"Strong police procedural"

With his promotion, Evan Evans is now a Detective Constable and his future never looked brighter. In September, he is marrying the woman he loves and they are going to live in a fixer-upper cottage in the National Park adjacent to the North Wales town of Llanfair. Before he can work on the sewer system to get them ready for inspection, he is called in on a case of a missing five year old girl whose mother thinks was abducted by the child's Russian immigrant father.

The case is urgent because the child has had a heart transplant and she needs the anti-rejection medication to survive. A search for the father draws a blank and Evan takes a break to work on the underground sewer lines near his house. When he digs a few feet, he finds the body of a young child who was probably interred two decades ago. This case is personal for Evan because he played with the child when they were youngsters and he's determined to find out how she got in the hole. In the meantime, the mother of the missing girl has disappeared and Evan believes when he finds her, he will solve that crime.

Each novel in this series keeps getting better because the hero learns from his mistakes and knows how to be part of a team. The romance between him and his fiancée adds a nice touch of spice to this special cozy as the police have to investigate the death of one child and the disappearance of another. Rhys Bowen attractively brings North Wales to life in this police procedural series.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 10, 2004

Summary

When Constable Evan Evans discovers a beautiful shepard's cottage in the mountains of Llanfair, Wales, he and his fiancée are thrilled. It's only months before their wedding and they are eager to begin their new life together. The cottage is in need of renovation so Evan wastes no time before he begins making much-needed repairs. But it turns out that Evan's discovery extends far beyond the beauties of a mountain-top view and a cozy dream-house when Evan finds the skeleton of a child buried in the front yard. His professional inclinations soon get the best of him and he cannot rest until he discovers the identity of the child. The skeleton is decades old, but the discovery eerily coincides with the case of a present-day missing girl. Although discouraged by his fellow detectives, Evan dives into the mystery of both missing children. He soon realizes that if he can solve the decades-old death, he just might find a crucial insight into the whereabouts of the child missing in the present day. Rhys Bowen's newest spell-binding addition to her critically acclaimed cozy series will win the hearts of fans and newcomers alike.