Lee Allen's Blog - Posts Tagged "janice-hallett"

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A thrilling and captivating modern-age whodunit.

Amateur theatre group The Fairway Players gather to prepare for their next performance, amongst them both longtime members and some new, unfamiliar faces.

In the wake of the devastating diagnosis of their director and leading lady's granddaughter's brain tumour, a fundraiser is launched in the hope to raise funds to pay for treatment currently only available in the US.

But beneath the surface of the play and fundraiser, tensions are bubbling and personal agendas are being drawn. One of the players is soon to meet their end in the most brutal of ways…

'The Appeal' is the debut novel by Janice Hallett, a riveting murder mystery narrated through a dossier of emails, text messages, transcripts, notes and letters. This modern epistolary style is immediately immersive, hooking you from the outset and keeping you reading on. Cleverly written and intricately plotted, the plot navigates multiple twists and turns as we uncover the events leading up to murder.

We quickly gain an insight into each of the characters, building an image of their personalities from their messages alone. No doubt we all recognise some of them from our social and work lives - some interactions will make you laugh out loud, while you cannot help but roll your eyes at how tiresome some may appear; and you also feel for the emotive and tragic circumstances dealt to some of the characters, in particular the devastating illness suffered by young Poppy Hayward. But, be warned, all is not as it seems and some characters hide far darker depths beneath the veneer of what they reveal about themselves.

The appeal of the title is twofold - both referring to the fundraiser and in the legal sense. Robert Tanner, QC, believes his client has been wrongly convicted. Enlisting his two proteges Femi and Charlotte, he requests they read through the dossier without any additional context, an exercise to determine if they reach the same conclusions from review of this evidence as he has. Along with Femi and Charlotte, we sift through the evidence, all the clues and red herrings laid out for analysis. As with all the best mysteries, we have everything we need to solve this mystery ourselves, while keeping us on the edge of our seats all the way through to the final email.

Thoroughly entertaining from beginning to end, ‘The Appeal’ is a superb debut mystery novel; I shall certainly be reading all of Hallett's other books very soon. Excitingly, a sequel to this debut will be released later this year – a novella, 'The Christmas Appeal'.



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The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A riveting festive mystery.

The Fairway Players have once again found themselves at the centre of a murder mystery.

As they prepare to perform "Jack and the Beanstalk" in a bid to raise money for the church roof, sabotage and skullduggery are afoot.

Yet no one could have anticipated the turn of events, as a body claims the starring role and old ghosts tread the boards.

'The Christmas Appeal' is a novella by Janice Hallett, a thrilling and entertaining mystery and sequel to her debut novel 'The Appeal'. We return to the world of amateur dramatics group The Fairway Players, as they prepare to stage their annual pantomime for one night only. Once again, we gain an insight into the events through a dossier of evidence formed of the written communications between the players.

A mystery with its roots in the past is woven throughout the plot; as the scene is set, we don't know the identity of the victim or whom the killer may be, while we are once more entertained by the interactions of the players, their families and neighbours, and the observations of the legal team reviewing the dossier. Though there are many returning characters, there is only passing reference to the previous mystery, so the story can be enjoyed independently.

There are many laugh-out-loud hilarious moments, especially as we reach performance night. The narrative is so vividly realised through the exchanges, once again cleverly done by Hallett, peppered with clues and red herrings, revelations and misdirections. Robert Tanner, KC and his proteges Femi and Charlotte review the evidence as we race towards the solution of the mystery, ensuring we are hooked on every page. A fabulous novella, full of festive fun; we've been gifted another delightful gem by Janice Hallett.



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