Evanly Choirs by Rhys Bowen *****

Evanly Choirs by Rhys Bowen is the third in a series of 10 books about Constable Evans in the North Wales village of Llanfair. In this installment (Austin) Mostyn Phillips wants to enter the village Côr Meibion (men’s choir) in the eisteddfod (Welsh cultural festival/competition) even though they have no chance of winning. The situation changes when the famous tenor Ifor Llewellyn returns to Llanfair (his childhood home). Ifor is an arrogant bully and a womanizer, so when he is murdered, there is no shortage of suspects. As Ifor is an international star, police from Caernarfon are sent, but they would never have unraveled this mystery without the help of Evan Evans.

Most people in Llanfair are named Evans. Our constable (Evan Evans) is called Evan bach (little Evan, even though he was “a six-footer who climbed mountains and played rugby”) or Evans-the-Law. Other Evans were called Evans-the-Meat, Evans-the-Milk, and Evans-the-Post.

This book was published in 1999, but it foreshadowed Brexit (UK referendum to leave the European Union on 23 June 2016).

“We’ve only got her word that she’s going to Manchester airport, haven’t we? I don’t know what I’d say to the D.I. if she did a bunk on us. Realizing that you can cross the Channel without showing a passport has made me nervous.”

“It’s easy enough to pop across to Europe and back these days. They don’t even check your passport most of the time, do they? In fact you don’t even need a passport between here and Italy.”

Evan keeps getting into trouble with his girlfriend, teacher Bronwen Price (aka Bronwen-the-Book) when he rescues a damsel-in-distress and Bronwen misunderstands his intentions.

“I’ll lend you the fare. You can send it back to me.” “I don’t know why you’re being so nice,” she said suddenly. “It’s my job,” Evan said.

He offers to date the woman behind the bar to keep her from Lothario Ifar.

“Well, Evan Evans,” Betsy said. “Do you want to ask me out yourself or not? Are you going to take me out on Saturday night or shall I see if Mr. Llewellyn is free to drive me to Cardiff?” Evan took a deep breath. “Okay, Betsy,” he said. “We’ll go out on Saturday night.”

Bronwen admires Evan.

“He’s a police officer,” Bronwen said. “Very reliable. Never been known to take advantage of a girl yet.” She gave Evan a little sideways glance, then picked up his jacket. “Here, put your jacket on. “

But not always.

Bronwen snorted. “And what sort of husband do you think you’re going to make someday if you don’t know how to wash your own shirts?” “Isn’t that what wives are supposed to do?” Evan asked. “If that’s what you think, I can tell you’re going to have a hard time finding a wife,”

Even though the book is filled with obvious clues missed by the investigators, the twists and turns make it difficult to identify the killer.

A fun cozy mystery.

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