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Evan Blessed is one of the later Constable Evans novels in Rhys Bowen's long Welsh-village series. The setting is the fictional North Wales village of Llanfair, where Evan, an English-born police constable, has been settling into a marriage and a community that have both taken time to accept him. The case here involves a missing teenager and an old quarry.
Bowen's strength has always been the Welsh setting. The village geography, the bilingual conversation, the slow seasonal rhythm, all carry weight. The mystery is solid if not particularly ingenious. The character work on Evan and his wife Bronwen earns its space.
Three stars. A reliable cozy with a setting you do not see often in the form. Best read in series order.
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