Rhys Bowen, Evan Blessed

Evan Blessed

Rhys Bowen

St. Martin's, Aug 2005, $23.95, 246 pp.

ISBN: 0312281943

Detective Constable Evan Evans knows first hand what it means to move someone as he has lugged the junk (don't tell her that) of his fianc e Bronwen up Mount Snowdon's mountainside to their cottage. On one of his treks he meets Paul Upfield, who says he is searching for his seventeen year old girlfriend Shannon Parkinson who he raced ahead of hiking down the mountainside; she never caught up and he never found her when he turned back to look.

Instead of finding the missing teen, the K-9 dogs uncover a concealed underground bunker including handcuffs hanging down from a ceiling beam. Soon Evan begins receiving sheet music containing enigmatic clues. The police struggle with too many people and no viable suspect. While Evan continues his investigation, a strange twist occurs when Bronwen disappears with the music writer sending notes that she is now a prisoner. Whereas before he was duty intense to rescue the girl now he is obsessed to save his beloved and the teen.

The long running Evan Evans' police procedural is refreshed with this fine cat and mouse tale as this time the case turns personal. The story line grips the audience from the beginning when a frantic Paul explains to Evan that his girlfriend is lost on Snowdon and never takes time off as the hero begins to believe he is the ultimate target in a cat and mouse encounter. Rhys Bowen shows why she is one of the best mystery writers today with this excellent tale.

Harriet Klausner