Rating: Summary: One of Christie's best! Review: "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?" is a book that I recommend to anyone new to Agatha Christie. (Just the title alone should grab your attention!) There are a few 'bests' of her writings. This is one of them. This is why:The two heroes (Bobby and Frankie) of this story are a lot like spys, not just detectives. Why Christie didn't continue with this new couple beats me. Frankie is an impetuous young lady with guts and Bobby is a smart young man who loves disguises. Bobby finds a dying man who dies with a cryptic question: "Why didn't they ask Evans?" This starts Bobby and Frankie into fantastic adventures: a chase for an unknown murderer, a near-death poisoning for Bobby, multiple disguises for Bobby and Frankie, a plot to do with mistaken identity, a subplot of a mental hospital and a lunatic patient, a scheme of faking a will, a murder in a locked room, a scheme with impersonations, and a thriving drug business. 9 reasons to read this book!!! Wow! The plot is by far one of the BEST of Christie's. Absolutely a MUST read for anyone new to Agatha Christie!
Rating: Summary: One of Christie's best! Review: "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?" is a book that I recommend to anyone new to Agatha Christie. (Just the title alone should grab your attention!) There are a few 'bests' of her writings. This is one of them. This is why: The two heroes (Bobby and Frankie) of this story are a lot like spys, not just detectives. Why Christie didn't continue with this new couple beats me. Frankie is an impetuous young lady with guts and Bobby is a smart young man who loves disguises. Bobby finds a dying man who dies with a cryptic question: "Why didn't they ask Evans?" This starts Bobby and Frankie into fantastic adventures: a chase for an unknown murderer, a near-death poisoning for Bobby, multiple disguises for Bobby and Frankie, a plot to do with mistaken identity, a subplot of a mental hospital and a lunatic patient, a scheme of faking a will, a murder in a locked room, a scheme with impersonations, and a thriving drug business. 9 reasons to read this book!!! Wow! The plot is by far one of the BEST of Christie's. Absolutely a MUST read for anyone new to Agatha Christie!
Rating: Summary: Readers Are Led On Merry Chase In Light-Hearted Adventure Review: Agatha Christie gives us a pair of her most likeable amateur sleuths in Bobby Jones, the son of a vicar in a small Welsh village, and Lady Frances Derwent, his childhood friend and now companion in crime-solving. The story is frivolous and funny thanks in large part to the wit of Lady Frances, but you will find the usual murder, villains, and high adventure in this melodramatic tale. While golfing one afternoon, Bobby and the local doctor find a man who has apparently fallen over a cliff. The victim dies, but his last words are "Why didn't they ask Evans?" A verdict of accidental death ensues, but when Bobby is suddenly offered a high-paying job in Argentina and later someone attempts to poison his beer, he begins to suspect that someone wants him out of the way for fear of what he knows. Bobby cannot figure out what he knows, but with the help of Lady Frances he is off on a trail of clues involving a suspicious doctor, a sanitarium for the highly nervous, two beautiful ladies-in-distress, drugs, and murder. If you like light-hearted mystery with plenty of adventure, you'll enjoy being led on this merry chase with likeable sleuths. It's too bad Agatha Christie chose not to bring Bobby and Frances back in later books. Perhaps, she thought they were too much like Tommy and Tuppence.
Rating: Summary: An Unlikely But Enjoyable Frolick Review: Also published under the title THE BOOMERANG CLUE, Agatha Christie's WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS? is similar to her Tommy and Tuppence novels, for it offers a "bright young couple" embroiled in an unlikely tale of unexpected murder and constant adventure so smartly paced that one critic subtitled it as "the Merry-Go-Round Mystery." Bobby Jones and Lady Frances (Frankie to her friends) are not quite as memorable as Tommy and Tuppence, but they make for an engaging pair just the same, and when their suspicions are aroused re a deadly accident the result is a series of masquerades calculated to lead both Bobby and Frankie--as well as the reader--right up the garden path. Although there is less "mystery" more deux ex machina than one normally expects of Christie, the novel is written in high style. Christie was clearly having a great time with this particular novel, and although it cannot be classed with her great classics most readers will find themselves enjoying the ride. Clever, witty, and frolicksome fun. Recommended.
Rating: Summary: Evan Knows it all Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: Evan Knows it all Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: JUST SUPERB Review: HI this is one is one of my favorites. i liked the plot very much. though i prefer the ones in which poirot features but this one was a good change for me. it had mystery, adventure and all those things for an mystery addict, it was exciting and excellent. i liked the character of bobby and his girl friend. they had a perfect understanding. and the end was a real surprise for me. i was a bit disappointed by some reviews who suggested that it was a boring and dull book. well it is one of my favorite book and i also recommend it to anyone who wants a mystery book to read. so far i have read at least 40 agatha christes books in 2 years time and i plan to read the remaing 36 of her other detective novels.
Rating: Summary: Not her best Review: I didn't enjoyed it very much. Althought you wonder all the time who really did it and why, it has some scenes that are too much incredible.
Rating: Summary: Not one of Christie's best Review: I give this book three stars, but if measured by Agatha Christie's usual very high standards it could earn as few as two. While the adventurous pace of the story is certainly a bold departure from the author's usual sedentary settings, I often found the action too fantastic. At times it felt more like a clichéd Hollywood flick than an Agatha Christie mystery. Worse yet, I did not find the epilogue very surprising at all. Perhaps this is because I have read a number of Christie's books and knew what to expect. Now, I am not saying that I knew the details of the solution long before they were revealed - that would have probably been impossible. After all, the clues the author drops along the way are few and minute. And most of them get lost in a myriad of supporting characters who are very hard to keep track of (a common fault of Christie's). What I am saying is that the ending did not make me slap my forehead and wonder how I could have missed it. I didn't find the story "opaque in foresight and transparent in hindsight" the way best mysteries are. In fact, I found it neither - there is still one important detail that I can't fit with the rest of the story, but I can't specify it here for it would be a spoiler. The main reason why I stayed with this book even when the story turned sub-par is its intriguing and cryptic title and opening. Indeed, Evans is a puzzling character worthy of reading the rest of the book for. But I do wish such a great plot and title were part of a better work - a masterpiece ...
Rating: Summary: I Love this book Review: I like how it starts out good and stays good all the way through. I also like the ending. Smoochy.
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