Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun return to the Fairway Players as new leadership took on a pantomime of Jack and the Beanstalk. It sits as a standalone, but is best enjoyed if you’ve read The Appeal first, as characters from that are revisited 3 years later.

The way the story was presented was once again unique - through the written correspondence of all the major players, allowing the reader a chance to follow along and decipher the clues. I find this format enjoyable and fast paced. This was a fun little holiday novella.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Fairway players are a long standing amateur theater group. Through a series of mixed media we see tension amongst all the members of the group. Throughout the pantomime a body is discovered in the beanstalk prop.

This was a tough novella to rate. Maybe not reading The Appeal beforehand or maybe the mixed media throughout the whole book made it less fun for me. However, I will always enjoy a short murder mystery especially one that is Christmas themed!

I really enjoyed this one! I definitely want to read The Appeal now as I think it will add to my appreciation of this one. I love a good neighborhood gossip circle with mystery and that’s just what this is. It’s tough to decide with characters to root for but I definitely wasn’t rooting for the Hallidays! I appreciate that there was a slight Christmas theme throughout and the realization of things that matter. This was a great murder mystery and I loved the set up of the book. I like reading as things are happening and I appreciated all the texts emails and newspaper clippings. This was a great read and can’t wait for more from Janice Hallett.

Thank you Netgalley and the author for this ARC!

I loved this story so much more than the original Appeal! I think it was that it seemed like we had more police interviews and such to clarify the story as it went along. I'm sure it also helped that we already knew most of the characters. I hope there will be more from the Fairway Players!

3.5 stars rounded down

This was a tough one to rate. I think it would have been 4 stars if it had a different format. I didn’t mind the texts and emails in the beginning, but I didn’t love the whole book being that way.

Besides that, this book was funny, fast, and entertaining. I didn’t read The Appeal, and didn’t know it existed until reading other reviews, but I was still able to follow it. Perhaps having read The Appeal first would have added something.

I think the cover is absolutely adorable, love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a relatively quick, fun read and exactly what I needed in between some of my more bogged down serious reads. It took a little bit to get used to the writing style essentially being electronic communications and the large number of characters. I’m a speed reader so I definitely had to slow down and pay attention to the details to figure out who was saying what along the way as it could be easy to overlook a sender or recipient.

Overall though, the writing described a small knit group, with the tensions that exist in any group quite well. A shakeup in the status quo begins the novel as the characters struggle with what the new established leadership means for their group as they put on their new performance. There are plenty of twists and turns, and while you know it’s a mystery novel, at times you are kept guessing as to what the mystery actually is. Even with the ending, there were several lines of narrative that I still had questions on and I could see the potential for additional novels addressing those other mysteries. I did enjoy the novel, and recommend it for any lover of mystery or whodunnits. I 100% was taking sides with certain characters throughout the book, and while the writing is succinct due to the format the characters and plot are very robust. You get to know the characters and their motivations quickly, and I think this writing style can be a tricky line to balance to get right. The author did that here and it’s an interesting break from other book formats.

Please be advised I received an advance reader copy (ARC) of this novel in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.

I always love my Christmas stories with a little murder thrown in! This was such a fun, quick read about a mysterious body that shows up during a theater group’s annual pantomime. I didn’t know this was a sequel and I probably wouldn’t have requested it had I known because I was a little lost figuring out all the players. But, I pushed through and it was still fun! I definitely need to read the Appeal now that I know I like the style. It is told in media form (texts, emails, etc.) so if this isn’t your style, I’d skip. But I very much loved it. Thank you, Netgalley and Atria books for my eARC in exchange for a review.

So I read the first book in this series and absolutely loved it. So I thought this would be good too since I love Christmas and yes I loved it. A holiday mystery and a play all go so well together and I was on my toes a lot for it but by the end it wrapped up well for me

Took me a moment to get into the story, but when I did get into it, I really enjoyed it!
I found the writing style fun and interesting but not annoying. I will read again I’m sure around Christmas:)

I have read three books by this author and I’m not going to read anymore. The writing style of this book pisses me off. Told in interview form, articles, and text messages. Also way to many characters to keep up with. This book is hard to follow and just is not good. I don’t suggest anything by this author. This book seems like someone put a bunch of random stuff together and said here’s my book. This was an awful reading experience. Don’t suggest.

