Share for friends:

Read Evan And Elle (2001)

Evan and Elle (2001)

Online Book

Author
Genre
Rating
3.79 of 5 Votes: 4
Your rating
ISBN
0425178889 (ISBN13: 9780425178881)
Language
English
Publisher
berkley prime crime

Evan And Elle (2001) - Plot & Excerpts

Fourth in the Constable Evans mystery series set in a small village in Wales.The StoryOne arson fire after another has Evans frustrated especially when Peter Potter---oops, sorry, that's Sergeant Potter to you!---is on the case. Potter'll show these backcountry idjits how to solve crime. If they would just snap to and show some initiative…!The notes left behind seem to indicate a nationalist bent behind the fires but when they torch a new French restaurant in the valley…well, none of the constabulary can help but wonder if there's a tie-in between the new restaurant and the drug smuggling coming in through the harbors.The CharactersI do enjoy Bowen's Constable Evans. He's both naïve and wise depending upon the subject. Clueless about women and what he wants and yet with a sharp eye for crime and human nature. And completely torn between wanting to take on more authority in solving crimes and enjoying the mountains around the village in which he's based. Well, that, and……Bronwen Price is a local schoolteacher and very much attached to Evan Evans. She is also torn between a maturity beyond Evans' and yet insecure as to where she stands with him.Mrs. Williams is Evans' landlady with an eye to matching him up with her daughter as well as keeping him well fed…I do get such a hankering for lamb any way that Mrs. Williams cooks it after reading…Detective Inspector Hughes seems to be a bit more accepting of Constable Evans…actually inviting him to take part in some of the bull sessions…who knew… We'll have to see if this keeps up.Madame Yvette has quite a few questions to answer and hasn't been doing so well with them. Nor is she such a very nice lady as both Evans and the ladies who took her class can attest.My TakeI love this series. It has such a lovely, homey feel to it with everyone knowing everyone else's business with such a nice continuity to it. Evans enjoying a pint in the pub with others in the village. The hazards of the village telegraph. Yes, it is simplistic but I do appreciate the smooth segues from one scene to another and one conversation to another.In Evan and Elle, the results of the French cooking class so many of the ladies take is too funny with a much too obvious way to fix it! The weekly war between the Rev. Parry Davies and the Rev. Powell-Jones using their church billboards in a game of one-upmanship. And I've always fantasized about remodeling a church into a home…although, in this case, it's a French restaurant.I do have to wonder though about a woman purposely setting a fire after she's barely survived another. Then there's the many opportunities ignored by Evans: no mention the effect the customer has on Madame Yvette at the restaurant and all the cops seem to accept everything she says about her past until they finally start looking into it. The CoverThe cover is oddly lit. It's that kind of day when the sky is dark yet a brilliant shaft of light illuminates all bringing in a sharp delineation of a lovely stone church in the foreground, a village nestled in the middle, and Evans' beloved mountains in the background.The title is so perfect! Evan is in Elle. Or, at least, Yvette Boudreaux would like him there. The hell part is of his own making—attracted to other women, frustrated with his lowly position in the police force…whatever will Evan bach do??

I have read all but one of the Constable Evans series, and this book was one of my favorites. The plot is a bit predictable, but I thought the writing was better than most of the other novels in this series.Too often in earlier installments, Ms Bowen doesn't give us a three-dimensional portrait of Evan Evans. Here, though, we see he can have a temper and is not always perfect. Yah!The other characters tend to be stick figures and Ms Bowen's clich views of sexual attraction are sometimes trying. However, I have developed a genuine affection for Constable Evans and his support cast. These books are genuine cozies, like a warm cup of tea and a scone.I was sorry to learn that she does not plan any more Constable Evans novels after "Evanly Bodies."

What do You think about Evan And Elle (2001)?

Part of a series involving Welsh Constable Evan Evans stationed in Llanfair, a small rural community in northern Wales. It is somewhat similar to the M.C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth (though more ambitious and luckier with the ladies) mysteries set in rural Scotland.Story involves the continuing adventures of Constable Evans along with his relationships with villagers and other members of the police force back at headquarters. Storyline involves Welsh nationalists, arson, murder, drug smuggling, and unraveling identities. Good read with humor.
—George

#4 in the Constable Evan Evans series. As ever, the endearing Welsh constable finds himself ensnarled in a series of mysteries. This time out, they seem to be arsons committed by rabid Welsh nationalists. Complicating both the mysteries and Evan's domestic tranquility is the appearance of an intriguing Frenchwoman, a cordon bleu chef who opens a restaurant. He gets deeper into the mystery than his village constable post would normally allow by acting as driver and translator for his direction- and French-challenged sergeant.Evan Evans series - When Madame Yvette, a seductive widow, opens a French restaurant in Llanfair, in northern Wales, her blend of haute cuisine and traditional Welsh fare soon wins over the locals, including Constable Evan Evans, the village's lone policeman. Ever true to his girlfriend, schoolteacher Bronwen Price, Evans resists Madame Yvette's attempt to make him more than just a culinary conquest, but he's ready to be of service when she really needs him--after her restaurant burns down, the latest target in a string of recent arson attacks in the area. Or is it? While at first the fire seems the work of Welsh extremists, the discovery of a corpse in the restaurant's ruins puts this crime into a different category altogether. In the ensuing investigation, Evans retains his modesty and good humor as he deals with a condescending English arson expert, a flirtatious female constable and a host of lively locals. The trail leads to the South Coast of England, where Madame Yvette and her late husband previously lost a restaurant to fire, and to France, where Evans and his colleague Sergeant Watkins uncover a startling secret about her past
—Ed

Write Review

(Review will shown on site after approval)

Read books by author Rhys Bowen

Read books in series constable evans

Read books in category Fiction