This is an epistolary novel told mainly through emails and text messages about an amateur theatre group and the campaign to raise funds for a toddler’s cancer treatment.

The cover makes it clear this is going to be a murder mystery -- “One murder. Fifteen suspects. Can you uncover the truth?” -- and so I kept expecting the murder to occur sooner. But instead, the story is predominately about everything which happens in the lead-up.

I love this sort of epistolary format. I love reading between the lines to draw conclusions about what is being left out, and that’s an approach which fits in well with trying to solve a mystery. (By 90% through, I strongly suspected who the murderer was, because that theory would explain a particular piece of the puzzle, although I hadn’t figured out how all the other puzzle pieces would fit around and prove it.) I found it interesting to have characters who are only seen through other’s eyes and not through their own correspondence.

I also liked the narrative device for explaining why these documents -- and not others -- have been gathered together. They are evidence from a court case and have been given to two apprentices to analyse from an unbiased perspective.

If you can solve these further riddles, then it’s more than I could at the original hearing: three people are not who they say they are. Three masquerade as others. One does not exist at all.

As the book progresses, Femi and Charlotte’s discussions become more of the focus, and I was surprised to discover that rather than resenting this intrusion to the narrative, I was really interested in what they had to say. In fact, a part of me wishes the two of them had been given even more page-time, if I’d got to know them and their lives, and not just their opinions on the case. It might have been nice to feel invested in some characters who were unambiguously likeable.

Because while I found the epistolary format and the multiple mysteries and the array of personalities fascinating and compelling, and although the resolution was satisfying, in the end I wished that putting this group of characters under the microscope had revealed something more positive. ( )

This is not your usual who-dun-it with buildup, murder, and fierce interviews. Instead, the reader reads the documents in the case, along with the investigators, who are commissioned to discover the real murderer after a person has been convicted. So we are in the same position as the investigators, complete with text messages between them and the appeals attorney (barrister? I forget), nudges to go back and read parts of the evidence, extra information as it arises, and some amazing characters. No 'live' dialog, no suspects in the same room, none of that, and yet completely captivating. The end is satisfying and then chilling. Highly recommended. ( )

I had a lot of fun with this whodunnit, told exclusively through emails, text messages, transcripts, and other documents. Hallett does a great job developing her characters and giving the reader a real sense of them without relying on standard descriptions and interactions.

The story is slightly convoluted and I had a bit of an issue in the beginning keeping track of who was who, but it didn't take long to get it all sorted in my head. The novel focuses on a community theater group in a small English village; the leader of the group has a granddaughter recently diagnosed with cancer, and the community rallies around to raise money for a life-saving treatment. But something isn't right... And then one of the actors is killed... dun dun DUN! I won't say more because you deserve to experience the fun for yourself.

4 stars ( )

This is a cozy mystery revolving around the Fairway Players Theater Group managed by Martin and Helen Hayward. They are very selective about who is allowed into their exclusive group of amateur actors. Each year they work on one play which they take very seriously demanding dedication from the group members. There is an eclectic cast of characters involved with these productions. This year they are working on All My Sons by Arthur Miller and have deemed it a fundraiser with the proceeds to benefit the Haywards' granddaughter, Poppy who has a rare form of cancer and eligible for experimental treatment.

Samantha Greenwood and her husband are new members to the group this year having returned from their volunteer work in Africa for the past 8 years. Isabel Beck is an interesting and needy player who finds an immediate connection with Samantha as she is also a nurse. There are many text messages and emails exchanged throughout the course of this book alternating between the characters which provide insight into their true motives as opposed to those which they want others to believe. Unfortunately, a dead body being found before rehearsals for opening night throws a wrench in the once tightly scheduled event. Alternating chapters have attorneys who have been assigned to gather information regarding the death are also emailing and texting furiously to determine who is responsible for this apparent crime.

