I received a copy of this title from the publisher; all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Betrayal at Blackthorn Park is the second title to feature Evelyn Redfern. She's recently returned from training to be a special operative to help defeat the Germans. Her first assignment, which is expected to be easy, finds her working with David Poole as her handler. David is an trained operative in his own right, but is working to transition into being a handler with Evelyn as his first agent. Evelyn is going undercover at a facility that makes "clandestine weapons: after a tip was received that things have been going missing. Shortly after her arrival, her mission escalates into a murder investigation when the head of the facility is found dead. To make matters worse, time is ticking to solve the case prior to PM Churchill's visit to the facility.

The mystery in this one is excellently written and really engaging. I was kept guessing and loved all the historical details that were included. I really like Evelyn and David as characters and the chemistry they have together. I'm very excited to see how their relationship continues to develop. Additionally, there is definitely a mystery related to the death of Evelyn's mother and her relationship with her father that I'm looking forward to learning more about in future titles.

Betrayal at Blackthorn Park is a delightful sequel to Julia Kelly’s A Traitor in Whitehall. Having completed her training as an SIU agent, Evelyne Redfern gets her first assignment in the field. Her job is to investigate a series of thefts happening at a secret facility. Her handler, David Poole, quickly becomes immersed in the investigation, after the top scientist at Blackthorn is murdered. The book has a large cast of intriguing characters, so there are suspects at every turn. David and Evelyne develop a working relationship with hints of a much deeper connection in the future, which I very much look forward to reading about! Evelyne and David race to solve the murder before an important visit from the Prime Minister, investigating the possible sabotage of a secret weapon vital to Britain’s war effort. I don’t want to give too much away, but the scientific aspects of this book were fascinating and well-researched. Betrayal at Blackthorn Park is a well-written, well-researched, highly enjoyable book highlighting those places where the vast machinery of wartime meet with the very personal and unexpected sacrifices experienced by those who lived through it. The book also ends with a teaser for book three, which I can’t wait to read next!

I have never read anything by Julia Kelly until I selected for an ARC of A Traitor in Whitehall. I was very excited that I got to continue the journey of Evelyne Redfern and David Poole in this book. I hope this becomes an ongoing series!

I love Kelly’s Evelyne Redfern mysteries and her latest is delightful. I love the mystery and how I always learn so much about WWII history from her stories. Perfect for fans of Maisie Dobbs books!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

Murder and betrayal!___3.5

Much as I like the exploits of Evelyne Redfern and David Poole this was just a bit bland.
Heaps of happenings but I felt bogged down in the chase to discover what the murdered engineer Sir Nigel Balram had been looking for.
Evelyne and David are sent to a very secret dirty tricks location in Sussex looking for something out of the ordinary when an apparent suicide turns up.
Their orders change somewhat. David was supposed to be handling Evelyne’s assignment.
Working out what happened was straight from one of my fav English detective novels
The culprit is finally trapped down. No surprise!
However we are left dangling on a cliff’s edge as the next adventure is anticipated
So, despite the not quite up to par of the first in the series I’m anxious to see what happens next.
An enjoyable read nonetheless.

A St Martin’s Press ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

An excellent sequel from Julia Kelly. Evelyne Redfern is back and fully trained now. She's a bit disappointed when she learns her first case is about materials going missing from Blackthorn Park, a place that is developing weapons. However, when she shows up to inspect, she finds a dead body. David is back as well. This is a fast moving cozy mystery and I can't wait to read the next one Julia Kelly writes!

This is the second book in the Parisian Orphan series, and Evelyne Redfern has returned! She’s a fresh graduate of a spy training camp, and she’s ready for her first assignment. She’s disappointed that it is investigating alleged theft at a weapons testing facility.

She’s reunited with David Poole; he’s acting as her handler this time. Things go wildly wrong on her first mission as Evelyne is the first on the scene for a death. Just what is going on at Blackthorn Park? They are supposed to be testing weapons for the war.

Evelyne and David team up to investigate the death. Is it a simple suicide or something more sinister? Churchill is scheduled to visit Blackthorn Park in a few days. Is it safe for him?

