within a few days.

This has a bit of a cozy mystery feel to it which I really enjoyed. It has moments of total convenience that don't always seem plausible. This is fairly common in cozy mysteries, and something you have to accept for the plot to work. This is set during WWII, however it isn't set on the front lines so it isn't quite as bleak as some of the other historical fiction from that time period that I've read. Evelyne and her friends make the best out of their situation and are still able to have a bit of fun here and there despite the conditions in London. This lightens up the mood in the book. There is also a hint at a budding romance between the two main characters in future installments of the series.

Overall, if you enjoy historical fiction and cozy mysteries give this a try. I really liked Evelyne and David as a team and look forward to seeing them team up in the next installment. This mystery wraps up, and gives hints to what David and Evelyne will get up to in their next investigation.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of TRAITOR AT WHITEHALL.

Evelyne Redfern, daughter of a notorious family, runs into an old family friend, Mr. Fletcher. He asks her to meet him the next day without saying why. They meet the next day and he asks her a lot of questions then asks her to work for the Prime Minister Churchill's cabinet war room.

Evelyn was in the middle of a custody battle between her parents when her mother suddenly died and she was sent to boarding school in England. They were living in Paris, France when her parents divorced. Evelyn's father dumped Evelyne at boarding school as soon as he got "custody" by default. Her father never grew up and never acted like a responsible adult.

Working at CWR, she stumbles into a dead body and rumors of treason. The murder victim was universally disliked by most except for a few men who requested the victim from the typing pool. There were lots of red herrings.

When Evelyne discovers the dead body, she meets David Poole who is an assistant to some official working in the Cabinet War Rooms.

The title is perfect. There is a traitor in Whitehall.

They find the killer who is also involved in selling secrets to the enemy during the Second World War. This happens before America joins the Allies in the war.

I thought this was a good mystery. It certainly kept me guessing. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

Julia Kelly is a well-known author but this was my first book of hers that I’ve had a chance to read. It’s a historical mystery set in London in 1940, as the Blitz begins. Evelyne Redfern has been “doing her bit” by working in a munitions factory when an old friend of her father’s sees her at a party and offers her a different wartime job: as a typist in the Cabinet War Rooms (later known as the Churchill War Rooms or CWR). Even though she has no experience as a secretary, she does know how to type. She is asked to keep an eye open for anything unusual and to report back to him regularly. After only a few days on the job, she discovers the body of a fellow typist with a knife sticking out of her neck.

I didn’t find the story very believable. I don’t know why people working in such a secure and secret situation would willingly open up to a new fellow employee, one who seems to be acting as an investigator - rather than the two official military police officers assigned to the case. But they do. She winds up working with David Poole, whose role at CWR was never quite clear to me, to uncover both the murderer and a mole who has been leaking information to the enemy - whether they are one and the same person or not.

Kelly does a good job of conveying what life was like in London at this time. It seems to have been full of contradictions - ration books alongside fancy clubs and hotels still able to serve good food and liquor; scarce petrol, but there seemed to be plenty of cabs around; and so forth. The typists working in the CWR also slept there, only being able to leave every few days. They worked and slept in shifts. There is a room with a sun lamp that the “girls” are required to use now and then, since they spend so much time underground.

Evelyne’s family background plays a part in the book. Her father was a famous British adventurer, her mother was French and died when Evelyne was 12. Evelyne was brought up in Paris. Her parents’ sordid custody battle was covered widely in the newspapers and Evelyne got the nickname of the “Parisian Orphan.” Her absentee father then sent her to an English boarding school.

She is a fan of British detective novels, and always has a book at the ready. David Poole also likes detective novels but prefers the Americans, which becomes a joke between them.

Apparently this is the first book in what will be a series, with Evelyne learning how to actually become a spy, rather than pretending to be one.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook. Marisa Calin did a fine job with all the characters and accents. All opinions are my own.

Julia Kelly spins an enjoyable WWII mystery that takes place in 1940 in Churchill’s underground war rooms. There’s a mole and a murder. Evelyne, the new typist, pairs up with David Poole, a minister’s aide (but is he really?) to solve both. At times unbelievable, but always entertaining, this book will keep you reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun way to kick off the new Julia Kelly Parisian Orphan series. Set during WW II, we meet our lead character Evelyne Redfern whose French mother died when Evelyne was a child and her distant father immediately shipped her off to boarding school.

