Hallett’s books are amazingly creative and unique and I’ve enjoyed them all. I was incredibly impressed with The Appeal. This book, revisits those characters as they prepare for a Christmas pantomime. It’s a bit slighter than the first book and perhaps less complex, but still a fun and enjoyable read.

It was fun to return to Lockwood with the Fairway Players. You don't need to read "The Appeal" to read this but there is a lot of the same players. And a lot of the angst and grudges but new people have come onto the scene too for a charity Christmas play.

Like all plans - they go awry. Is it accidental or intentional? And when a dead body is found, emotions are heightened. Stress or cover up?

This is a fast read novella told through emails, messages and the like. Just like the first Appeal story, with its epistolary writing you can see the characters well from their personality. The same detectives are reading through the files trying to figure out the case.

While a novella, this was a complete story. I will definitely read more from Hallett. Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the e-arc copy. This releases next month.

This was my first book by the author and I was unprepared for the style of the book. That said, this little short was a fun read, lots of laugh snorts.

I am always so impressed by the way Janice Hallett structures her stories, and this was no exception. It was so fun being back in the world of the Fairway Players and I sincerely hope this wasn't our last installment! If you need me, you can find me first in line for any and all future releases by Hallett.

The characters are SOOOO unlikeable in this series, oh my god. But also, aggressively realistic with the petty drama of people who do not have anything better to do. Janice writes such quick and hooking reads and this was no different. I liked the Christmas theme. I found myself SO annoyed with everyone in this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Once again The Fairway Players are at it again in this holiday mystery where a dead Santa Clause threatens to ruin their Christmas Pantomime (holiday play). This was just as enjoyable as "The Appeal". Not only is it full of suspense but it is also filled with wit and humor. The reader is once again drawn into investigating a mystery but with a holiday spin. It is a quick read and I think patrons of the list would like to read a quick somewhat cozy mystery.

Sometimes what you need during the crazy Christmas season is a book that will make you laugh out loud. If that sounds like something you’re looking for, then this book is for you.

Plans for the annual Christmas play are underway in this small English town. From the outside, The Fairway Players seem like a happy welcoming community group, but from the inside, there is some serious tension, a power struggle, and a mysterious secret they are trying to hide.

How do you know?

As a reader, you get the inside scoop through every email, text message, and instant message that is exchanged between its members. You seriously feel like you are eavesdropping on a conversation you didn’t mean to hear.

I can honestly say that I went into this book knowing next to nothing other than what I read in the publisher’s description (see below). I don’t think if I’ve ever read a novel that was 100% epistolary, but I loved it. At first, I was a bit confused by the way the story is told. The first half to two-thirds is all told through email exchanges, instant messages, and text messages. Later on you get to learn more through transcripts from police depositions.

In some ways, you feel like an investigator yourself as you try to piece together the story through the various communications that were exchanged. But I laughed out loud at some of the exchanges and mix-ups. (I don’t want to give too much away.)

One of the parts I found interesting is how people will admit to some pretty egregious actions and intentions when they are accused of murder. Let me know if you notice that, too.

This book is a sequel to the best-selling mystery novel, The Appeal, but you do not need to read that book to enjoy this one. I can say because I have not read it, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But now it makes me want to go back and read it so I can know more of the backstory.

I’m excited to listen to the audiobook when it comes out especially seeing that they’ve enlisted multiple voice actors to bring this book to life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

Note: This ARC was provided by Atria Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Having read The Appeal just recently, this was a delightful novella to get just a bit more of the Fairway Players. Although the twist wasn’t as riveting and it wasn’t as Christmas-y (which I rather enjoyed that it wasn’t all Hallmarked out), it was nice to see what happened to the Fairway players after the revelations of the Hayward’s schemes. The community and its nuisances give cozy English village vibes which I love reading.

This theatre group hasn't failed to amaze me yet. They are always in some sort of a trouble. They are always trying to undermine each other. To be part of this company is almost of like a rite of passage for anyone to be accepted into the community. They are an eclectic bunch.

