Product Description

Constable Evan Evans expected idyllic Llanfair to be a calm oasis far away from the violent crime of the big city. That was, until a string of murders erupts in the town, putting every "charming eccentric" under suspicion...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121744 in Books
• Published on: 1998-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From School Library Journal
YAAEvans, a self-effacing young constable living in a Welsh village at the foot of a mountain, solves the murders of three alpine hikers while awkwardly fending off the advances of a buxom barmaid in the local pub. A well-crafted plot, nicely drawn characters, a strong sense of place, and the bantering give-and-take typical in a small village whose inhabitants have been neighbors for generations make this fast read a winner. YAs will like the unusual setting, the mountain hiking, and a hero who is young enough to be self-conscious with women.AJudy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
New series protagonist Evan Evans, a young, unattached North Wales police constable assigned to the village of Llanfair (inhabited mostly by Evanses), resents the intrusive new vacation lodge as much as anyone. Evan has tended lost or injured mountaineers before, but now two men, including a guest at the lodge, have fallen to their deaths in separate mountain "accidents" the same day. Suspicious from the outset, Evan finally persuades "rival" police detectives that murder was committed. Straightforward plotting, tempered with unique characterization and subtle humor; for most collections.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A pleasingly unpretentious debut that introduces Constable Evan Evans, newly arrived in Llanfair, a village at the foot of Mount Snowden in North Wales. Evans, in police training in the busy city of Swansea, opted for the quiet life after his father, also a policeman, was killed in the line of duty. That quiet life becomes illusory, however, when the bodies of two strangers, Thomas Hatcher and Stewart Potts, are found on the mountain, seemingly killed in separate accidents. A recovered postcard indicates that they'd come to the mountain in memory of their Army buddy Danny Bartholomew, who died there during Army traianing six years before. Evans isn't convinced the deaths were accidental and, working on his own, finds bits and pieces of inconclusive evidence. But his murder scenario gains strength when a young climber is found, his throat slashed, in a mountain cave. A not-too-polite struggle between lusty barmaid Betsy and schoolteacher Bronwen for Evans's attention, and sporadic calls from preacher's wife Mrs. Powell-Jones about her vanished apple pie and damaged garden plants, give Evans some lighter moments. Then comes yet another hike up the mountain and a confrontation that finally links the past to the violent events of the present. The plotting is far from airtight, but the writing is tidy and straightforward. Llanfair, with its challenging mountain and well drawn locals, is appealing, as is Constable Evans, a kind of Welsh version of M.C. Beaton's Hamish MacBeth. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Catches the flavor of the Welsh and their surroundings
This is a delightful romp up and down Mt. Snowdon in north Wales. The mystery is not the most compelling or intense, but the narrative accurately portrays the Welsh independent characteristics and dialog, describes the beautiful country side and unique climate, and alludes to the differences between the Welsh and English. The book brings back fond memories for anyone who has visited this charming part of Wales. A book full of charm and humor. I'm looking forward to the next ramblings of Constable Evans -- and a trip back to Mt. Snowdon.

Read it for the pleasure of the Welsh culture
The first installment in the Constable Evans series of Welsh mysteries introduces us to the quiet village of Llanfair, at the foot of mount Snowdon in Northern Wales. With its slate blue cottages and warm townsfolk, it is the last place on earth for murder. Or is it? Faster than you can say "bore da" (the Welsh "hello"), Constable Evan Evans - "You can't get more Welsh than that, can you?" (Page 213) - is whisked away from his weekly sermon at church when the terrible deaths of two apparent climbers take place at the famous mountain, quite furtively. An investigation immediately opens but Constable Evans doesn't get much help. He has to deal with some eccentric superiors who would not accept his hunches about the two deaths being connected, even though they happened in two different spots at Mount Snowdon.

Poor Evans doesn't have it easier on his personal turf either. Two local women are on his track: one exuberant barmaid and a demure school teacher who are at each other's throats over him, a landlady who overfeeds him Welsh delicacies, and the local minister's wife, who expects him to be at her beck-and-call for everything from tomato theft to flowerbed trampling.

This is a complex mystery that starts off with two murders, but it develops into an engaging puzzle of disappearances, child crimes, robbery, etc.; where Constable Evans always tries to find "a connection". As the book progresses, this becomes his mantra, as the confusion increases and the so called connection seems most elusive, but it's always lurking in the background, until it eventually turns up.

I didn't find the denouement all that fair to the reader. As a matter of fact, it is impossible to discover whodunit on the book's evidence alone because a vital piece of information is missing until, all of a sudden, we're confronted with the murderer. Withholding information in a mystery is a serious crime (get it?). The evidence, the clues, must all be well hidden and sometimes even presented deceptively; but they must always be there, and the reader must be able to sense them. This is not so in "Evans Above". Luckily, however, this country cozy is entertaining enough, when at the same time reflects the fierce nationalism that makes this part of the UK stand as a land on its own. The local customs and the spirit of the people come through, giving the book its true value. As it says in the prologue, one doesn't think of Wales as a foreign country, but in fact it is. It is one of those places I'd like to visit some day, and, thanks to books like this one, I know I'll keep it in my heart.

A GREAT WELSH COZY
This new "cozy" mystery series begins with the new Constable Evan Evans who wants to return to the the idyllic quiet in Llanfair, Wales. He had been trained in Swansea but is returning to his home after his policeman father is killed in the line of duty.

But it seems murder is also in Llanfair when the bodies of two men, strangers it seems to each other, are found on a mountain. At first, it looks like an accident, but Evan Evans thinks they were murdered--but murdered separately. He finds a postcard indicating that the two men had come to the Llanfiar mountain in thememory of their Army buddy, but it doesn't given any inference as to why the men were killed. He sets out to find why and who.

Then, another stranger is found with his throat slashed in a cave. What does this have to do with the murder of the other two?

I was very glad to have discovered Ms. Bowen's Evan Evans. This is not a cloying cozy mystery. It grabbed my interest from the start, and I wanted to find more about Constable Evans and his life in Llanfair. I am glad Rhys Bowen is continuing the series and hope to read more.