Evelyne is a lover of cozy mysteries like Agatha Christie’s popular novels of the time. When she’s recruited to work in Churchill’s cabinet war rooms, she stumbles headlong into not one but two mysterious cases - a spy leaking information to the Germans and the murder of a typing pool coworker.

I really enjoyed this historical mystery and Evelyne is smart and confident and of course, loves to read. What’s there not to like? The mysteries are a high-stakes game of cat & mouse and it kept me turning the pages. I can’t wait for book 2 now! I highly recommend this for historical fiction and cozy mystery readers.

Julia Kelly writes some of my favorite WWII Historical Fiction so when I saw she was writing a mystery, especially one set in the Cabinet War Rooms during World War II I was hooked! I went to the Churchill War Rooms Museum last year to see the underground bunker complex that housed the British government during the war. and so I loved how easily I could immerse myself into A Traitor in Whitehall.

I really enjoyed this book - it was the perfect mix of historical fiction and mystery. I'm so excited that this will be the first book in the Parisian Orphan series, as I can't wait for more of Evelyne!

While there is a lot going on in the book, I think it was easy to follow and it was pretty well paced for a mystery. I liked the background into Evelyne's past and can't wait for the next book!

The publisher sent me this to read and review and I haven't read a good mystery in a while so why not? I have been reading several WWII books so this one would fit right in. This one takes place in 1940 in London. Evelyne is working in a munitions plant when a family friend asks if she will work for the civil service for him to basically spy on them. He does not tell her why at the time but there are leaks giving information to the Germans and he needs to find out who it is. So she goes to be a typist at the CWR (Cabinet War Rooms) for Winston Churchill. She is only there a few days when a fellow typist is murdered. She happens to be the one to find the body. She loves reading detective novels and finds herself in a real life one. She finds the investigators not very bright so she teams up with a Mr. Poole as they question people to solve the murder and hopefully also solve the leak in the process. I enjoyed it and of course while reading a mystery you are trying to solve it the whole time. The author likes to thrown in red herrings but that is part of the fun. I liked Evelyne and Mr. Poole as a team and since this is book one I look forward to them teaming up again.

-"In that regard, the CWR is exactly the same as every other place I've ever worked. Men set the rules and break them, and in the end it's the women they seduce who find themselves punished."

-"I want to figure out who did it."
"Well, of course you do. This is what you've been reading for your entire life."

This book really drew me in from the first page and satisfied my continual craving for historical mystery. This is not your typical WWII book. I really enjoyed the details of working in the underground bunkers and the role of women in this interesting branch of government service. The murder mystery is entirely gripping, compelling, and suspenseful throughout the book. Getting to know Evelyne and David was a real treat and it’s clear we will see more from them as this is the first book in a new series. This was my first Julia Kelly read and I loved it!

Many thanks to @minotaur_books for an e-ARC of the book in exchange for my honest review!

Intrepid, intelligent woman takes on Whitehall!

Fantastic. A great new series set in World War II with a strong female lead. I know there’s been a plethora of these cropping up but let me tell you I read this into the wee hours of the morning.
Evelyne Redfern is a brilliant character. A character with a past established early on. The ‘Paris Orphan’ the newspapers called her as a child. She was part of a high profile custody battle that raged across the Chanel divide for two years, until her mother died supposedly by suicide. As a child Evelyne always felt something was wrong, but who listens to a thirteen year old child? Maman was French. (And yes, Evelyne is fluent in French) Her father was Sir Reginald Redfern, a high society adventurer and womanizer, who didn’t change his spots once he was married.
After her mothers death Sir Reginald gathered up Evelyne and dropped her at an exclusive Boarding School. Evelyne maybe saw her father twice after that. He’s still alive and apparently somewhere in Mexico.
Through fortuitous circumstances Evelyne comes to work and observe in Whitehall. She’s due for sun lamp treatment. When she goes there she discovers a body in the lamp room. I know! (I was interested to read about why people would need such treatment when working in Whitehall.)
One thing leads to another and Evelyne finds herself investigating alongside David Poole, although at first he thought she was taking notes. Ha! Not our girl! Did I mention that she’s a fan of Agatha Christie et. al. David’s more a fan of the American gumshoe type detective like Sam Spade. Makes for some light hearted exchange!
The ending was not surprising, although what was going on was.
Evelyne is a character easy to relate to.
I foresee endless possibilities for further titles in this series, so here’s hoping more follow!

