Evans Above (Constable Evans, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Jun 11, 2017 Judy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: european-reading-challeng

When two men are found dead on Snowdon, young village policeman Evan Evans suspects foul play, but his superiors blame mountaineering accidents. Evan sets out to investigate. The mystery itself is interesting and not too cosy, but the many lovingly-observed details of life in a village in north Wales do give a warm feel, and there is a lot of humour along the way.

For instance, the hunky Evan is always trying to avoid endless meals cooked by his motherly landlady. He also has romantic troubles, ...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Kimberly rated it liked it

Shelves: 2012-bookshelf, library-books-read-2012

2.5 Stars

Ahh, who doesn't like visiting new places in a cozy mystery book? I love to, especially when they take me to cute little villages and hamlets like Llanfair. This was my first time reading a book by this author and though I've seen some other books written by her I wasn't too familiar with her work.

Lucky me this one was chosen as one of the 4 monthly group reads in one of my GoodReads groups. Now while I'm glad that I gave a new author a try (I've been trying to read a lot of new to me 2.5 Stars

Ahh, who doesn't like visiting new places in a cozy mystery book? I love to, especially when they take me to cute little villages and hamlets like Llanfair. This was my first time reading a book by this author and though I've seen some other books written by her I wasn't too familiar with her work.

Lucky me this one was chosen as one of the 4 monthly group reads in one of my GoodReads groups. Now while I'm glad that I gave a new author a try (I've been trying to read a lot of new to me authors for the past year or so). I found that this book was lacking in a lot.

First off there were at least a DOZEN spelling errors in the book. A DOZEN! In one case one of the supporting character's names was spelled wrong. I for one hate poor editing in books. I know they happen but honestly 12 is 10 times to many for such a short book.

Second the story was slow. I didn't like how the story jumped around so much and I wish that Evan Evans had had more of a back story but perhaps the author saved that for later books. In any case I felt that there wasn't enough of a build up and I was left wishing to know more about Evan Evans who seemed like a likable enough chap. I felt that there could have been more effort to add substance to the characters who while amusing were lacking.

What I did like about the book though was the setting. I really got a nice feel for the setting and felt like I had been transported to Llanfair. I also thought the quirky characters like Evans-the-meat, Evans-the-milk and others lightened the mood. I also liked the murder aspect of the story, of which I didn't see ending the way it did. I also liked the little feud between the two pastor's wives.

I just thought that this book would be more exciting than it was. Yes I understand that it is a COZY mystery but it can have some excitement as well. Even though I had some major issues with this book I will be giving the next book in the series a try just to see if it gets any better but if it doesn't I think I will have to abandon this series and perhaps the author in general. I hope it does because I'd really like to have found a cozy mystery series I can read in its entirety.

I would recommend this one to fans of this author and genre.

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Oct 29, 2008 Pam rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery, 2008

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Dec 11, 2010 Deedee marked it as to-read

Shelves: year-1997, e2, mystery, mystery-cozy-next, coverx-animal-real, published-in-11november, series-1st, e2-no-articles, two-word-title, mystery-cozy

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