There are many twists in the story to keep you guessing as well as some shady but humorous characters. ( )

The best written epistolary mystery I've read! I feel like this format could get annoying very quickly, yet Hallett does such a strong job weaving everything together and creating a super intriguing cast of characters that it is easy to fall right into the story. I also think "The Appeal" is, at least partly, very solvable by the reader, which always bumps up a mystery rating for me. All in all, a very unique and engaging novel; I'm impressed that this is a debut and would love to read more from Hallett. ( )

3.75 stars. this was way more fun than it should have been. it's such a soap opera and gossip mill but i couldn't tear myself away, for probably more than 300 pages. the solving of the crime was actually way less fun for me, but everything up until then was just great. it's intricate and just so so clever. and more about relationships and family and class and the way insular communities work than about the mystery, actually. which was really fun for me.

i have always loved everything epistolary and epistolary adjacent and this is no exception. it does seem wild how many emails are sent that i would have thought would just be texts, but maybe i underuse email more than i realized. (although really making these texts would just make the book so much longer, so that's probably why it was done this way.) i don't think the structure of the lead lawyer withholding info and giving riddles for femi and charlotte to solve works, but i'm more than willing to put that aside for the fun of it all. this will be so fun to talk about in book group.

i love that "the appeal" is the courtroom appeal, not the fundraising appeal. just brilliant. i think femi realizing the truth, though, was a huge leap that didn't make sense to take. that wasn't something that works, in my opinion. but again, i'm not sure how much i care. the entire solving of the crime, the realizing helen's son didn't die of meningitis seemed to have no basis. so this isn't perfect, but it was otherwise so good that i can overlook something that normally would be pretty big. i thought she handled so many different voices and so many threads so well. there is a lot more going on here than at first glance, and she makes it seem effortless. this is really just so well done. ( )

This was a really neat read, different format, but it works well. Takes a bit to get into, but keep going ( )

This book was such a fun read. I loved the formate because it was told through only emails and that was unique take. Becaue of the unqiue formate, I think you got less connected to the character and it was harder to solve the mytery. I really loved the theater backdrop, but i did not just feel that connected to the characters overall!! ( )

This book was such a fun read. I loved the formate because it was told through only emails and that was unique take. Becaue of the unqiue formate, I think you got less connected to the character and it was harder to solve the mytery. I really loved the theater backdrop, but i did not just feel that connected to the characters overall!! ( )

3.5/5

The Fairway Players is a local community theatre group based in a small English town. The group is gearing up for the performance of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. The founders of the group are Martin Haywood and his wife, Helen who also own and operate The Grange Golf and Country Club. When their granddaughter Poppy is diagnosed with brain cancer, their oncologist suggests a steeply-priced experimental drug which has to be imported from America, the expense completely out of pocket with no insurance covering any part of the cost. Though the Haywards are assumed to be well to do, the sum of money required for the full course of treatment is exorbitant. They appeal to the community for assistance which leads to an all-out crowdfunding effort (A Cure For Poppy) with everyone doing their level best to bring in funds to contribute to the cause. As the story progresses we see doubt and suspicion directed towards the legitimacy of the appeal , the treatment options and the healthcare professionals involved and members of the “alpha” family. Secrets, groupism and rivalry plague the members of the theatre group which also leads to friction. Eventually one person ends up dead and one person is arrested for the crime.

There has been a murder. Someone is in prison for it. What was the motive? Is the person incarcerated truly guilty of the crime?

Janice Hallett’s The Appeal opens with Olufemi (Femi)Hassan and Charlotte Holroyd being tasked by their boss Roderick Tanner, QC, the senior partner at Tanner & Dewey, LLP, to thoroughly examine a dossier of correspondence between (most of) the characters associated with the case (emails and text messages), newspaper clippings and police reports in an attempt to analyze the events revolving around the group engaged in community theater and the fundraising campaign for a sick child. Initially, Tanner does not divulge much about the background of the case per se to gain a fresh perspective on the matter. Later he shares correspondence and other documents pertaining to the case based on which Femi and Charlotte chalk out and analyze probable scenarios that could have possibly led to the murder. The entire narrative is in epistolary format, told through the correspondence between the members of the theater group and those associated with them, the Haywoods and their oncologist, newspaper articles, police reports, and the messages and other correspondence exchanged between Femi, Charlotte and their boss.

