Wonderful narration

If you could sum up Evans Above in three words, what would they be?

Warm Welsh mystery

What did you like best about this story?

This is a gentle, fairly slow-paced mystery with a lot of atmosphere and detail about life in a small north Welsh village. There is a lot of humour and some amusing characters, but it isn't too cosy and doesn't skate over the impact of crime.

Which character – as performed by Roger Clark – was your favourite?

I liked the detective, Evan Evans, the best. Roger Clark's narration really made it for me - he is the best narrator I've heard yet on an audio book. His Welsh accent really brings the book alive.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Murder in the Welsh mountains.

Any additional comments?

I got slightly irritated with all the village girls swooning over the detective - it would be nice to see him have a bit of competition instead of having 3 women as rivals for his affections! Perhaps that will happen in book 2, though.

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Brilliant story set in Snowdonia

Loved reading a book set in Wales. I hope the remainder of the series is available soon.

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A good listen

Enjoyable tale with humour and characterization. Narrator has nice Welsh voice. Somewhat set in a time zone.

Good Evans!

I loved this book! And it came just at the right time while I’ve been poorly and can’t concentrate on reading. Roger Clark has a wonderful voice and is really easy to listen to. His performance is consistent and draws me right into the scenes. The story was great too, I love all Rhys Bowen's books. This one made me want to take off up Snowdon immediately! I just wish the rest of the Evans books were available on Kindle.

Mr. Clark sent me to sleep!

Would you try another book written by Rhys Bowen or narrated by Roger Clark?

I would give Rhys Bowen a second chance but not Roger Clark.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I never got to the end as, for the first time ever, I nodded off so missed the end and did not feel like going back to hear the bits I had missed. I buy and listen to several audiobooks a week, as I am sight disabled, and although I have returned some books as I did not like the reader I cannot ever remember trying to persevere so hard to finish a book, so I think that the story was quite good but Mr. Clark's voice made the book so flat. It was a great relief to start the next book I had bought.

How could the performance have been better?

More spirit, a change of pace and some feeling that Roger Clark was interested in what he was reading. A strong Welsh voice would have been great.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Evans Above?

The book seemed O.K. not exactly a Muir or Ewart Hutton but it did move along quite nicely. The main problem was that as it was read in such a boring way a lot of the book got lost when I got distracted and, unlike my usual listening habit, I did not feel like going back to listen to the bits I missed as it would mean I would have to listen to more of Roger Clark!

Any additional comments?

As my sight is poor I do put more weight on a good reader than others might. I cannot go back and read the original as I know many do. It is disappointing when, who ever does such things, takes little care in matching voices to books. When it it is done well it makes such a difference. I do think that some of the best readers like Peter Forbes add a lot to the listening experience.

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