The Christmas Appeal
Ratings29
Average rating3.6
15
Ratings29
Average rating3.6
* THE CAST OF SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING THE APPEAL RETURN FOR A FESTIVE MURDER MYSTERY * * FROM THE WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS CRIME AND THRILLER BOOK OF THE YEAR * One dead Santa. A town full of suspects. Will you discover the truth? Christmas in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, to raise money for the church roof appeal. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking amongst the amateur dramatics enthusiasts. Sarah-Jane is fending off threats to her new position as Chair, the fibreglass beanstalk might be full of asbestos, and a someone is intent on ruining the panto even before the curtain goes up. Of course there's also the matter of the dead body. Who could possibly have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they read the round robins, examine the emails and pore over the police transcripts. Will the show go on?
Series
1 primary book2 released booksThe Appeal is a 2-book series with 1 primary work first released in 2018 with contributions by Janice Hallett.
Reviews with the most likes.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
5 sparkly stars! A favourite of the year! This is what I imagine the love child of “The Goes Wrong Show” and “Midsomer Murders” to look like. It's an utter delight!
The Fairway Players are back! And this time they are doing panto!
While The Appeal was slightly darkly humorous, this novella takes the funny up another notch. It is hilarious! In the most vicious, juicy and gossipy way imaginable!
Oh, and there's obviously going to be a murder that our two lawyers from the first book have to puzzle out!
All around amazing and I hope Janice Hallett writes more novellas to go in between her main books!
If you liked The Appeal, this is a great peek into the lives of the Fairway Theater players. It's is a novella sequel to the amazing first book. The format is in the same style, detectives are reading over emails of everyone involved in a mystery and trying to figure out what the mystery and its solution is.
This format is great because it makes you feel like one of the detectives, plus it's also really easy to read. At times it feels like reading a reality TV episode, since you get to hear everything they're up to, what they say behind each others' backs and so on.
Knowing that something will go wrong the whole time (since the detectives are told so at the very beginning) really puts you on edge to try to see when it's gonna happen. However, I do think this is focused on the interpersonal relationships and the troupe drama more than the mystery for most of the book. And there's plenty of drama! So much backstabbing, gossiping, ulterior motives, and everyone wanting to be in the limelight... It's all delicious!
I do wish the mystery was a bit more involved but I suppose it makes sense with the length of the book. As well as the cozy vibes.
This is the perfect fun Christmas read with a sprinkle of mystery and lots of drama, especially for fans of The Appeal or epistolary books.
Thank you so much to Atria Books and Netgalley for the eARC!