I love cozy murder mysteries and with this novel, the reader can play detective and try to figure out what happened along with the two junior lawyers while they make their way through all the information provided. Though it wasn’t difficult to figure out who the culprit could be, some of the facts revealed in the process came as a surprise. Initially, it was fun to take notes and play armchair detective while reading the book but after a while, following the sequence of events and the characters became a tedious job.What didn’t work for me was the length of the novel, the repetitiveness and the inclusion of too many unnecessary characters and details (and the exclusion of some relevant information). Thankfully the material included two exhaustive lists of characters and a summary of events in the latter part of the book. The fact that the identity of the victim is mentioned after the halfway mark of a 400 page novel should give you an idea of how the narrative drags in the middle. However, I did appreciate the epistolary format of the novel, the murder mystery at the core and the humor. In short, I liked the novel but wasn’t bowled over by it. Having said that I will be looking out for more of the author’s work in the future. ( )

This was a really fun mystery book, with everything being told through gossipy emails and texts that lawyers are trying to piece together. I have first hand experience with pediatric cancer, so right away the diagnosis and treatment seemed fishy. You don't shave your daughter's head because her hair isn't falling out like people expect. You wait till the clumps start falling out too noticeably to ignore anymore.
I was following along pretty well until the body dropped? Somehow that just snuck in and was casually being talked about like we were aware of it already.
This is set up so that you can solve the mystery with all the clues before the reveal, so I think it's worth a reread to see what I can pick up on the second time around. ( )

This book is not for everyone, but it was absolutely perfect for me. I love epistolary novels, solving puzzles, and characters drawn from the inside-out with thoughts and words (their own and others').

True, there were a lot of unnecessary characters, as other readers have mentioned. And yes, there is a bit of "information overload," especially with regard to the details of various fundraisers.

On the other hand, the whole point of this exercise is to determine which people and which facts are relevant. The good news for a certain segment of readers? The dog does NOT die in the end!

The actual story that plays out is a bit over the top, and the "investigators" come up with some outlandish suppositions as they think through the possibilities. But all told, Hallett's tale is very much in keeping with literary 'whodunit' tradition. And better, because there is no pompous Sherlock or tedious Pierot.

If you want realism, this book isn't for you. If you want novel (pardon the pun) diversion, try this!

Scribd e-book ( )

Janice Hallett writes a novel in the epistolary style of Samuel Richardson, who wrote Pamela. Richardson’s British novel contains letters, whereas, Janice Hallett’s story involves emails. Too many pages of emails! The redeeming feature becomes Femi and Charlotte who function as a Greek chorus explaining what has happened. Femi and Charlotte also provide a stirring commentary on what has transpired. The big questions---who is murdered and who does the murder. So many red herrings in the emails. Fraud, jealousy, and revenge enter this lengthy play within a play. The email motif presents itself well in the beginning, but falls into tiresome towards the end of the book. An unique style that works well with the story. ( )

This was a book I picked up on a whim, it basically had an interesting plot with an interesting premise - two young lawyers have been asked by their boss to go through correspondence of a murder case. These lawyers go through pages of emails, texts, call logs, reports, anything that is digital and was used in the court proceedings.

As for the book itself, I found it to be too convoluted. Too many random pieces that don't make much sense in this context. Red herrings are fine, and are expected in a mystery, but they need to make sense in context of the story.

As for the characters, I found them all mostly annoying - however, being part of a theater group (as a musician, not an actor) the personalities involved are true to form, but became parodies of themselves.

The writing is well done, I quite liked the two young lawyers - their back and forth comments, as well as sarcastic remarks grounded the story, keeping it from getting to clownish. ( )

An epistolary whodunit . You are given all the clues through emails, letters and text and you have to figure out who is the murderer. You aren't even told who was murdered until the last 1/4 of the book.

I did get confused at times. I wish I had written notes on all the characters and how they were related.

They say all the clues are given to solve the crime. I didn't even try and figure it out. ( )

A brilliant epistolary novel for the modern age. By telling the story using the main characters' emails, the reader is challenged to read between the lines and figure out what they're not saying. Strangely enough, I read this novel while listening to the podcast, Believe in Magic, which I strongly recommend. Without giving anything away, I have to think the author was inspired by this real-life drama. ( )

The Appeal is an extremely clever and unique way to tell the story of a crime. A small theater group, The Fairway Players, is run by Martin Hayward and his wife, Helen. However, the community is shocked when Martin explains why they have been out of touch. Their granddaughter, Poppy, has been diagnosed with cancer and needs expensive life-saving treatment. The money required is exorbitant and the drama group pulls together to appeal to the community to raise funds.
However, there is some suspicion around the appeal and the various players. When someone is killed, young lawyers are asked to review all the correspondence, mainly emails, to discover the truth. This is a unique way of laying out the background, and having the reader try to piece together the mystery. The epistolary style is a fresh way to write the story.
I truly enjoyed this debut novel and I look forward to more from this author. It will keep you guessing! ( )

Wow. That was different. In a good way! A murder mystery, presented as a series of email, texts and phone calls. Someone is dead, and you are presented with this evidence as lawyers are appealing the case for the person found guilty, whom they believe is really innocent.