I didn't know I missed this little group of amateur actors but I did. Janice Hallett knocked out of the park again. This is a perfect read for Christmas or all year around. I really can't wait to read more from Janice Hallett.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for letting give my honest review.

Via Goodreads:

Thank you, NetGalley & publishers, for making my life complete & gifting me with an ARC of this wonderful/hilarious/brilliant novella by Janice “can’t go wrong” Hallett.

“The Christmas Appeal” returns us to the world of the Fairway Players at Christmastime during a Panto production of Jack & The Beanstock as we are tasked, via written correspondence, to solve yet another murder in Lockwood. (Why, don’t mind if I do…)

Not only was this the warm up to the holiday season I definitely knew I needed, I was SO pleased to get to spend time with these characters again! There was every bit of suspense, surprise twists, and clever writing as in its predecessor and if you’re in the market for a truly charming read, expertly done with surgeon like precision, this one’s for you. Christmas did indeed come early this year!

Hilarious. I read The Appeal and devoured it, this was no different. Moments of laughing out loud, which is the best kind of book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review in advance.

I really have been enjoying mystery books written like this. It was interesting to enter back into the same world as the appeal. The characters are totally reminiscent of small town drama. I did have a hard time staying interested in the story. I think if it would have been 30 pages shorter it would have been better. But I'm looking forward to more from this author.

It took me a moment to get my head around the style but then I quickly fell in to it. A murder mystery told through WhatsApp messages, emails and police interview transcripts. The Christmas element comes from the action being built around the rehearsals and performance of a pantomime but otherwise it’s not heavily festive and could be read anytime of the year. I really enjoyed this simple but entertaining mystery.

Once again an amazing mystery from Janice Hallett. Truly love that we get to revisit the Fairway players at Christmas with a new mystery afoot. Love the use of multi media that helps us piece together who done it! Would highly recommend!

This is a good quick read and I enjoyed being thrown back into the drama (both rehearsed and real-life) of the Fairway Players. It's been a minute since I read the first one, but it's not completely necessary to read that one before this novella. This story and all the correspondence builds up to a body being found during a pantomime performance of Jack and the Beanstalk. My favorite think about Janice Hallett's books is going back and looking back at the clues once I know the outcome/solution, It's all there to be discovered, it's just a lot of other hijinks that are also going on!

I loved Janice Hallett's book The Appeal and was so excited to read this one which includes a lot of the same characters. I love the unique format of both these books -- told mostly in e-mails, text messages, and news articles.

This book was very engrossing -- once again it follows the Fairway Players as they are rehearsing and getting ready to put on a play. There have been some leadership changes since The Appeal, and it's fun to see the power dynamics shift around.

I couldn't put this down, the format makes it so quick to read and I was engaged the entire time.

I would definitely recommend reading The Appeal first, as parts of it are discussed in this book -- and it does give you a good look at many of these characters. Both are so good and I am looking forward to reading more from Janice Hallett!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an early copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I love Janice Hallett and I LOVED The Appeal. So I couldn’t wait to read this one! I didn’t even realize it was a “sequel” to The Appeal. I love the writing style of these books. I fly through them and feel like I’m a part of the investigation. While I loved the writing style and the characters as much as the first book, this story line fell a little flat for me.

I love Janice Hallett's books. Twyford Code was one of my favorite mysteries when it came out. The Christmas Appeal is a novella with a Christmas community play as the backdrop. The plot unravels through a series of emails and text messages.

Janice is an extraordinary writer as you find yourself immersed in her world. There were a few twists and mystery wasn't hard to predict. Being a novella, I don't think the whodunit part was the point of the story. I enjoyed the unraveling of the plot and understanding the politics of the group.

I am eagerly awaiting the release of her book as well.