The central character in this World War II historical novel is the resourceful Evelyne Redfern. She spends a large part of this superb whodunnit down in the labyrinth of the cabinet war rooms. She has been plucked from her life working at a munitions factory after one of her father’s old friends, Mr Fletcher, meets her on a night out. She has a new job as a typist, but Mr Fletcher asks her to pass on anything of interest from her work.
Things get interesting very quickly! She is only newly settling into her role, when one of the other women at her work is murdered and Evelyne is the one who discovers her body in the space set aside for the required sunlamp treatment they all must do. Evelyne immediately begins using her amateur sleuthing skills to hunt down the killers. It’s now long before she encounters David Poole, a minister's aide who is trying to discover the identity of a mole selling government secrets to the Germans. It seems their cases might be linked, so they team up, albeit begrudgingly.
Evelyne is an engaging and warm character, a woman of resilience, wit and fierce determination and the pairing with the handsome but inscrutable David adds personal tension to the plot as they both work to unravel the clues. Done in an Agatha Christie style, it also captures the London blitz era well, and I’m delighted to learn this is the first in a new series, as I’m keen to read more. Well plotted and highly entertaining.
Reviewer: Karen McMillan
Minotaur