Evelyne Redfern Books in Order

The Evelyne Redfern novels drop Julia Kelly's love of historical detail into the middle of classic murder mysteries. Set during World War II, the series follows Evelyne, once a newspaper curiosity known as the Parisian Orphan, as she reinvents herself as a typist and then an agent in Britain's war effort.

In A Traitor in Whitehall, Evelyne is working the line at a munitions factory when she is spotted by an old family friend and offered a job in Winston Churchill's cabinet war rooms. The underground bunkers hum with secrets, and when one of the secretaries is murdered, Evelyne's habit of reading crime novels becomes unexpected training. Her investigation pulls her into the orbit of David Poole, a reserved aide whose real assignment is to catch a mole passing information to the enemy.

Betrayal at Blackthorn Park moves Evelyne and David to a remote country estate that has been turned into a weapons research center. What should be a relatively simple assignment, posing as support staff and keeping an ear out for trouble, changes overnight when the chief engineer is found dead. The shadow of an upcoming visit from Churchill raises the stakes as they sift through scientists, officers, and servants to uncover who is sabotaging both the project and their colleagues.

In A Dark and Deadly Journey, Evelyne has healed from a gunshot wound and is ready to take on fieldwork. She and David are dispatched to neutral Lisbon after an informant disappears with hints of vital intelligence about German plans. They barely land before a fellow passenger is murdered and a diary turns up that links directly to their missing man, plunging them into a city full of spies, profiteers, and exiles where no one is quite what they seem.

Across the series, Kelly balances puzzles with atmosphere, showing the cramped corridors of the war rooms, the isolating world of secret research stations, and the uneasy glamour of a spy filled Lisbon. Evelyne's sharp tongue and refusal to be sidelined make her an engaging guide, while her evolving partnership with David threads a quiet romantic tension through the larger questions of loyalty, patriotism, and who gets to decide what risks are acceptable in wartime.

Although each mystery can be read on its own, the character arcs and slow building relationships reward reading the books in order, starting with A Traitor in Whitehall and continuing through Betrayal at Blackthorn Park to A Dark and Deadly Journey.