Evan Only Knows [Import] [Hardcover]

Rhys Bowen (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd (June 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727863975
• ISBN-13: 978-0727863973
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Rhys Bowen's books have been nominated for every major mystery award and she has won thirteen of them to date. She currently writes two historical mystery series, each very different in tone. The Molly Murphy mysteries feature an Irish immigrant woman in turn-of-the-century New York City. These books are multi-layered, complex stories with a strong sense of time and place and have won many awards including Agatha and Anthony. There are 10 book so far in this series plus the free Kindle story, The Amersham Rubies--a great way to introduce new readers to Molly's spunky personality.

Then there is Lady Georgie, Rhys's latest,and very popular, heroine. She's 34th in line to the throne of England, but she's flat broke and struggling to survive in the Great Depression. These books are lighter and funnier than Molly's adventures. They poke gentle fun at the British class system--about which Rhys knonws a lot, having married into an upper class family rather like Georgie's, with cousins with silly nicknames,family ghosts and stately homes. The fifth book, Naughty in Nice, is in stores now, and watch out for a big Christmas book in time for the 2012 holidays.
This year the series received the Readers Hoice Award for favorite mystery series.

Rhys was born in Bath, England and spent a lot of time growing up in Wales with her Welsh relatives. Those childhood experiences colored her first mystery series, about Constable Evans in the mountains of Snowdonia. 10 books including the Edgar nominee Evan's Gate. She has lived in Austria, Germany and Australia, but has called California her home for many years. She now escapes to a condo in Arizona during those cold California winters. When she's not writing she loves to travel, sing, hike and play the Celtic harp.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong cerebral who-done-it, March 1, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evan Only Knows: A Constable Evans Mystery (Hardcover)

Evan Evans grew up in South Wales, but fits in fine in the North Wales town of Llanfair as the townsfolk look upon him as one of their own. That situation changes dramatically when he's ordered to assist the Ministry of Agriculture workers about to destroy the farmers' sheep in an effort to stop the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. The villagers feel that Evan should push the government to test for the disease before any animal is destroyed.

The constable decides to escape the mess by traveling with his fiancée Bronwen to meet her parents and his mom. When they reach Swansea they learn that Tony Mancino is believed to have raped and killed the daughter of a powerful big shot in the community. If he is convicted he will get life. Tony killed Evan's father. Evan talks with Tony in an effort to find closure about his father's death but he comes away from the encounter convinced the thug is innocent of this crime. After wrestling with his conscience, he decides to search for the real killer, knowing that he will incur the wrath of his mother, the police and the townsfolk, all of who want to see Tony locked away for life.

Readers who like a bloodless cerebral who-done-it that captures the essence of Wales will want to read Evan Only Knows. The protagonist believes in immediate cause and effect justice even if it means helping his father's killer gain his freedom. Rhys Bowen is a master at characterizations, so much so that readers will feel as if they really know the people of Swansea. British police procedurals don't get better than this.

Harriet Klausner

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Balance Needed Here, April 4, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Evan Only Knows (Constable Evans Mysteries) (Paperback)

This series has swung from Disney to Grimm Brothers. The early fuzzy-bunny books were "charming" to the point of cloying, but if I have to choose one style or the other, I'll take the Disney style over the grimness of this book. I could not bear to read of the herds and flocks being destroyed. Bad enough it was all over the news; do I have to find it in my escape reading also? I'm going to be very careful about any Rhys Bowen purchases in the future, instead of treating her works as virtually auto-buys.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mild Well-Told Mystery, May 17, 2003

By 

charles falk (Novato, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evan Only Knows: A Constable Evans Mystery (Hardcover)

An entertaining mystery set in Wales, as gently witty as its title. Constable Evan Evans returns to Swansea on holiday in order to introduce his finacee, Bronwen, to his widowed mother. He finds that the ex-con who murdered his policeman father five years earlier has been arrested for the rape-murder of the daughter of a prominent local factory owner. Evans arranges to interview the accused, Tony Mancini, in jail and becomes convinced that he is innocent of the girl's death. Evan feels (unlikely as that may seem)duty-bound to pursue the real killer and exonerate Mancini.

The average reader may have identified the murderer and motive long before Constable Evans does, but Rhy Bowne keeps us entertained by humorous subplots: his mother's prickly personality, Bronwen's snobbish parents, an ex-girlfriend, and a refugee lamb. There is little violence, but enough suspense to keep the pages turning.