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A review by thaurisil
Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie
3.0
While I read through Agatha Christie's novels with the Appointments with Agatha group, I'm putting a templated synopsis of each novel in my review. It has spoilers!
Book: 15 of Christie's novels
Setting: Marchbolt, Wales; Merroway Court, Hampshire; London
Detective and Companions: Bobby Jones, Lady Frances "Frankie" Derwent
Crime: A man is found, presumably fallen over a cliff edge. Before he dies, he briefly regains consciousness and says "Why didn't they ask Evans?" Bobby, the sole hearer of this, is poisoned with morphia shortly after.
Suspects:
- Roger Bassington-ffrench, who stays with the body so Bobby can play the organ in his father's church
- Henry Bassington-ffrench, Roger's brother who is a morphia addict
- Sylvia Bassington-ffrench, Henry's American wife
- Dr Nicholson, a doctor of a sanatorium
- Moira Nicholson, Dr Nicholson's wife
- Mrs Cayman, who identifies herself as the sister of the dead man
- Mr Cayman, Mrs Cayman's husband
Twists and Turns:
- Frankie and Bobby initially suspect Roger, because he was on scene and exchanged a photo of a beautiful woman in the dead man's pocket for one of Mrs Cayman. However, because he is charming and appears innocent, he gains their trust, and they take him for an ally and reveal their secrets to him. However, he turns out to be a villain.
- Moira is the beautiful lady in the photo. Frightened and helpless, she tells Bobby that Dr Nicholson wants to kill her and Bobby tries to save her. However she turns out to be a criminal mastermind in a drug gang, and an established criminal since the age of fifteen.
- Dr Nicholson is suspicious of Frankie, cold, and overall an unlikeable man, and seems to be the most likely to be the criminal. He is actually innocent.
- Frankie and Bobby find out that the dead man was Alan Carstairs, and traveller and big-game hunter, who was investigating the mysterious death and will of John Savage, in which Savage uncharacteristically willed most of his money to Mrs Templeton, a lady he met on a train. But there doesn't seem to be anything amiss with Savage's will, which was signed in the presence of a lawyer. It turns out Roger was impersonating Savage when the will was signed, and that Mrs Templeton was actually Moira.
- While Frankie and Bobby get closer to the truth, the identity of Evans, which set them on the trail in the first place, remains elusive until near the end, when they realise that she is a housekeeper in Bobby's home, which explains why Roger and Moira tried to kill Bobby with morphia.
It was manifestly clear to me that Roger was the criminal, and yet halfway through the book, on the basis of rather nebulous statements from Moira, Frankie decides that Roger can not only be trusted, but can be taken into her confidence. The stupidity was frustrating and I almost put the book down several times as I read Frankie and Bobby bumbling through the investigation. But I see that many people didn't feel the same as me. Perhaps this is a sign that I'm getting better at detecting Dame Agatha's tricks?
The Wikipedia page for this book explains how Agatha Christie came up with the title, as described in the introduction to her book Passenger to Frankfurt:
"You go to tea with a friend. As you arrive, her brother closes a book he is reading - throws it aside, says: 'Not bad, but why on earth didn't they ask Evans?' So you decide immediately a book of yours shortly to be written will bear the title, Why Didn't They Ask Evans? You don't know yet who Evans is going to be. Never mind. Evans will come in due course - the title is fixed."
The biggest mystery, to me, was who Evans was. The mystery surrounding Alan Carstairs and the drug gang became clearer, chapter by chapter, but Evans never appeared, to the extent that when Frankie and Bobby confronted Roger and revealed that they had no idea who Evans was, Roger laughed, admitting that he was stupid for trying to kill Bobby initially when he didn't even know who Evans was. Even when the mystery was close to being solved, the very title of the book was taunting. And all along, Evans was Bobby's housekeeper! It's an interesting concept and use of a title.
Like Tommy and Tuppence, and Bundle and Bill in The Seven Dials Mystery, Frankie and Bobby are a delightful young couple with courage, wit and plenty of luck. The first two couples featured a female who was smarter, wittier and more impulsive than the steadfast, slow-thinking male. Frankie and Bobby are different. Frankie is a touch more intelligent and resourceful than Bobby, but Bobby does demonstrate his own resourcefulness and a talent in impersonating characters when needed. The biggest difference between the two is that Frankie is rich, and Bobby is poor. It's delightful watching the two fall in love with each other and learn to accept and make use of their socioeconomic differences.
