The Traitor Beside Her: A WWII Mystery

by Mary Anna Evans

Overview

"Evans's characters are vividly drawn, elevating this story and its revelations about women's little-celebrated contributions to the war effort."— Washington Post

"An exciting read with historical tidbits, a hint of danger, and a touch of romance."— Kirkus Reviews

The Traitor Beside Her is an intricately plotted WWII espionage novel weaving together mystery, action, friendship, and a hint of romance perfect for fans of The Rose Code and Code Name Helene.

Justine Byrne can't trust the people working beside her. Arlington Hall, a former women's college in Virginia has been taken over by the United States Army where hundreds of men and women work to decode countless pieces of communication coming from the Axis powers.

Justine works among them, handling the most sensitive secrets of World War II—but she isn't there to decipher German codes—she's there to find a traitor.

Justine keeps her guard up and her ears open, confiding only in her best friend, Georgette, a fluent speaker of Choctaw who is training to work as a code talker. Justine tries to befriend each suspect, believing that the key to finding the spy lies not in cryptography but in understanding how code breakers tick. When young women begin to go missing at Arlington Hall, her deadline for unraveling the web of secrets becomes urgent and one thing remains clear: a single secret in enemy hands could end thousands of lives. 

"A fascinating and intelligent WWII home front story." —Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author for The Physicists' Daughter

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781464215582
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	06/06/2023
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	91,815
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 5.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Mary Anna Evans is the author of the Faye Longchamp archaeological mysteries, which have received recognition including the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Mississippi Author Award, and three Florida Book Awards bronze medals. She is an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma, where she teaches fiction and nonfiction writing. Winner of the 2018 Sisters in Crime (SinC) Academic Research Grant

Editorial Reviews

04/24/2023

Evans follows up The Physicists’ Daughter with a lackluster second thriller featuring factory worker Justine Byrne. In 1944, U.S. Army Intelligence recruits Justine to Virginia’s Arlington Hall, a women’s college that’s been transformed into an American code-breaking facility. Despite her gifts for cryptanalysis, Justine’s handler, Paul, hasn’t stationed her there to crack enemy messages—he’s certain that Arlington Hall has been infiltrated by an enemy agent who has already disrupted the Allied war efforts and caused several deaths, and he wants her to ferret out the traitor. That traitor may also be responsible for the strangulation of a woman working for the head of the German code-cracking division. Justine’s mole hunt, interspersed with her fending off unwelcome suitors as she embarks on a relationship with Paul, packs a certain amount of inherent drama, but it’s largely undone by thin characters and purple prose (“Justine would always wonder if anyone saw her face when the first light of realization began to dawn”). Maisie Dobbs this is not. Agent: Anne Hawkins, John Hawkins & Assoc. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"Evans’s characters are vividly drawn, elevating this story and its revelations about women’s little-celebrated contributions to the war effort." — Washington Post

"An exciting read with historical tidbits, a hint of danger, and a touch of romance." — Kirkus Reviews

"World War II and espionage novels are popular, and [Mary Anna Evans] brings both together in a story of young women undercover on the home front." — Library Journal

"The Traitor Beside Her is a well-researched wartime spy story which blends suspense with sharp characterization as Justine Byrne turns code-breaker in the hunt for a ruthless enemy agent." — Martin Edwards, author of the Rachel Savernake and Lake District mysteries

"Mary Anna Evans’ great talent in The Traitor Beside Her is to turn her readers into espionage agents....For Justine Byrne, missing or mis-interpreting a clue can be fatal. For the reader, such vicarious mystery and danger are pure enjoyment." — Larry Baker, author of Harry and Sue

From the Publisher

04/01/2023

After an abbreviated training period, 21-year-old Justine Byrne is given her first undercover assignment during World War II. She's to work as a secretary at the site of a massive cryptoanalysis operation run by the Army in Washington, DC. She's also told not to trust anyone. There's a traitor in the department who's responsible for blowing up a bridge in Europe and killing a family and a number of Allies. Posing as Samantha Ogletree, a minister's daughter, Justine will attempt to root out the spy—but her cover is blown when a family friend recognizes her and grabs her to work as his assistant. Her friend Georgette takes on Justine's original job and identity as Samantha. Together, the two young women ask apparently innocent questions of others in the cryptoanalysis department, hoping to uncover a traitor. But their shortened training periods and lack of weapons endanger both of them when the traitor feels trapped. VERDICT World War II and espionage novels are popular, and the author of the Faye Longchamp mysteries brings both together in a story of young women undercover on the home front. Suggest for Joyce St. Anthony fans.—Lesa Holstine

Library Journal

2023-04-24
Two young women work to root out spies on the homefront in 1944.

Justine Byrne, who’s already used the knowledge of physics she learned from her parents to stop industrial espionage, is working as a welder at the Washington Navy Yard in an effort to catch more spies. She’s partnered with Jerry Jenkins and Paul, his mysterious boss, who’ve shepherded her and her best friend, Georgette, through a rapid course on spycraft; the stint at the Navy Yard is intended to show her how much she still has to learn. Soon Justine is sent to Arlington Hall, the headquarters of an operation to intercept, decrypt, and translate enemy messages, where it’s hoped that her excellent German and knowledge of code-breaking will help her find the spy or spies. As Samantha Ogletree, she’s supposed to be an assistant to Dr. Edison van Dorn, who leads the German section, but her plans quickly change when Dr. Karl Becker recognizes her as the daughter of his old friends Isabel and Gerard Byrne, rendering her disguise useless. Working for Karl—who thinks she’s been sent in as his assistant—actually puts Justine in a better position to meet and interact with potential spies, and Paul loses no time in bringing in Georgette to take over the job with van Dorn. Any number of Justine’s co-workers are acting suspiciously, and at least two of them take a romantic interest in her. After several women who live in the dorm vanish and one of them turns up murdered, the roommates realize they’re in danger of sharing the same fate unless they can uncover the truth.

An exciting read with historical tidbits, a hint of danger, and a touch of romance.

Kirkus Reviews