Fans of Julia Kelly’s historical fiction novels first met Evelyne Redfern in the historical mystery, “A Traitor in Whitehall,” wherein Evelyne is hired as a typist in the war department of the British government during WWII. There she stumbles upon a murder, and she and spy David Poole, who becomes her romantic interest, solve the crime. In this new mystery, “Betrayal at Blackthorn Park,” Evelyne has been through training to become part of a unit that is involved in spying. For her first assignment, she is given something rather innocuous, checking to see if there is any pilfering going on at Blackthorn Park, the site of clandestine testing of weapons for use in the war.
As soon as Evelyne enters the house she is clandestinely investigating, at night, she hears a gunshot and rushes into the house to investigate. She finds Sir Nigel Balram in his office with a pistol in his hand, dead. To all appearances, he has committed suicide. Evelyne, however, has her doubts, due to the condition of Sir Nigel’s desk. When the coroner confirms that it was murder disguised to look like a suicide, she and David begin a murder investigation.
In addition to the myriad characters at Blackthorn Park who are suspects, Kelly presents us with an extremely capable woman who is viewed with suspicion by most of the men at that time, for whom seeing smart women in roles of authority is a rarity. Evelyne has no difficulty asking probing questions and her ability to reason and consider all angles of their investigation means that she does, ultimately, solve the crime.
Not only is Evelyne Redfern an extremely capable woman, she is a good friend, and she is kind and compassionate. She is someone we really like, which is why she’s the perfect main character in a mystery series—we admire her and want to know her continuing adventures. We also want to know what happens between Evelyne and David, although to be honest, in this book there is not much movement on the romantic front. What Kelly does make clear is that they are colleagues, and while David is very much more experienced than Evelyne, he treats her as an equal in every important way. And for that and other reasons, we really admire David, as well.
Likable characters, a complex and intriguing plot, a setting that is based on real manor homes that were used for research and war machinations, and a very satisfying ending (with a new mystery that will surely be the beginning of the next book in the series), all make for a perfectly lovely murder mystery and a series that readers will want to get in on right away.
If you like historical fiction, consider Julia Kelly’s other books like “The Lost English Girl,” and “The Last Dance of the Debutante.”
This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.