“Evanly Choir: A Book worth checking?

As a Mystery Enthusiast, medium with the said genre is my personal favorite. Whether be a
movie, a slideshow, an animation, and this review's focus, a Novel. No, I’m am not going to
review the entire series rather, a part from this mystery playlist. In this paper, I present you Rhys
Bowen's Evanly Choir.

Janet Quin-Harkin, or popularly known under her Pename 'Rhys Bowen', is an English writer in
the United Kingdom. She earned several awards in the last decade and even recognized as "one
of the very best of fiction writers of today" (Source: Rhys Bowen's Website). Mrs. Harkin's genre
varies from Romance/Family to Mystery and to Historical Fiction, which was her latest
recognition came from. Before her Penname emerged, she already published several Independent
novels of different themes. In the early'2000, She adapted her penname to write 3 Mystery
Series: Georgie series, Molly Murphy series and Evan Evans series in which this paper reviews a
book of it. Mrs. Harkin began writing Historical Fiction in the Mid'2000 and even had a place in
New York Times bestselling Novels. Unlike here in Asia and other parts of the Globe, 'Rhys
Bowen' is very Popular in the United Kingdom and United States. Her flexible writing style
makes her one of the profound authors of the Novel community.

Evanly Choirs is the 3rd book of the Evan Evans Mystery series. And I do assume that it will
continue to be a mystery novel. The title 'Evanly Choir' has its' own definition. 'Evanly' pertains
to the main protagonist of the story, Evan Evans. 'Choirs' pertains to the small competition group
in the story's setting and maybe, the main conflict. I'll say this here in the beginning, If you can
read the 1st 2 volumes of the series, then I highly recommend to do so. It is not that lacking of
knowledge in the story, no. Actually, you can read this as a standalone novel or just pick this up
on a random bookstore like I did. But a downside would be, there are certain flashbacks or past
statements about our rotating protagonist in his life. For the long run, I would feel something that
I missed, it was the character development of the Main Character - I’ll call the protagonist as
'MC' if you do not mind. Then I’ll continue this part in the very end of this review but for now,
Let’s head on the purpose of the Novel.

Every crime-solving mystery plot has its' own twist and surprises. And in every successful
capture of the culprit, Police and detectives question them about "why?". What was the purpose
of the antagonist to do such crime and series of crimes? What was his/her motive to take such
life? The answer varies of course, Every human has different perspectives in life. But for this
novel's sake, it was jealousy. He was jealous of the talent of his friend, jealous of the
achievement that his friend made beside him and also the biggest motivator of all, Love. The
author emphasizes that the loss of confidence in one's self and the hatred inside one's heart will
be a cause of pure disaster and tragedy. Not only for the antagonist but also to everyone that was
close the victim. That being said, my personal rating would be 7.8/10. Overall satisfied and
entertained.
Here is the plot summary of the novel. I won’t include the ending so you can read it by yourself.

Constable Evan Evans was a Welsh Police in a small village in northern Wales, UK. The name of
the village was Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Yes, I didn’t
make that up and I didn’t smash my head in the keyboard when typing. It has a shorter name to
be honest, you call it Llanfair. Llanfair was preparing to celebrate the Eisteddfod, local Welsh
festival. Constable Evans, renting a room in the house of 2 elderly, A Minister and his wife. One
morning he received a notice that they will move out of the house because someone will rent for
a short period of time. Then after a while, constable Evans encountered some events: like a
suicidal woman in the lake and a quarrelling couple in the neighborhood. As the eisteddfod
comes close, the choir lacks participants to compete and the voice that would win the
competition. Mostyn Phillips, the choir director, recruits every man that he sees. Just in time,
Constable Evans were in the Pub where he was requested to join.
(complete this as...)