Book: 15 of Christie's novels
Setting: Marchbolt, Wales; Merroway Court, Hampshire; London
Detective and Companions: Bobby Jones, Lady Frances "Frankie" Derwent
Crime: A man is found, presumably fallen over a cliff edge. Before he dies, he briefly regains consciousness and says "Why didn't they ask Evans?" Bobby, the sole hearer of this, is poisoned with morphia shortly after.
Suspects:
- Roger Bassington-ffrench, who stays with the body so Bobby can play the organ in his father's church
- Henry Bassington-ffrench, Roger's brother who is a morphia addict
- Sylvia Bassington-ffrench, Henry's American wife
- Dr Nicholson, a doctor of a sanatorium
- Moira Nicholson, Dr Nicholson's wife
- Mrs Cayman, who identifies herself as the sister of the dead man
- Mr Cayman, Mrs Cayman's husband
Twists and Turns:
- Frankie and Bobby initially suspect Roger, because he was on scene and exchanged a photo of a beautiful woman in the dead man's pocket for one of Mrs Cayman. However, because he is charming and appears innocent, he gains their trust, and they take him for an ally and reveal their secrets to him. However, he turns out to be a villain.
- Moira is the beautiful lady in the photo. Frightened and helpless, she tells Bobby that Dr Nicholson wants to kill her and Bobby tries to save her. However she turns out to be a criminal mastermind in a drug gang, and an established criminal since the age of fifteen.
- Dr Nicholson is suspicious of Frankie, cold, and overall an unlikeable man, and seems to be the most likely to be the criminal. He is actually innocent.
- Frankie and Bobby find out that the dead man was Alan Carstairs, and traveller and big-game hunter, who was investigating the mysterious death and will of John Savage, in which Savage uncharacteristically willed most of his money to Mrs Templeton, a lady he met on a train. But there doesn't seem to be anything amiss with Savage's will, which was signed in the presence of a lawyer. It turns out Roger was impersonating Savage when the will was signed, and that Mrs Templeton was actually Moira.
- While Frankie and Bobby get closer to the truth, the identity of Evans, which set them on the trail in the first place, remains elusive until near the end, when they realise that she is a housekeeper in Bobby's home, which explains why Roger and Moira tried to kill Bobby with morphia.
It was manifestly clear to me that Roger was the criminal, and yet halfway through the book, on the basis of rather nebulous statements from Moira, Frankie decides that Roger can not only be trusted, but can be taken into her confidence. The stupidity was frustrating and I almost put the book down several times as I read Frankie and Bobby bumbling through the investigation. But I see that many people didn't feel the same as me. Perhaps this is a sign that I'm getting better at detecting Dame Agatha's tricks?
The Wikipedia page for this book explains how Agatha Christie came up with the title, as described in the introduction to her book Passenger to Frankfurt:
"You go to tea with a friend. As you arrive, her brother closes a book he is reading - throws it aside, says: 'Not bad, but why on earth didn't they ask Evans?' So you decide immediately a book of yours shortly to be written will bear the title, Why Didn't They Ask Evans? You don't know yet who Evans is going to be. Never mind. Evans will come in due course - the title is fixed."
The biggest mystery, to me, was who Evans was. The mystery surrounding Alan Carstairs and the drug gang became clearer, chapter by chapter, but Evans never appeared, to the extent that when Frankie and Bobby confronted Roger and revealed that they had no idea who Evans was, Roger laughed, admitting that he was stupid for trying to kill Bobby initially when he didn't even know who Evans was. Even when the mystery was close to being solved, the very title of the book was taunting. And all along, Evans was Bobby's housekeeper! It's an interesting concept and use of a title.
Like Tommy and Tuppence, and Bundle and Bill in The Seven Dials Mystery, Frankie and Bobby are a delightful young couple with courage, wit and plenty of luck. The first two couples featured a female who was smarter, wittier and more impulsive than the steadfast, slow-thinking male. Frankie and Bobby are different. Frankie is a touch more intelligent and resourceful than Bobby, but Bobby does demonstrate his own resourcefulness and a talent in impersonating characters when needed. The biggest difference between the two is that Frankie is rich, and Bobby is poor. It's delightful watching the two fall in love with each other and learn to accept and make use of their socioeconomic differences.