This series makes for great light reading, cozy even. I enjoy books like this that offer a good contrast to darker reads. I’ll definitely keep reading this series. I have a feeling a trip to France is in the future for Evelyne and maybe a romance? The sparks are there!

A mundane assignment quickly turns into a deadly serious mission

Evelyne Redfern has no sooner returned from advanced intelligence training in Yorkshire to her cozy digs at a boarding house in London when she is summoned to the offices of the Special Investigations Unit. There she encounters David Poole, with whom she had first butted heads but eventually successfully partnered on her first case. Waiting for them both are Mrs. White, their steely handler, and Mr. Fletcher, the head of the SIU and a onetime friend of Evelyne’s infamous parents through whom Evelyne came to work for the organization.. Evelyne is tasked with covertly infiltrating the buildings at Blackthorn Park, a country estate in Sussex requisitioned to house an R&D facility run by noted inventor Sir Nigel Balram. Someone suspects that there is thievery plaguing Blackthorn Park, and the powers that be want any vulnerabilities to be located and shored up prior to a proposed visit there in a few day time by none other than Winston Churchill. David is to act as Evelyne’s handler on this mission, his first time in that role, and quite frankly neither of the pair is excited about what looks to be a pretty rudimentary assignment. When the first dead body appears less than 24 hours after Evelyne’s arrival, it looks like there may be more to the problems of Blackthorn Park then first suspected. David ends up joining Evelyne in Sussex, and as the two begin their investigations they discover that the apparent suicide was in fact murder. With extramarital affairs, rivalries between different people on the estate, a gossipy maid and some thoroughly unpleasant individuals in the mix, and covert weaponry whose explosions are not being controlled as they should be, there is something seriously wrong at Blackthorn Hall. Is it thievery or is it sabotage? And who is behind it? The clock is ticking….can Evelyne and David root out the guilty parties and prevent any more unnecessary deaths?
This is the second mystery featuring the “Parisian Orphan” Evelyne Redfern, who has a scandalous background which she has fought to leave behind her. In the first, she was an untrained neophyte thrust into an operative’s role and as such working without the full confidence of either her new partner David or of the hard-to-please Mrs. White. Now that she has solid training behind her, Evelyne is ready to prove herself to those who might still have doubts that she is up to the job, so having a dead body turn up on day one of what should have been a routine assignment is quite inconvenient. She and David are working out the bumps in their partnership (and doing their best to ignore a growing attraction to one another), and Evelyne is feeling more secure in her role. The quirky characters that occupy Blackthorn Park and its environs provide a wide range of potential suspects, and it will take the combined instincts and talents of Evelyne and David to get to the bottom of what’s rotten in Sussex. A solid historical mystery, perfect for readers of Anna Lee Huber, Susan Elia MacNeal and Jacqueline Winspear. Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for allowing me early access to this latest installment in an enjoyable series.

This book started out strong and kept me turning pages, but about 40% in, I had trouble hanging with it. Overall a good mystery, though.

A compelling follow-up to the first mystery featuring Evelyne Redfern, one that in my opinion, surpasses the first in both depth and intrigue. Known for her atmospheric wartime settings, Julia Kelly excels at writing atmospheric reads set in the English countryside during the war. Betrayal at Blackthorn Park is a mystery that is both engaging and sinister.

Evelyne, freshly returned from training, is called upon to investigate a series of thefts from a manor house. However, when she arrives, far more sinister events are occurring than theft. The story has a nice balance between suspense and character development, with Evelyne standing out as a strong protagonist. She holds her own against domineering figures and she is very resilient.

While the pacing is generally well-executed, there are a few places where the story meanders, but these don’t detract too much from the enjoyment. Although not a "cozy mystery" per se, this is the kind of book you can curl up with by the fire and enjoy. All in all, it’s worth a read.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press for the ARC.

I enjoy the idea of this new series of mysteries during WWII featuring a young woman, Evie, who has been selected to be a Special Investigative Officer, and David, a more experienced officer who starts out as her handler and becomes her investigating partner. A routine assignment at an English country home that is housing a secret weapons manufacturing operation turns into a murder mystery. Evie and David investigate together and share the interrogation duties.

