[.ca] Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (ISBN 1572704551)

True to life and death:
One of Dame Agatha's most enjoyable - and most utterly preposterous - confections. WARNING! SPOILERS IMMEDIATELY AHEAD... Haven't we all at some time happened to bump into a career criminal with whom we were at university who is a master of undetectable forgery and impersonation? You know, the type who will, after leaving the country to escape justice, write a letter explaining and confessing his crime and thus inform everyone where he has gone. And how like a ruthless murderer to pocket some morphia and stalk her prospective victim in the countryside on the off chance he may fall asleep after placing an unsealed beer bottle by his side, and moreover sleep so soundly that he is guaranteed not to wake up and catch the woman (whose photograph he has already seen and will thus recognise) tampering with his booze. Such a murderer, one feels, would instinctively know that her accomplice had been tied to a chair on the floor above and inject herself with precisely the amount of morphia to enable her to soundlessly climb the stairs, cut the fiend free, return equally soundlessly and succumb to the drug in exactly the invariable amount of time that it always takes people to phone the police from another room, which is what they always do without thinking of checking other rooms in the house first, yet being so certain of doing so afterwards that it becomes necessary to administer that drug to oneself in order to be found unconscious. Such things were commonplace back in those days when the drone of a passing aeroplane drowned the sound of a pistol shot, an era brilliantly evoked in this hugely entertaining whodunit. But there is a flaw in what is an otherwise realistic narrative. At the beginning of the book, Bobby is left guarding the body while his friend and golfing partner Dr Thomas goes in search of help. Thomas is the person who said the fallen man was fatally injured and who would have pronounced him dead on his return to the scene. He could have swapped the photos, and at the very least might have had information about Bassington-ffrench's behaviour at the scene. Yet Bobby and Frankie make no effort to consult him. And why on earth wasn't he called to the inquest? He vanishes after the first chapter. Why didn't they ask Dr Thomas?

This one is for FUN!:
If you are looking for a challenging classic mystery problem try one of the next two, (MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS or THE ABC MURDERS) because this one is a light hearted romp. The detectives in this story are Bobby Jones, 4th son of the local Vicar and Lady Frances Derwent, wealthy young socialite. The two had been childhood friends have renewed their relationsonship while dealing with the mystery. Bobby found a dying man while out golfing. The man's dying words were "Why didn't they ask Evans?". That simple question led the two detectives to ask many more, about the photo in the dead man's pocket, the family that came to claim the body and just who was the mysterious Evans to name a few. The answers takes the two from their hometown in Wales, where the mystery starts to London and then throughout the English countryside ending with a dash via car and airplane back home again for the final answers. WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS? is in the same spirit as THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT, THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY, THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS and the Tommy and Tuppence series. There are exciting adventures, false identities, kidnappings, fantastic coincidences and more which make this just FUN!

Her best couple after the Beresfords:
While golfing during a foggy morning, Bobby's ball fell off the cliff. Instead of his ball, he found a dying handsome stranger whose last words, much to his wonderment and disappointment, were 'Why didn't they ask Evans?'. Armed with this query and his friend, the strong-willed Frances, they began to unravel the mysteries surrounding this man's death. What they only began to uncover proved to be dangerous and deadly. With a lot of discussion and cloak-and-dagger-ish snooping around (there was a moment when Bobby had to climb on a tree and nearly fell) this novel is arguably Christie's fastest-moving novel. While she did give her characters some time to flesh out, the rest of the story sprinted past. In short, this novel can be finished in one sitting, but that one sitting, my friend, is the most fun sitting you'll ever have!

Evan Knows it all:
For Me This Was a real page turner, I did not find it as some of the other reviewers did. I could not put it down until the last page I would really reccommend it.

A fast-paced engaging book!:
This bumped my all time favorite Christie book to #2. This was the most fast paced book I have ever read. It was intriguing from beginning to end. Very suspensful and mysterious. I loved it!