In Edgar-finalist Bowen's smooth, fast-paced ninth Constable Evans mystery (after 2004's Evan's Gate), the case of a girl who's disappeared while hiking on Mt. Snowdon interrupts Evan Evans and Bronwen Price's wedding preparations. A search fails to turn up the girl, but the police do find a bunker dug into the mountain, complete with survival supplies and chains and handcuffs. As the investigation continues, Evan receives an odd note, a threat in the form of music. Convinced he's dealing with a clever, twisted mind after other missives follow, Evan never suspects that Bronwen could be a target. When his fianc?e goes missing, Evan is even more desperate to solve the riddle of the musical threats. Bowen keeps the suspense slowly building to a satisfying and tidy conclusion. Agent, Meg Ruley. (Aug. 8) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

One bothersome aspect about this series is that the books aren't as funny as their punning titles indicate: Evan's Gate, Evans to Betsy, Evan and Elle0 . While not knee-slappers in the vein of Joan Hess' Maggody series, though, they do offer a quieter sort of wit, fully in keeping with the cozy tradition. This time Constable Evan Evans, the hardworking, good-hearted copper who maintains order in a small Welsh village, searches for a missing woman. The matters get complicated when a second woman, Evans' own fiancee, also vanishes. Is Evans the villain's target, or is this latest development merely a coincidence? The Evans series has settled nicely into the classic pattern of the British village cozy, and fans of the series will be completely satisfied with this offering. --David Pitt Copyright 2005 Booklist

Detective Constable Evan Evans has no time for prenuptial jitters. He's just finished hauling his fiancÉe Bronwen's possessions up to their mountain cottage when a young hiker arrives claiming to have misplaced his girlfriend on the slopes of Snowden. After Paul Upfield had a tiff with his girlfriend, they separated on the mountain, and now she's missing. Because she's only 17, the police start an early search. The disappearance takes on sinister implications when the search dogs discover an underground bunker complete with handcuffs hanging from a beam. As the search continues, Evan receives several mysterious missives in the form of sheet music whose notes yield cryptic clues. The police have hundreds of people to interview because the district is flooded with summer tourists. Although there are some local possibilities that partially fit the profile, none of them seems guilty. Meanwhile, Evan is coping with his mother, who remains cool to Bronwen, and her parents, who've scrapped the happy couple's simple plans in favor of a truly grand wedding. When Bronwen vanishes, more clues from the music-loving kidnapper reveal that her disappearance is not a random event. Evan and his colleagues pull out all the stops trying to find the missing girls before it's too late. Bowen builds tension with every page simply by making Evan and Bronwen (Evans to Betsy, 2001, etc.) so likable and resourceful that you pull for them all the way. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.