get better and better
Newly promoted Constable Evans and the rest of North Wales are in search of an an missing little girl.
The characters are always wonderful, The descriptions of Wales makes me want to visit,
Evan's Gate by Rhys Bowen is bookof the Constable Evan Evans mystery series set in a fictitious small mountain village in contemporary North Wales.
Evan is finally a plainclothes detective, He's proud to achieved his dream, yet disgruntled that he can no longer count on having time off, When a crime requires investigation, he's called on to the case, regardless of his personal plans,
A date with Bronwen is preempted by an investigation for a missing girl Bronwen copes well an absolute must for a detective's future wife.
Evan goes to the seaside traveltrailer to interview the girl's mother, She was outside, with her daughter playing on the beach, just stepped inside forseconds to grab a cigarette, and her daughter was gone when she returned.
There is no evidence of foul play on the beach Evan sees no evidence any child had played there recently, either.
The mother is convinced her exhusband seized the girl and will flee the country, The police put out bulletins to stop him from leaving the country, Evan is assigned to follow up any sightings of possible suspects,
He is in the process of getting bureaucratic approval to restore the small sheepherder cottage high on the mountain above Llanfair that he hopes to share with Bronwen.
The latest stuffy inspector insists that Evan also check if the property is "listed", as in historic ridiculous because it's a complete ruin.
While waiting for yet another official inspector visit, Evan decides to dig the trenches for water lines he will add.
While digging, Evan finds a body, He thinks he recognizes the shoe, When the forensic expert agrees the body was a young girl, and may have been buriedyears, Evan is pretty sure he has finally found the little girl he was mesmerized by as a young boy.
The girl long ago was petite and blonde, like the latest missing girl, Evan wonders if there is a connection, especially when he learns the family is back for the first time inyears.
Evan follows orders stick to the latest case, yet he cannot stop investigating the past either, As usual, all mysteries and subplots are resolved by the story's end, due to Evan's intuition and courage,
The scenery described throughout the series sounds so beautiful, I wish Masterpiece Theater would create an Evan Evans film series.
stars
Although I did enjoy this one, there were a few things that missed the mark, Some procedural police investigation techniques that didn't make sense like taking the mom's word as gospel without questioning it for one moment.
Nevertheless a good read, Volume eight in a ten volume series, This is the best in the series yet, The mystery was extremely engaging and the backstory was excellently finalized, I highly recommend this book, I will be sad when I finish up the series but I know I will reread it in the future.
Evan is in the process of trying to get approval to fix up an old shepherd's cottage for himself and his fiancee, Bronwen, when he gets a call about a missing little girl.
Did the child wander off, or was she abducted by her father While pursuing multiple possibilities, Evan stumbles across the body of another little girl, and possibly a further complication to his ongoing missing child case.
I first started this series many years ago and by all rights should have finished it by now.
It's only ten books long, and I've generally enjoyed each book I've read, It's got a nice sense of place, and Evan is generally likeable, But for some reason I only dip my toes into this series once every few years, and I've been doing it all out of order.
I've read the first, fifth, and tenth books, It's a bit of shame, since one of the appeals of this series is that Bowen actually allows Evan's life to change from one book to the next, instead of forcing him to wallow in an unending love triangle for all eternity while I like M.
C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth books, the eternal love triangle is part of the reason why it's been years since I last read one of them.
In this book, Evan is engaged to Bronwen and is still mentally adjusting to the idea that he's going to be married soon.
He also has new responsibilities at work and is still adjusting to the effect that this has on his personal life and overall free time.
Evan gets a bit emotionally knotted up over the connections he sees between the current missing child case and the little girl who went missingyears ago, who he was friends with and used to play with.
He can't shake the idea that the two cases are related, and the personal connection makes it harder for him to be objective.
I didn't think Evan handled things as well as he could have, which would have been fine if there had been actual consequences for some of his actions.
Even he was aware that his focus on the potential connection between the two cases was pushing him to do stuff his boss wouldn't necessarily approve of, and his actions near the end of the book could have gotten him killed.
At the very least, he should have gotten a reprimand,
The ending wasn't very satisfying, To be fair, I don't think it was meant to be
All in all, it was an okay read and I'm sure I'll pick up another Constable Evans mystery at some point, but I wasn't left feeling like I absolutely needed to read another book in the series right now.
This really is more of a "comfortable occasional reading" series for me than anything, I guess,
Oh, and don't get too excited about the dog on the cover, Although there is indeed a dog in the story, it only appears maybe once or twice and doesn't play an important part.
Original review posted on sitelinkA Library Girl's Familiar Diversions, Wiedermal ein gelungener Constable Evans Krimi,
Der Schreibstil ist super, leicht zu lesen und sehr fesselnd,
Ich war gleich von der ersten Zeile an in der Geschichte gefangen,
Evan ist sehr sympathisch und authentisch, ich finde ihn als Charakter einfach spitze,
Auch das Zusammenspiel zwischen Ihm und seiner Verlobten ist toll,
Die beiden Charaktere haben so viel Charme und Sympathie, man muss sie einfach mögen,
Das Dorf mit seinem ganzen walisischen Charme kommt wieder gut zur Geltung und die Dorfbewohner sind einfach zum Lachen und Schmunzeln.
