A review by bringmybooks
A Traitor in Whitehall by Julia Kelly

adventurous informative mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, & Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

B̷R̷I̷N̷G̷ ✨ 𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗪 ✨ B̷Y̷P̷A̷S̷S̷

My completely subjective order of JK books, ranked from my fav onwards:

  1. The Light Over London
  2. The Lost English Girl
  3. The Light Over London
  4. A Traitor In Whitehall
  5. The Last Dance of the Debutante
  6. The Last Garden in England

Look, here’s the thing. Do you like historical fiction novels? Do you like them set in WWII (or maybe in the 1950s)? Do you like female protagonists, often with a group of close knit friends? Then you should pick up a Julia Kelly book. I don’t make the rules, y’all.

As you can see from my ratings, A Traitor in Whitehall wasn’t necessarily my favorite - but I think that’s because I struggle with mystery novels set during WWI / WWII. Very much a “it’s me, not you” (but for reals). I did like the main character well enough, but I do think there’s a fair bit of disbelief that must be suspended for some of the liberties she was allowed in her sleuthing (not that there were not HIGHLY capable female spies during WWII, but that’s not what this is).

All of that being said, as of writing this review I see that A Traitor in Whitehall is listed as “The Parisian Orphan #1,” and I can definitively say that I’ll be reading the second book when it’s published! 
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