To fully explain my rating and thoroughly review the said novel, First I'm going to express my
general opinion and support my claims through every aspect of the novel. As a said above, I
rated "Evenly Choir" a 7.8/10, a rating of entertained and satisfied but not worth advertising it
for a long time. I said this in a positive light and not to put a negative impression. Yes, it is good,
it was just good enough and not great. It is not because I’m a mystery enthusiast and had high
expectations but because I have seen this mystery formula already, more often. The only thing
that sets apart from my previous reads was the setting, and the texture of the story.
The setting is in the United Kingdom, and despite its publication date, It is very contemporary.
Its Forensic Technology is not behind nor too advance. The worth mentioning in this part was its
unique village name and culture. It was my first time to see Welsh Culture and Tradition,
compared to English, French and German in the European Subcontinent. Festivals and Norms in
the setting became one of its core plot points. Without it, the novel would approach the plot
differently and things wouldn’t the same. But what seem lack in the setting was only its
significant value to the characters. Other than that, The setting was the most stable point in the
Novel.

I am going to merge the characters and plot to cohesively point its points. The Plot was,
disappointingly, your old Crime mystery driven plot. I mean, there is no problem nor flaw. I am
maybe, being nitpicky about the story I expect, but it was. There was nothing special. Yes…. I
had my expectations high and ended up not expecting any of it. The Plot was basically
interesting at first, there were “loose threads” and “random” events that made me thinking of
what would happen at every chapter. It got me curious and waiting for more “darker” events
happened. But such thing didn’t happen. It quickly warped up when someone was dead already.
The progressing conflict was forced to happen and didn’t feel like naturally. The pre-existing
problem was also forced to acknowledge. There is one thing that keep me interested, it was how
realistic Police officials handle big crimes with big personality. It was a big Pun for me actually.
Things went preposterous when they falsely claim to be the suspect and leave no reason why
would they claim to be. It was a big, big downturn for me. That was not a mystery plot ought to
be. Then when the big reveal happened in the near end, I was not surprised how “close” was the
suspect is. I thought “Wow, Should I be gossebumping now?”. It didn’t make me to know exactly
who the culprit was, but I rather prepared myself to this “unexpected” twist was. So, at the end of
the novel, you have your Old Hostage taking scandal with the stake of hurting the love one of the
Main character.

The main Character, Constable Evans, was also the sleuth of the novel. So, when his perspective
in play, when know what he knows too. Our Evans has also had an accomplice, which was his
officemate and fellow officer. They are the ones who the novel presents the evidence to the
audience. The Victim, Ifor Llewelyn, a World Singing Star, who found dead inside his renting
house. The Novel presented other characters as the “motive killer”. They were: The Choir
Director, who his bestfriend. The Wife, who wants to get divorce. The Son, who deeply hates the
his father. The Daugther, who is in favor of his mother. The Girlfriend of the Victim, who the
victim ignores her and is in love with Ifor. The Owners of the house whom Ifor rents in.

Others
Despite the inconsistent strength of the novel, I appreciate its effort to entertain readers like me. I
am impressed on how these professional writers come up with an extraordinary story especially
within the Mystery Genre. Even it didn’t get to my Novel list, I would still recommend this to
readers who like mystery or thriller novels. It is one of the basic forms of a simple mystery plot
and can be inspired off to write one novel. Not only the formula of the story is remarkable but
also the moral lesson revolving the story. As I quote from one of my Favorite Phil. Fic Teen
Novels, "Love is a vicious motivator for murder" (Project Loki, 2016). Everything is screwed
when love enters the scene. Too much hatred and envy add the weight to its purpose. For the
culprit itself, he wouldn't want to murder someone but it took years to form and suddenly, he ran
out of patience. He thinks that all the opportunity was snatch by him. The hidden message of the
author to its audience was: Be contented on what you have. Learn to accept failure and move on,
because some things aren't for us after all. My suggestions would be for future readers: As much
as possible, read the preceding volumes. Background information is very important especially for
a moving and developing Main character. I don't want to finish the series unsatisfied because of
holes in the volume. I would really love a story with developing characters forged with an
interesting mystery plot every volume. Then there it is, My Novel Review of "Evanly Choir" a
Good Read and Entertaining book.