Evan's Gate

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. show more 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 missing 25 years 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 - the characters were 25 years too late to do anything about the one girl, and there were very few things Bowen could have done about the other girl that wouldn't have come across as saccharine.

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 A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Okay enough read. It captured my interest after a slow start but the mystery's resolution/revelation (both of them) was a let down. Also, there was one glaring continuity issue. Spoiler:

Early on, they state Evan was not with the kids the last day Sarah was seen alive. But, towards the end it states that Evan was present.

Evans has found the most delightful shepherd's cottage. At the moment it's just four stone walls with gaping holes for doors and windows ... but what a view! And as Evans attempts to seal the deal, duty calls. A five-year-old has vanished from a seaside caravan park -- and Detective Constable Evans must consider all the suspects. There's the child's estranged father, who may want to spirit her back to his native Russia -- and the German tourists in a hurry to flee the scene. Evans wonders if the abduction is related to the disappearance of another girl, twenty-five years ago -- especially since that girl's relatives have just returned to Wales for a family reunion. Now, as he and his fiancée try to rebuild their dream house, he must show more also build a difficult case against a possible double murderer. ... show less

#8 in the Evan Evans cozy police procedural series set in the fictional Welsh town of Llanfair. Evan is now a plainclothes Detective Constable just out of training, and his first case involves a missing little girl. The child and her mother are visitors to the area and it is feared that she was abducted by her Russian father, who has been estranged from the mother. But when Evan is digging up the sewer and water lines at the country cottage he’s bought and finds the skeleton of a child, speculation runs rampant about the possibility of a serial killer. When it’s determined that the skeleton is probably that of a young girl that Evan played with as a child 25 years previous, and that her whole family is in the area for a relative’s show more 80th birthday party, Evan remembers that his old playmate looked very much like the missing girl and wonders if one of the family members is the culprit in both cases. Love this series also—I figured out the mystery way ahead on this one too, but enjoy the setting and the characters so much that it doesn’t really matter. Excellent as always, in fact, even better. show less

Enjoyable low key mystery. Place and characters drive the book far more than the crime

Detective Constable Evan Evans must find a missing young girl and the case is very similar to one 25 years before. Evans is engaging and the setting in Wales is great

An odd detective who doesn't actually detect much of anything, but the book is a pleasant read, and interesting if you have ever been to Wales.