Frank Howel Evans

{{Short description|Welsh author}}

{{redirect|Howel Evans|the disease|Howel–Evans syndrome}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Francis (Frank) Howel Evans (1867–1931) was a Welsh{{cite web|url=https://archives.library.wales/downloads/penralley-papers.pdf|title=Penralley Papers|website=The National Library of Wales|date=5 May 2017|accessdate=15 September 2020}} author who wrote for many British story papers such as Chums, The Boy's Own Paper, and The Boys' Friend during the first few decades of the 20th century.{{cite web|url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/BJSP/s176.htm#A2355|title=Evans, Frank Howel|website=British Juvenile Story Papers and Pocket Libraries Index|accessdate=15 September 2020}} He also wrote under the pen names Atherley Daunt and Crutchley Payne. Many of his stories take place in the theatre.{{cite book|title=The Men Behind Boys' Fiction|last=Lofts|first=W. O. G.|author-link=W. O. G. Lofts|last2=Adley|first2=D. J.|year=1970|publisher=Howard Baker|sbn=09-3047703|page=132}}

Evans is probably best remembered for his "Old Pawray" stories featuring the retired French detective Monsieur Jules Poiret, likely an inspiration for Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.{{cite book|title=The Age of the Storytellers: British Popular Fiction Magazines, 1880–1950|last=Ashley|first=Mike|author-link=Mike Ashley (writer)|year=2006|page=138|isbn=0-7123-0698-6|publisher=British Library}} He also wrote six Sexton Blake stories for The Union Jack{{cite web|url=http://www.mark-hodder.com/blakiana/blakebibliography_1905.html#uj_111|title=Sexton Blake Bibliography: 1905|last=Hodder|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Hodder|website=Blakiana|accessdate=15 September 2020}} and The Penny Popular.{{cite web|url=http://www.mark-hodder.com/blakiana/blakebibliography_1913.html#ppop_25|title=Sexton Blake Bibliography: 1913|last=Hodder|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Hodder|website=Blakiana|accessdate=15 September 2020}} One of his stories was filmed as In the Shadow of Big Ben (1914), directed by Frank Wilson and starring Tom Powers, Alma Taylor, and Jack Raymond.{{cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6ad333f9|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119093724/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6ad333f9|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 January 2021|title=In the Shadow of Big Ben (1914)|website=British Film Institute|accessdate=15 September 2020}}