I enjoyed following along with this historical mystery and seeing the growing relationship between the two of them. The wartime setting adds an additional intriguing aspect. But at heart, it’s really a classical mystery of the sort that Evelyne purports to adore. The detectives keep interviewing the suspects and put together the bits of information until there is an Aha! moment When Evie figures it out. If you know how such mysteries work, you’ll probably be able to figure out who is guilty, even if we don’t know the motive.

I’m looking forward to the next entry in this series.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

I absolutely loved Betrayal at Blackthorn Park. After reading the first book in the series, A Traitor in Whitehall, I couldn't wait to experience another adventure with Evelyne and David. I would highly recommend reading these books in order. Though you could read this book as a stand-alone, you won't know the characters' backgrounds, and it adds to the enjoyment when you do.

Evelyne is tasked with her first assignment as a trained field agent, and David is assigned his first job as a handler...Evelyne's handler. He's not thrilled with not being in the field, but you don't argue with the boss. It's supposed to be a simple assignment, but, of course, nothing can be simple in a mystery! Instead of getting in and out of Blackthorn Park with the information she's supposed to find, Evelyne finds a dead body. Not that this is a good thing, but David gets to be out in the field again which makes him much happier. What was supposed to be a one day assignment turns into several days worth of investigating and finally solving the crime.

David and Evelyne are such great characters. I feel as if I know them personally, but since the story is set in WWII, I don't....oh, and the fact that they're fictional doesn't help. Oh well. I adore them. They work well together and can match wits easily. The charming English village setting as well as the large Blackthorn Park "complex" give the novel both a cozy feel and a spy novel feel. It was fun guessing whodunit, and I did figure it out before the reveal.

I highly recommend this historical mystery for its well-written characters, charming setting, humor, and heart. I give it 5 stars, and I cannot wait to see what Evelyne and David are tasked with next!

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

I gave feedback on the audio version of this novel, as follows:
I was pleased to have an opportunity to listen to the audio version of the second entry in the Evelyn Redfern Series. We are still in the early stages of WWII. Still in Great Britain. Thanks to her amateur work solving a murder when she worked as a top secret typist, she was plucked from the secretarial pool and trained up to be an investigator/spy working on the war effort. We leave London and her boarding house for Blackthorn Park, formerly a great estate and now converted to a research and manufacturing facility for cutting edge weaponry. What starts out as an overnight field assignment to check out theft allegations morphs into a death on the premises. Evie's handler, quite handily, is David Poole, who reluctantly paired up with her in A Traitor at Whitehall when she proved to be insightful and useful. There's still a spark there but they are all business. Davit and Evie end up onsite together sussing out the nature and implications of the death and later suspicious incidents. This is a well-plotted mystery with enjoyable characters and historical story. I that Evie still lives in a boarding house in London. The audio was odd. I think maybe it was produced at too high a speed. I will admit that I want to connect more with Evie and whatever is her inner self. David too. But I expect to stick with this series so this is apparently minor to me.

As to the epilogue, Evie's backstory, to date, has not been front and center. Evie and her French mother ended up in the tabloids when she was a child because her father very publicly and with a great deal of shaming tried his custody case in public, fighting for Evie right up to the time her mother died. Her father, Reginald, promptly ditches her with her aunt, sends her off to boarding school and ignores her. But..... just when we wonder why we keep hearing about her poor little rich girl childhood it seems that Daddy has communicated in a quiet mysterious way. I will definitely tune in.

Thank you for the free book Minotaur Books @minotaur_books , Netgalley @netgalley , and Julia Kelly @juliakellywrites
“Betrayal at Blackthorn Park” (Evelyne Redfern #2) by Julia Kelly ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Historical Mystery. Location: London and Benstead, England. Time: November, 1940.

THE SERIES: As a child, dark-haired Evelyne (Evie) Redfern was known as “The Parisian Orphan”. By 1940, she’s a war room typist for Prime Minister Winston Churchill, happily living at Mrs. Jenkins’ Bina Gardens boarding house with best friend/aspiring actress Moira. Evie’s investigation of a work colleague’s killer draws minister’s aide David Poole’s attention. Now she works as a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) spy, helping Britain win the war. A spy’s life can be lonely.