This time they wanted to have a one night Christmas show to collect enough funds to replace the church offering them the stage. After Haywards were gone Sarah-Jane's family became the first family but Cecilia had thoughts about it. At this point they were not fighting against time but also each other. Eventually, they found a way to put on a show, but what they found out was during the pantomime was not as kid-friendly as they thought.

Janice Hallett is putting our two detectives through an ethical and moral dilemma. It was less about whodunnit but more about "if this was your case what would you do?". I love the structure of collection of "evidence" Hallett uses in Appeal series. Reader is given a chance to really become a detective and solve the mystery along with the duo. I hope there is more of this!

"This immersive holiday caper from the "modern Agatha Christie" (The Sunday Times, London) follows the hilarious Fairway Players theater group as they put on a Christmas play - and solve a murder that threatens their production.

The Christmas season has arrived in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive holiday production of Jack and the Beanstalk to raise money for a new church roof. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking among the amateur theater enthusiasts with petty rivalries, a possibly asbestos-filled beanstalk, and some perennially absent players behind the scenes.

Of course, there's also the matter of the dead body onstage. Who could possibly have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they investigate Christmas letters, examine emails, and pore over police transcripts to identify both the victim and killer before the curtain closes on their holiday production - for good."

Oh, I'm a sucked for a murder at a Christmas panto!

The Fairway Players were putting on a Pantomime of Jack and the Beanstalk for Christmas, but something went terribly wrong when a dead Santa is found in the middle of the stage. On November 1, 11 months after the death, Roderick Tanner reaches out to the lawyers Femi and Charlotte to ask for their opinion on who may have done it. He sends copies of letters, emails, texts and scans of discovery materials.

This entire book is written in the form of some kind of correspondence - usually text or email. It tells a story, but not in the traditional sense. It’s an incredibly clever approach to a mystery because it provides so many potential hidden clues.

There are some very funny moments and pantomimes themselves are meant to be farcical performances.

This was book 1.5 in the series and I hadn’t read book 1 so none of the characters were familiar to me, and because of the format of correspondence, I found it very difficult to keep track of who everyone was and didn’t understand some of the references

Unfortunately, I only made it 30% of the way through the book. The style of texts and emails just didn’t work for me. It felt hard to follow what was happening or to remember who everyone was. That said, for people who really like to put an emphasis on the puzzle over the characters and setting, I think this would be a great book. It has humor and it is very fast-paced. However, I would strongly recommend reading the first in the series before attempting this one.

The Christmas appeal is a fast paced story with the Fairway Player putting on a Christmas Pantomime. There’s drama among the group, people seeming to play each side, and some trying to cause issues for others. The emails and texts share the drama, thoughts and plans of some members. Some moments are eye rolls, some are laugh out loud.

I enjoyed reading The Appeal so was definitely excited to read this novella. Felt it was easier to get into with knowing what to expect with most of the story being told through emails and text messages. The way it all comes together, makes you feel a certain way for a character without really getting to know them is amazing.

I received an ARC of this novella from NetGalley for my review. This one appeals to the former AIG kid in me—it’s essentially a dossier of collected evidence in a crime that you solve as you go along. A panto production (a staple for a small British town at Christmas) is derailed by drugs, murder, and conniving retirees who would love to quash upstart, young (middle aged) usurpers! It’s funny, quick, and festive! If you enjoy logic puzzles, cozy mysteries, and/or epistolary fiction, check this one out when it is released on October 24th!

I read The Appeal recently and loved it so when I saw the follow up to it in Netgalley I just had to request it. I loved the first book and I was hoping that I would like this one just as much. I’m happy to say that this didn’t disappoint.

This is a novella follow up and is much shorter but I think that’s it’s just as good as the first book. The plot of the first is very briefly touched on but this is it’s own story. A lot of the characters are from the previous book and it was nice to see them again (mostly) but it also has several new people. I liked how they were worked into the story. The plot of this was super fun. It keeps you guessing til the end. The book is quite short (I read it in a single day) and is fast paced and highly entertaining. It keeps you guessing til the very end. The book is written in mixed media formatting where most of the story is written in text messages and emails and I really liked what that added. You get multiple views into the same events and I love it when that happens.

