REVIEW: Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

 Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Author: Agatha Christie

Even as a huge Agatha Christie fan, I have to admit that I was prepared to dislike this story. I'm a huge Poirot and Marple fan....not so much Parker Pine and other side characters. I had not read this story before even though I do own the book (both as Why Didn't They Ask Evans and the US title The Boomerang Clue). In the past, I skipped over stories that didn't feature my favorite Christie detectives. I pretty much wrote this one off as two upper class twits stumble on a murder in their group of other upper class twits and catch an evil upper class twit...the end.  Silly....I know. I should have given it a chance. 

I pretty much had to force myself to start reading this story. And I was pleasantly surprised. I found myself liking Bobby Jones -- 4th son of a Vicar and abysmal at golf -- and Lady Frances "Frankie'' Derwent -- the sweet and usually carefree daughter of the Earl of Marchington. Neither were twits or completely clueless. It only took a couple chapters for me to be totally sucked into the story. I have to offer an apology to Dame Agatha -- I'm sorry I never gave these characters a chance. They are just delightful and not tedious at all. Lesson learned -- all of Christie's stories are magnificent and never write off one-off characters without giving them a chance. 

The basics: Bobby Jones' terrible golf game leads him to find a dying man who has taken a tumble down a cliff. The incident quickly turns into a mystery as Bobby and his friend Frankie suspect the man did not fall accidentally. They conduct some very creative amateur sleuthing before realizing that chasing after a killer can be very dangerous. 

This story was first published in an abbreviated version as "The Boomerang Clue" in Redbook Magazine in 1933. The same abbreviated version was released as part of Six Redbook Novels in 1934. The full version of the novel was first printed in the UK as part of the Collins Crime Club in September 1934, and in the US under the title The Boomerang Clue in 1935. 

 I listened to the audio book version of this story thanks to my lovely local library! Narrated by Emilia Fox, the audio is just over 7 hours long. Fox does a great job of voice acting. I enjoyed her performance! It definitely kept my attention from start to finish. The story has quite a bit of amateur sleuthing capers and had enough twists and turns to keep me on my toes. Typical Agatha! She's quite sneaky with those unexpected twists. And I loved the humor in this story! It was just fun to read!

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? has been adapted for film/TV three times. 

In 1980, the story was adapted for television. It was the first television adaptation of Christie's works that was allowed following the author's death. Christie did not like television and had allowed very few adaptations of her work for TV while she was alive (especially after one 1949 television performance of And Then There Were None where a dead person got up and walked off set in full view of a camera....ooops). The 1980 movie had some actors I recognized -- Connie Booth, Joan Hickson (who later played Miss Marple), and John Gielgud. There are some changes to the story line, but mostly this adaptation stays pretty true to the way Christie wrote it. 

For whatever reason in 2009, the story was adapted for an episode of Marple, starring Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple. Of course this means that the story was heavily changed because Miss Marple is not in the original novel. The golfing aspect of the plot is removed completely, which negates Christie's reason for naming the main character Bobby Jones after a famous American golfer of her time. It's a cute joke as Bobby in the novel is a horrible golfer, which is how he finds the body in the first place. I guess they did the episode for silly readers like me who waited to read this story for 40+ years because it didn't have Marple or Poirot in it. :) The episode is Season 4, Episode 4 (available on BritBox). Be aware there are major changes to the story and the characters.  In my opinion, the episode completely mangles the plot and changes the complete feel of Christie's story. I didn't like what they did with the main characters at all, especially Frankie. Much as I love all of the Marple television shows -- this episode was poorly done. Bleck. 

Why Didn't They Ask Evans was also adapted in 2008 for French Television as an episode of Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie. 

And, in 2022, Hugh Laurie directed and starred in a version for BritBox. This newest adaptation is split into 3 episodes. In my opinion, this is the best film version of the story. Will Poulter was fabulous as Bobby! Some changes were made to the plot, but nothing that left me feeling like the main story had been altered too much.

I did not find any radio adaptions of They Should have Asked Evans. I was a little disappointed as I always love the radio plays of Christie's stories.  If anyone comes across a radio/audio play version of this story, please let me know. BBC radio and others have done some awesome radio drama, full-cast, adaptations of Christie's works.

 So -- this book taught me a lesson -- don't discount a story because an author's most famous characters don't play a part in it. Sometimes a break from Poirot and Marple is a good thing! And, the story was a very enjoyable stop on my way through all of Christie's mysteries in publication order! And it's a good thing I just made a vow not to discount books that don't have her most famous detectives in them, as the next book coming up is..... Parker Pyne Investigates.