THIS BOOK: Returning from 6 weeks rigorous spy training in Yorkshire, Evie is eager for her 1st field assignment. Her task is to test security at Blackthorn Park in Benstead, a top-secret research facility located in a requisitioned manor house in the Sussex countryside. Her handler is strait-laced, dashing David Poole. Blackthorn Park is hosting a visit from Winston Churchill, and that means high security at the secret weapons facility. Evie finds Blackthorn Park’s chief engineer dead in his office. She must use all of her (and David’s) skills to uncover deceptions that could change the course of the war. There are “too many loose ends and not enough leads”.

Author Kelly has written a book full of historical detail, mystery, intrigue, and a tiny hint of romance. She includes red herrings galore, complicated staff relationships, intrigue, and local color. There are lots of characters and a complex manor house to navigate. I wish there was a map of the Blackthorn Place grounds, and a list of characters. TIP: If you want to read more historical mysteries, avid reader Evie mentions a number of them. As she says: “There is nothing like a new book to make everything right.” In the meantime, read this-it’s interesting, action-packed, keeps your attention, and it’s 4 stars from me🌵📚💁🏼‍♀️🎀 #juliakellyauthor #betrayalatblackthornbook#EvelynRedfern

Although this book had an interesting premise and a tone of intrigue, it unfortunately did not hold my interest for long periods of time.

Evelyne is a new field agent that discovers Blackthorn Park's chief operating officer dead in his office, it makes her job of doing a security test a lot more interesting. Her handler is described as dashing, but quite serious. To say there was a hint of romance is being gracious as there is nothing I would really consider romantic in the book. The author does a good job of tying things together, but it was kind of flat for me as a reader.

Evelyne Redfern is ready for her first assignment, not she has graduated from spy training. She is sent to Blackthorn Park (along with David Poole!), where top secret weapons are designed…and Churchill is scheduled to visit. The worry is there has been a couple deaths (murder?) at the park.

I loved the first book of this series and was so excited to see book #2!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for an advanced copy. Loving Evelyne Redfern. #BetrayalatBlackthornPark #NetGalley

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the advanced reader copy and to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary audiobook. These opinions are my own.

This is the second book in the Parisian Orphan series, featuring Evelyne Redfern. The mystery stands alone, but I loved reading the books in order. The first establishes how Evelyne starts working as a field agent during the war.

At first, I thought this book would be much slower with a fairly mild case. Indeed, that was Evelyne's expectation when she was sent on a quick trip to the countryside to check out reports of missing supplies. But I rapidly became caught up in the story.

This is a fun whodunnit with a brand new cast of characters. Evelyne works with her handler David to solve the case in time to protect Winston Churchill. It's a race against the clock with chapters beginning with a countdown of how many days until he arrives.

I loved getting to meet Evelyne's aunt, who we heard a great deal about in the previous story. And I enjoyed seeing Evelyne's evolution into a skilled detective. Plus, I always enjoy a heroine who enjoys reading mysteries.

Evelyne says "there is nothing like a new book to make everything right." I quite agree. I thoroughly enjoyed this and can't wait for more.

This is the second book in this series. It’s a well written detective procedural mystery. I was happy to see Evelyne and David working together to solve two murders. I’m already anxiously waiting for the next one.

I wanted to like this book much more than I did, having raved about the first one. I found the mystery to be well-crafted and intriguing, but I don't feel that the story between David and Evelyne advanced enough. The ending sets it up for a continuation of the series, and I plan to continue on but I expect more next time.
If you're a serial series finisher, then I would recommend this.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC!

What was meant to be a simple reconnaissance trip for newly minted SOE agent Evelyne turns into a murder investigation when she hears the shot that kills Sir Nigel, the brilliant man behind the unique weapons being developed at Blackthorn Park. While this is the second in the series it will be just fine as a standalone- in part because Evelyne's complicated background is irrelevant to the story. And it's a complicated one with perhaps too many suspects in the mix. David, her partner in her first foray into the world of keeping the war effort safe, is now to be her handler but that doesn't last long because the two of them work best when they put their heads together. Good atmospherics and characters make this one. It would be a spoiler to explain my quibble-an element of the murder that goes unexplored and unexploited. This ends on a cliff hanger of sorts which makes me all the more eager for the next one. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A very good historical mystery.