Customer Reviews

Evanly Choirs (Constable Evans Mysteries (Hardcover))

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

EVANLY CHOIRS, the third book in a charming series by Rhys Bowen, returns the reader to the village of LLanfair, Wales and the world of Police Constable Evan Evans. The mysteries in this delightful series are intriguing, but the true joy in reading them comes from the feeling that you know the people of Llanfair.

Bowen has created a village full of wonderfully idiosyncratic characters; from Evans the Meat (butcher) to Evans the Post (mailman), to the alluring barmaid, Betsy who has set her sights on the charming Evan Evans (Evans the cop).

The murders are a fun puzzle, but the visit to Llanfair is priceless.

I'm following these mysteries with interest and enjoyment. The plots are good but it's the characters that are the real draw for the book. Ms. Bowen is adept at creating a warm atmosphere and likable, humorous characters. And Evan Evans is such a wholesome, good guy that it's a heartening reading about him after a bit of darker literature. These books are my guaranteed pleasant reads and I'm happily looking forward to the next.

Basically a British cosy with a Welsh setting and Welsh village stereotypes instead of English village stereotypes. Most of the humor derives from stereotyping and there's no great dialogue. Sort of Welsh Agatha Christie. Some of the detail is not authentic. The crown and the chair are different contests at the National Eisteddfod (the only one with a robed gorsedd of bards.) The crown is for free verse the chair is for cynghanedd. Ingenious plotting with no cheating. The clue is planted early on. No sex and minimal violence. As the Booklist blurb on the cover says "a perfect book to curl up with on a rainy day."

I'm giving this book a generous four stars because it delivers what it's audience expects, almost to a tee (or is that tea?) As one does not expect Hemingway (or even Christie) in today's light mystery, one can be satisfied with a light, weekend read. Ms. Bowen is even capable of a couple of nice twists in each of the first three Evans mysteries. (I've read the first three primarily on the strength of having lived in Wales a few years ago and feeling a bit nostalgiac!) I do like the characters, as well, though the supporting cast is pretty flat.

My only complaint of any merit, and this is for the first two books, as well, is that the editing is extraordinarily lax. In one book Evan will have travelled from one town to another at the end of a chapter, only to be packing his bags to make that same trip at the beginning of the next. In this book, misspellings here and there, a character's first name changing from Robert to John. They're not glaring errors, but enough to take me out of the story. It costs the books a star in each case. I know, it's nitpicking. Perhaps you wouldn't even notice it if I didn't bring it to your attention. Sorry for having done so.

Iachyd da and happy reading!

Constable Evan Evans has been convinced to add his voice to the town men's chorus for the upcoming cultural festival. Llanfair has struggled for years to win, but this year, they have a secret weapon. World famous tenor Ifor Llewelyn is back in his boyhood home to rest and agrees to add his talents. But when he is found murdered the night before the competition, things start to get out of control. Evan must sort through all the conflicting stories to find the real killer. Meanwhile, his relationship with Bronwen hits a snag in the form of Betsy, the barmaid. And the Davises and Powell-Joneses are competing against each other in the festival. Can Evan keep peace in this town and find the killer?

Fans of this series will love the third volume. The author has not strayed at all from the format of the previous two books, which is good because it works so well. The plotting, while a bit slow at first, is top notch. I was caught off guard by the ending. The sub-plots add just the right amount of charm and humor, while the characters continue to entertain. I'm really growing to care for this village.

Cozy fans need look no further for a great series that combines likable main characters with great plotting. If you haven't tried this series yet, pick up the first, Evans Above. You'll be glad you did.

Internationally renowned opera singer Ifor Llewllyn has returned to his hometown of Llanfair, Wales for some needed rest. Ifor joins the local choir that is competing in the upcoming regional fair. The choirmaster is Mostyn Phillips, a former classmate of Ifor's. The great tenor relishes teasing Mostyn,who does not react well to the constant pounding. In fact, Mostyn has never forgiven Ifor for marrying his beloved Margaret.

However, the night before the contest, Ifor fails to show up at the meeting place. Mostyn and Constable Evan Evans return to retrieve their star singer, only to find him dead. First Ifor's wife and then his son confesses to the murder, but neither confession holds up under scrutiny. As the police hone in on the spouse's boy friend, Evan realizes that too fails to fit the scenario, but wonders what does.