I don’t think that you need to read the first book to understand this but I recommend it so you can get background info on the returning characters involved. Overall I highly recommend this for fans of mystery novels.

Ah, the politics of community theater - they can be murderous. In this sequel to The Appeal we see behind the scenes via emails, texts, etc. It appears theater group members seek to undermine each other and the Christmas production of Jack and the Bean Stalk. When the old bean stalk prop pops open things get deadly.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing an eGalley of this title.

It was so fun being back in The Fairway Players universe again! This novella was an entertaining glimpse back into the lives of this dysfunctional group. We get to see how the power dynamic has changed since The Appeal, and not everyone is happy about how things have played out.

While this is technically a mystery, I didn't feel like that plot was all that gripping. I found the drama among all the characters to be the star of this book. I loved the mixed media style and getting to read the emails and texts to see how people really felt about each other depending on who they were talking to.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria for an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The storytelling style here took a little getting used to, but once I adjusted I found myself speeding through. Having not read the first book in the series I didn't immediately understand the relationships between the characters and had no idea what had happened previously. I found not knowing the plot of the first book didn't make this one any less enjoyable. My favorite parts were those involving Sarah-Jane and her family. Basically everything that happens with them on the night of the performance is comedic gold. One of my favorite exchanges was when Sarah-Jane calls him Keith in a text exchange - I am still not sure if she did that on purpose as a joke or if it really was an autocorrect. This wasn't so much of a murder mystery as the body doesn't appear until the story is almost over, but all of these scenes leading up to that discovery were entertaining so I didn't mind. I definitely would not mind another story involving this cast of characters!

As someone who's read The Appeal, I loved seeing these characters return. I did have to go back to Book 1 to remind myself who everyone is and what happened at the end of that one. But once I did that, I liked this book a lot. The mystery doesn't get revealed until about 75% of the way through the book and it gets solved about 90% of the way, so there's a lot of backstory/build-up. If that's not your thing, this probably isn't the book for you. However, I thought it was fun anticipating and guessing what was going to happen - was someone going to get murdered and who? 5 stars from me and I look forward to Janice Hallett's next book.

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett is centered around a core group of characters. This novella follows the events of Janice’s book, The Appeal, I haven’t yet read it, but I don’t feel as though I was missing any information. Everything that was relevant had been briefly touched on, so it didn’t take anything away from the story, in my opinion. The main timeline of the book revolves around preparation and execution of their amateur theater groups annual Christmas pantomime. One thing I found very interesting about this book is that it’s not formatted how books typically are with just paragraphs, but instead, there are text messages, email chains and articles.I really enjoyed that because it made the book feel more fast paced, and you got all the sides of the story which is very important since there are 2 main couples who are constantly having issues arise. Sarah-Jane is the head of production and is constantly undermined by Celia who used to have an important role as well but got voted out. Many different issues occurred during the performance, and Celia was to blame for quite a few. During the pantomime, a body is found and everyone has questions except for the person you’d least expect. Our two detectives, Femi and Charlotte are searching through everything they’ve learned to try to uncover the mystery and figure out the truth that some of the unlikeliest characters are hiding. It was such a fun themed murder mystery, and now it makes me want to pick up The Appeal!

This modern, small English town mystery is cleverly told through emails, text exchanges and toward the end, police transcripts. The Fairway Players are putting on a one night only performance of Jack and the Beanstalk, a ‘panto’ in British English. There’s backstabbing, jockeying for power, attempts to get better roles, trying to get volunteers to do all the jobs necessary to put on any amateur production. In other words, almost everyone can relate to this story!
The one challenge, for those reading electronically, is the text exchanges between two local lawyers and their ‘mentor’ that interject and set the stage for the story. On my e-device, they were almost impossible to read, and I couldn’t increase their font size. The only other caveat is that there are references to a preceding book. I found the current story sets the stage so reading the first book isn’t necessary. I’m still going to purchase it as I want to read what happened with the founders of the Players!