Lots of secrets, lies, and people who don't always tell the truth. What a surprise.

Well Done! ( )

A lawyer gives two of his staff members a challenge: solve a crime by examining a collection of related emails, messages, documents, and ephemera. Here's the scenario: a tight-knit community theatre group is shaken when a child of their most prominent family is diagnosed with brain cancer. They pull together a fundraising appeal to buy the experimental drugs that are her best hope for treatment, but things start falling apart. Scammers are drawn to the fundraising effort, and there's suspicion that somebody might be mishandling funds. People are not who they seem, and some of them may not exist at all. There are petty disagreements, social snubs, friendships made and destroyed, and, eventually, murder. The wrong person may be in jail -- but can the case be solved with only the evidence provided?

I think I actually like this book ever so slightly better than The Twyford Code by the same author, though both are so good it's hard to make a judgement. While that book hearkened to my love of children's literature, this one appeals to my fondness for community theatre. (Clearly I am being targeted by this author, and I'm okay with that.) She certainly hits all the right notes regarding the high emotions of a small community theatre group; I think I have met all of these individuals, and been a few of them! I was pleased to guess certain parts of the mystery before they were revealed, but it was by no means an easy one to puzzle out, as there are a lot of moving pieces. Definitely recommended to mystery fans. ( )

This was not for me. The epistilary format (but with emails) was awkward in audiobook format, and although I was engaged at times, overall the plot and delivery just felt tedious. ( )

I haven't read a mystery that made me gasp in shock and then delight at how the plot had deceived me. It made me second guess myself. I rather think that is the greatest commendation I can give a mystery.

Very modern, crowdfunding, written in email form, I found it impossible to concentrate on the clues ( )

When I was randomly granted access to this title through Edelweiss, I looked up the synopsis and was intrigued. Piece together the clues and characters in a twisty-turny crime from nothing but a collection of texts and emails? Sounds innovative!

And it was. In theory, this setup is great for putting the reader in the driver's seat as an investigator. With only limited, occasional commentary from a couple of law students who are reading through the archives at the same time you are, there's a stellar opportunity to make up your own mind about things and weigh evidence without being told what to think. It reminded me of the 2018 edge-of-your-seat movie "Searching," wherein you see an entire plot unfold only on computer and phone screens, and the solution is staring you in the face if only you can avoid all the distraction. This was like a literary form of that technique. Its bite-size chunks of narration fed to you in short email and text messages make it easy to just keep reading and reading and reading.

However... it was a really slow burn to get to the point of starting to put any pieces together, and not all of the twists were that surprising. One very significant deception stands out a mile away, so that it's no big deal by the time it's finally revealed. So I can't say I was bowled over by the plot. But I did enjoy the format.

Content note: There is some very strong language, but it's relatively sparse.

Thanks to Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for this digital review copy. ( )

Not only was this written in such a way that had me completely and utterly engrossed in it, it was also such a fun read in terms of following along and trying to figure out the murder. There were many moments were I felt vindicated but I still didn't guess and that in its own way is a testament to the amazing writing. What a fantastic book. Highly recommend! ( )

A barrister instructs two law students to read through a collection of emails, text message exchanges, newspaper clippings and some other materials; while the contents focus on the stage production of an amateur dramatic society and the charity appeal to fund a child's experimental drug treatment, it eventually becomes apparent that a member of the community has been murdered. Can the two students reveal the identity of the killer?

As previous reviewers have mentioned, and is probably quite a well-known fact by now, is that the author uses the format of epistolary fiction brought into the twenty-first century. The narrative device places the reader and the two law students level, with each party privy to identical information. This works extremely well here, even though it did take me a little time to get used to it because the mental picture of each character has to be built up over time through the messages they send and receive, and is not immediately obvious as is usually the case in conventional fiction writing. There are plenty of nefarious activities going on in the little town, and it falls to Femi and Charlotte, as well as the reader, to connect the dots and build a cohesive picture out of the various fragments. The result is a clever and interesting jigsaw puzzle, and I will certainly pick up Janice Hallett's follow-up novel, The Twyford Code, soon. ( )