EVANLY CHOIRS: A CONSTABLE EVANS MYSTERY is a well-written, very enjoyable Welsh cozy that is a one-sitting read. The who-done-it is fun and Evan remains a lovable boy scout. Fans of cozies need to peruse this entire series (see EVAN HELP US and EVANS ABOVE) for a pleasurable police procedural that never stops entertaining.

Harriet Klausner

Nice setup, good sense of Wales and its customs and the silliness of outsiders. Evan needs to take a short trip to Scotland and get few lessons from M.C. Beaton's Hamish MacBeth

Fans of Constable Evan will truly enjoy this 3rd book in the series as he ventures beyond the bounds of Llanfair to the choir competition. A truly enjoyable journey and well-written story! If you haven't met all three Evans yet, or the rest of Llanfair's inhabitants, you're missing a great addition to the mystery genre.

Last week, I discovered the Constable Evans mysteries and am now going thru 'em like they're gas cards. EVANLY CHOIRS (1999) is the third book in the series and it's another good 'un. Author Rhys Bowen excels in bringing to life the day-to-day, as well as the occasionally shady, goings-on in the sleepy, mountainous village of Llanfair, North Wales. What also adds to the homey, small town feel of the book is the cast of endearingly quirky characters imbued with colorful names such as Evans-the-Meat, Evans-the-Post, Roberts-the-Pump, Harry-the-Pub, etc. The antics of Llanfair's two dueling reverends - whose respective chapels stubbornly face off across the street from each other - are also an ongoing treat. Evan Evans, known as Evans-the-Law, continues to be ingratiating as the pleasant and unassuming village bobby who inevitably becomes mired in corpses but who usually ends up solving the murder cases, much to the chagrin of his snobbish ranking superior D.I. Hughes, who toils in the next town over and who looks down on our protagonist.

This time out, things are hopping in the usually serene Llanfair. It's time for the eisteddfod, the annually held Welsh cultural gathering, and Constable Evans has been tapped to lend his amateurish voice to the competing local choir. The odds of winning are very slim until world renowned but volatile tenor Ifor Llewellyn, a local boy made very good, comes home on a medical sabbatical and is talked into joining the Llanfair choir. However, Ifor proves to be a difficult customer to deal with, as he callously engages in loud, late night arguments and exhibits a cruel side in his dealings with choir director Austin Mostyn. Soon, the excesses of the famous opera singer come to haunt him and embroils Evan Evans and his friend Sgt. Watkins in a hunt for a killer as Llanfair is rocked with yet another puzzling murder.

The murder mystery holds enough fascination (not that it's the conundrum of the century or anything, mind you) that dedicated clue chasers will come out of this feeling contented. EVANLY CHOIRS goes down easy, like a mug of hot cocoa, and will leave the reader with a warm, toasty feeling. The Constable Evans series is a comfortable throwback to the books I grew up reading from authors like Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. The leisurely pace, the bucolic settings, and the memorable characters definitely are a callback to a different era. Several notches below the energy and high tension level of a James Patterson or a Jeffrey Deaver book, Rhys Bowen instead invites her reader to take a deep breath, take in the mountain scenery, listen to the flavors and rhythms of the Welsh language (she does throw in a smattering of Welsh in her characters' conversations), and while away some moments in the diverting company of Evan Evans and his opinionated and sometimes very insular village flock. Bowen's recipe to success includes equal portions of crime drama and pastoral vignette. She also mixes in a dash of quiet humor, a blossoming romance, and an unobstrusive insight into small town lifestyles and sensibilities. And, hey, if nothing else, EVANLY CHOIRS will have you hankering for your first pint of Brains beer.

For a long-needed rest, famous opera start Ifor Llewellyn has taken up temporary residence in Llanfair, Wales. He is staying the house of the Rev. Edward Powell Jones and wife who find temporary elsewhere. While at the house, he is introduced to the annual eisteddfod music festival through Mostyn Philips, head of the local choir.

But Mr. Llewellyn also makes his residence quite known throughout the village with his frequent and very vocal arguments with his wife plus his carousing and flirting at the local pub, the Red Dragon.

Then: he is found dead lying on the living room floor in the rented house next to a broken liquor bottle. It looks like an accident, but Constable Evans thinks otherwise. There are numerous suspects including Llewellyn's wife Margaret who has a boyfriend and was thinking of divorce; Ifor's displaced children and even the maid Gladys. So was it an accident, and did someone do him in?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and as my taste for cozy mysteries has waned in the last few years, this one kept my attention to the end. Though I do think the ending was rather hastily contrived, I recommend it highly in the Evan Evans series.