A Minotaur invitation ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Evelyne is quite an interesting character. Her early life was overshadowed by a nasty and very public custody battle between her parents and now her young adult life is filled with wartime service. And through it all Evelyne keeps her beloved mystery novels close by her side. I am heavily predisposed to like a character who loves mysteries and Agatha Christie especially. Throw in the fact that she's tough and smart but also incredibly loyal and I'm fully sold.

The murder happens fairly early in the book but we then go back and learn more about Evelyne's background and see just how she ends up working in Churchill's war room. I found this part fascinating as while I've read quite a bit of World War II history I've never really spent much time on this aspect of it.

This story is much more of a mystery than the previous book I've read by this author and has a slightly cozier feel. I'm a big mystery fan so this was an absolute delight to me but it might be a surprise if you're expecting a book with a similar feel to her previous books.

Not a fan of cozy mysteries. Liked the atmosphere, but the plot was in suspenseful, and didn’t care for the characters.

Julia Kelly, who has previously written straight up historical fiction, makes a slight lane change with her stellar historical mystery debut, A Traitor In Whitehall, featuring Evelyne Redfern, known as the “Parisian Orphan.” Evelyn’s glamorous French mother, imprudently married to a feckless English aristocrat, died in Paris, leaving her in care of her aunt. She’s spent much of her childhood in boarding school, becoming sadly acquainted with both fending for herself and fending off unwanted questions, or at least pretending those questions don’t concern her.

The main story focuses not on Evelyne’s childhood, however, but her life in London at the start of the blitz. She’s been doing her bit, working a tedious job in a bomb factory, when she’s recruited by an old family friend to be a typist in Winston Churchill’s wartime bunker. The old family friend (a high up in intelligence though it’s not specified exactly in what position) also wants her to “keep her eyes open.” He thinks she’s intelligent and observant and she proves him right many times over.

Conditions in the bunker are strict. The women in the typing pool work three days on, two off, and when they’re “on” they even sleep there. On the other hand it’s a pretty safe place to be when the bombs start to fall. Evelyne, not actually trained as a secretary, tries to keep up as best she can while quickly acquainting herself with her co-workers. When she’s sent off one day for a sunlamp treatment (thought to be beneficial for women who spent so much time underground) she enters the room where it’s done, only to find a dead co-worker and the door locked from the outside.

She’s freed by one David Poole and the two strike up an uneasy alliance. Poole requests her as his assistant while actually teaming up to conduct their own shadow investigation, separate from the one of the military police. Neither Evelyne nor David have much faith in the abilities of those in charge, and the two of them manage to uncover a major scandal involving not only murder but espionage at the highest level as well.
Kelly structures the book very much as a traditional mystery, with Evelyne and David functioning as buddy detectives, following leads, interviewing suspects, coming up against red herrings, and getting into a tiny bit of danger along the way. Charmingly, Evelyne is a fan of detective novels, busily snapping up new issues from Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham – it almost (but not really) made me wish I’d lived through the blitz myself!

The pacing of this novel is excellent, as is the character development and the relationships that emerge between the characters in the midst of believable tension and well kept secrets, all making this book really hard to put down. I’ve read a ton of WWII fiction, and with Evelyne’s work in the bunker and the up close and personal look at the blitz, this one brings a refreshingly original perspective. Kelly is a wonderful storyteller and I already find myself impatient for the next novel in what I hope will be a very lengthy series.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a complimentary copy of this novel! This novel is the first in the Parisian Orphan Series. If you love a good mystery and historical fiction, this is THE perfect book because it has both !!!

The book takes place in England at the time of WW2. Evelyne Redfern gets hired as a secretary in the underground cabinet war room. Not long after she arrives there, one of the typists is found murdered by Evelyne. She sees herself as an amateur sleuth, so she works to find the killer. Besides, she has her own agenda she’s been tasked with. However, David Poole,who works as an aide to the minister, is also tasked to find the killer. Evelyne does not really trust him, but the two pair up and seem to make an unlikely team. Mr. Poole eventually admits to Evelyne that Winston Churchill has personally tasked him to uncover a mole selling British government secrets to the enemy in their underground war rooms. Will they be able to catch a killer and find the mole before it is too late? Is the killer and the mole the same person, or is there something more going on?

I really enjoyed the cozy mystery feel to this novel! I love that it has a very strong female lead character who loved to read a good mystery. I look forward to reading other books in this upcoming series! 5 stars for me

A Traitor in Whitehall by Julia Kelly, Book 1 in The Parisian Orphan Series will be available to purchase October 3, 2023.

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!