Julia Kelly's smart, twisty World War II mystery A Dark and Deadly Journey sends British intelligence agent Evelyne Redfern and her partner, David Poole, to Lisbon to investigate the disappearance of a mysterious informant. Before they even leave the airport, Evelyne discovers a dead body with a connection to their case; a murder investigation, naturally, proves both tempting and complicated. Unbeknownst to David, Evelyne is also searching for her estranged father, who recently instructed Evelyne to take a cache of her late mother's valuables to a London jeweler--who then ended up dead. Evelyne must navigate the murky waters of professional ethics, personal interests, and her growing attraction to David in a city famous for its wartime complexities.
In this third series installment, Kelly (A Traitor in Whitehall) builds on Evelyne's previous adventure in Betrayal at Blackthorn Park, which left Evelyne with a gunshot wound and a keener appreciation for the dangers and drama of spy work. Though Lisbon is supposedly neutral, David and Evelyne encounter both Allied and Axis agents, not to mention Portuguese citizens whose loyalties are in question. They scour the city for their missing man and Evelyne hunts for clues about her father's whereabouts, unsure where his political sympathies lie. As they crisscross the city, frequenting humble cafes and elegant casinos, Evelyne and David must discern which of their new acquaintances is truthful and which ones could prove deadly.
With an intriguing puzzle of a plot and a sharp, witty narrator in Evelyne, A Dark and Deadly Journey is a tense, well-crafted wartime adventure. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams