A mystery-loving Englishwoman is thrilled to give up working in a munitions factory to take a job in Churchill's war cabinet operation in a bunker under Whitehall. Evelyne Redfern prefers not to mention her past, when she was known in the British newspapers as the Parisian Orphan. A nasty custody battle between her father, Sir Reginald Redfern, and her French mother resulted in her attending school in England. After her mother died, her father ignored her and she was given into the care of her aunt. Now she's approached by Lionel Fletcher, a family friend from the Redferns' years in Paris, who offers her a job that will change her life. The work itself is merely secretarial, but she lives part-time in an underground dormitory along with her fellow workers, some pleasant, others not. When she's sent to get the required sunlamp treatment--"It helps keep us healthy, what with the amount of time we're underground"--she discovers Jean Plinkton, who's much disliked by most of her fellow workers, dead in the treatment area. Her thoughts on the crime are rudely dismissed by the investigators; only David Poole, who found her with the body, gives any indication that she could possibly help. A sharp observer and great reader of mystery novels, Evelyne's seen a number of things that might identify the person who's leaked information to the Germans they could have gleaned only by working in the cabinet war rooms. Both Fletcher and Poole are investigating the leaks, and her knowledge of office gossip turns up many promising leads and sets her on the trail of a spy. Romance, feminism, and historical detail combine in an exciting new series. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Set during early WWII, Kelly's latest (after The Lost English Girl, 2023) features smart, rebellious, feisty Evelyne Redfern. Evie, raised in Paris, is devastated when her beloved mother dies suddenly and her neglectful, flamboyant, womanizing father sends her to an English boarding school, followed by university. After graduation, Evie is approached by an old friend of her mother's with the offer of a job as a typist in Churchill's War Rooms--and a secret mission to uncover the mole who's passing secrets to the Germans. But in Evie's first week on the job, one of her colleagues is brutally murdered, and Evie discovers the body. A keen mystery fan, Evie is determined to find the killer. The police assigned to the case don't seem to have a clue, but Evie, who's sent to work undercover with the handsome David Poole to solve the murder, is stubborn and tenacious. Kelly's story, a cross between a Nancy Drew mystery and an Agatha Christie tale, sometimes requires leaps of logic, but its gentle humor, unexpected twists, clever heroine, and wartime setting make it a pleasurable read.

This action-packed yet unconvincing series launch from Kelly (The Last Garden in England) unfolds against the backdrop of WWII London. Factory worker Evelyne Redfern is recruited by family friend Lionel Fletcher, an intelligence operative, to join the typing pool in Winston Churchill's underground cabinet war rooms. The government suspects there's a mole in the subterranean complex who's selling secrets to the Germans, and Mr. Fletcher tasks Evelyne with reporting back to officials about any suspicious goings-on. During her first day on the job, Evelyne stumbles across the body of one of her coworkers, who has been stabbed to death. Judging the officers assigned to the case incompetent, Evelyne, an avid mystery reader, decides to investigate herself. She joins forces with Ministry of Information operative David Poole to look into both the murder and the intelligence leak, and winds up nearly taking over the entire case. Though the world has always been bursting with intelligent, independent, and forceful women, Evelyne--whose brazenness receives shockingly little pushback from her male colleagues--strains believability to the limit, and Kelly, who's delivered wonderful WWII mysteries in the past, struggles to conjure the period here. Unraveling the mystery has its pleasures, but this doesn't quite land. (Oct.)