In diesem Band verstrickt sich Evans in zwei Fälle, die den Anschein erwecken das sie zusammenhängen.
Die beiden Fälle waren unheimlich spannend und unvorhersehbar, ich habe richtig mitgefiebert und gerätselt,
Ein wirklich unglaublich toller Krimi, ich freue mich schon auf den nächsten Band,
Unglaublich toll und spannend geschriebenes Buch mit so viel walisischem Charme und tollen Charakteren,
When Constable Evan Evans discovers a beautiful shepherd's cottage in the mountains of Llanfair, Wales, he and his fiancée are thrilled.
It's only months before their wedding, and they are eager to begin their new life together,
The cottage is in need of renovation, so Evan wastes no time before he begins making muchneeded repairs.
" "It turns out, though, that Evan's discovery extends far beyond the beauty of a mountaintop view and a cozy dreamhouse when he finds the skeleton of a child buried in the front yard.
His professional inclinations soon get the best of him, and he cannot rest until he discovers the identity
of the child.
" The skeleton is decades old, but the discovery eerily coincides with the case of a presentday missing girl,
Although discouraged by his fellow detectives, Evan dives into the mystery of both missing children, He soon realizes that if he can solve the decadesold death, he just might find a crucial insight into the whereabouts of the child missing in the present day.
Rhys Bowen PAudible, Inc, This is my favorite so far, Evan travels to London and Leeds and several other places, and for some reason I found it fascinating, The story starts with a child abduction, and then Evan finds a skeleton of a little girl in front of the cottage he plans to rebuild.
He is finally engaged and plans to be married, He once again solves the crime, I just so enjoy reading about Wales, Onlymore to go and I will be sorry to see it end,
Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books.
. .
star This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end, I will avoid this author like the plague in the future,
This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author,
This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.
I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.
I loved this book! It has earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.
Another fun book. A little blonde girl goes missing, and Detective Constable Evans is on the case, now as a Detective! This series never disappoints.
A young girl disappears from a beach near Porthmadog, and a skeleton of a child is found.
Can these two events be linked
Recently appointed a DC, Evan Evans chases clues across Britain, and at times, putting himself in danger.
This fabulous series by Rhys Bowen is always entertaining to read, with excellent characters and locations I am a little sad that there is only one left for me to read.
Highly recommended for lovers of a good whodunnit, D. C. Evans and his fiancee are interested in buying and renovating an old shepherd's cottage in Wales, While digging up some pipes, he discovers the skeleton of a young girl, Even more disturbing is that this may be the body of a young playmate that disappeared twentyfive years ago when he wasyears old.
At the same time, another young girl goes missing from a caravan park on the beach, Disturbing and sad with an intricate plot and more than enough suspicious characters, Big changes are in store for Constable Evan Evans, He has recently been accepted into the plainclothes division of the force and he's making preparations to marry Bronwen and make a home in shepherd's cottage that needs renovation.
But he's just started working on getting the building clearances when Evans is called in to help with a missing child case.
A fiveyearold little girl has disappeared from the seaside caravan park where her mother had brought her for health reasons.
The prime suspect is the little girl's estranged father, but an extensive campaign fails to find him, . . and exhaustive searches in the area fail to find any trace of the girl,
Evans snatches time when he can to make progress on his cottage, One of the tasks is to did a new water line, And when he digs he finds the skeleton of another child, It appears to be aboutyears old and Evans remembers another little girl who went missing on the mountain.
A little girl by the name of Sarah who looked a lot like the current missing childsmall, fragile, blonde, and very pretty.
When he finds out Sarah's family is back in the areacelebrating the birthday of an aged grandfather, he wonders if the two incidents are connected.
He's had hunches in the past that panned out and he hopes that if he can find some clues from the past that it just might help solve the current case as well.
I first started reading the Evan Evans mysteries back in the lates/earlys when they were published.
I found them charming, enjoyed the Welsh characters, and the descriptions of the Welsh countryside, And then other books caught my attention as so often happens and I wandered off and didn't read this one that I had picked up at the library's used bookstore or any later installments.
Returning to the series, I still enjoy the Welsh setting and find the characters interestingthough there are fewer appearances of the locals than I remember in earlier stories.
The mystery is decent, though the solution to the two cases is a bit dissatisfyingI had hoped they would tie up differently and I thought the explanation of Sarah's death and place of burial to be anticlimactic.
I realize that this is a more cozy police procedural, but the answer really was a bit of a letdown.
for setting, characters, and interesting setup, Would have been higher had the ending been stronger,
First posted on my blog sitelinkMy Reader's Block, Please request permission before reposting portions of review, Thanks. .