Evans to Betsy

by Rhys Bowen

St. Martin's Minotaur, March, 2002.
Hardcover, 240 pages.
ISBN: 0312286457

Evans to Betsy by Rhys Bowen

Constable Evan Evans of the Welsh town of Llanfair has many challenges ahead of him in his latest adventure. At the urging of his girlfriend, Bronwyn, Evan has moved out of his comfortable apartment and away from the fabulous meals prepared by his landlady into a depressing cottage that he can call his own. Unfortunately, he couldn't even boil water without a catastrophe ensuing. But eating his own cooking is just the beginning of his trials. When an attractive American graduate student blows into town looking for subjects to be tested at a new New Age psychic/druid retreat, barmaid Betsy Edwards decides to take her up on her offer. So Betsy heads off to take a job at the Sacred Grove New Age Center, where there are some very odd goings on indeed -- including murder. Evan begins to investigate and finds that under the New Age façade of tranquility there lurks a sense of real evil.

Rhys Bowen has penned another excellent installment in the popular Evan Evans mystery series. The beautiful Welsh scenery and the marvelously drawn characters provide the backdrop for a puzzling who-done-it. Rhys Bowen perfectly captures the essence of the psychic guru Randy Wunderlich and his older, wealthy and titled wife, as well as a host of other characters who are suspects in the murder. And it's impossible not to like Evan himself, the long-suffering constable who must adapt to being overlooked for a promotion, living on his own and being forced to ride the county-issued motorbike, but does so with marked good humor. Let's hope that he gets that promotion soon. Highly recommended.

--Claire E. White

Evans to Betsy is available for purchase on Amazon.com

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This review was published in the March, 2002 of The Internet Writing Journal.