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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An underrated gem, 24 Jun 2007
A surprising success! "Why Didn't They Ask Evans" is a real romper of a detective story, packed full of amateur sleuths, red herrings, and clever hints. Particularly well written is the developing relationship between the two protagonists, Frankie and Bobbie. Christie, for all her failings, always manages to write romances charmingly and she does not disappoint here: I found myself rooting for the pair of them to get together the whole way through.
All things considered, this is classic Christie stuff, and probably deserves to be more widely-read than I suspect it is. Even leaving aside the romance, the mystery is intriguing and original, and I was honestly kept guessing until the very end. Furthermore, unlike some of her novels, little clues are dropped here and there regarding the villain's inconsistency in his story, so that the reader can do some sleuthing along with Frankie and Bobbie. The identity of Evans, as the other reader points out, isn't really something that can be deducted, which is slightly disappointing - however, the book isn't really *about* discovering Evans' identity. It is someone who the reader meets along the way, so keep an open mind if you want to have a guess!
The story does take a turn for the bizarre three-quarters of the way through: the heroes are kidnapped and the story becomes slightly more implausible from that point on. This criticism is minor, however; really, the book is Christie at her absolute finest. It is witty, clever, and the plot twists and turns throughout. Fully recommended.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Light-hearted Christie., 7 April 2006
This is one of Dame Agatha's more light-hearted romps. No Poirot, no Jane Marple, or Inspector Japp, or even Tommy and Tuppence. Instead a very likeable pair of Bright Young Things (and I don't normally like them in the early Christie works!), called Lady Frances (Frankie to her friends) Derwent, and Bobby Jones. Bobby is the sort of handsome, amiable, but not exactly intellectual young man that the author clearly enjoyed writing about, and Frankie is another of the strong, spirited and resourceful young women who are often a staple of the classic Christie novel. The title "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?" (and if you don't know the story, I guarantee you'll never guess who Evans turns out to be!), are the suitably cryptic words of a dying man who has fallen off a cliff. Add to the mix a spooky sanatorium, a gang of international drug-dealers (Christie-style), a Terry-Thomas style bounder, and plenty of madcap adventures, and you have a very fast-paced enjoyable read.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of Christie's best, 19 Aug 2000
By A Customer
Christie wrote many books and so, as you read through them, you notice that understanably some are masterpieces (And Then There Were None, Orient Express etc.) and some were obviously hard work to write. This is one of Christie's best, and thankfully a breath of fresh air away from a certain correct little Belgian detective...Why Didn't They Ask Evans? is a fantastic yarn just wandering around 1930s upper class England, full of buffoons and jolly ripping fellows! Frankie and Bobby are the best ever heroes I've come across in an Agatha Christie - they are shamelessly melodramatic and self confident. Frankie loves all of her wonderful plans and schemes and fancies herself and Bobby as being rather wonderful amateur sleuths! And Bobby's hasn't fallen for Moira at all! No... You've got to read Evans to appreciate the wonders of Bobby and Frankie's adventure, trotting from Wales to London to Hampshire and back to Oxford Street! And all in order to find out about that "blighter fell off a cliff. Tragic really." Love it! Prove me wrong! It's a hell of a lot of jolly good, clean fun!
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