Many thanks to Viper, Serpent’s Tail and Profile publishers, as well as the author Janice Hallett, for sending me an ARC of this book.

I’m sorry to say that I had to knock one star off - taking it from 4 stars to 3 - after I finished reading the book itself. This is due to the author’s choice to use ChatGPT for very minor parts of the writing, as well as their audacity to then immediately say in the same sentence that they don’t give AI companies permission to use their book to train AI software (which I describe as ‘audacious’ because, well, you’ve chosen to make use of this service despite its language model being developed *by stealing authors’ work without their permission*).

Had the involvement of ChatGPT been stated when publicising this book on NetGalley, I would have chosen not to request this book. However, as I didn’t discover this until reaching the Acknowledgements at the end of the book, I still read it in its entirety and am therefore reviewing it as such. I felt it unfair to knock more than one star off (or to not review at all), though, given the author’s second choice to come clean about their use of language-model OpenAI, as well as the extremely limited way in which it was reportedly used, and their seeming reassurance this was an absolute one-off.

This is genuinely a very enjoyable novel, employing a clever & compelling narrative device of telling the story through text message chains, emails and transcripts of recorded conversations. The characters are surprisingly well-developed & enjoyable (though not all likeable), the mystery itself is very well-handled (a good balance of solvable without becoming too predictable), and all of it hinges on several premises that turn out to be much more interesting than at first glance. I really enjoyed this book at the time, despite its occasionally unbelievable twists, and would have flown through the second half of it anyway (even if I wasn’t down to the last 24hrs of my NetGalley access to it).

For those who find them helpful, I am now including a list of Content Warnings - but keep in mind that this list may include more than one MAJOR SPOILER so **STOP READING HERE TO AVOID SPOILERS!!**

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Content Warnings (including potentially MAJOR SPOILERS):

<spoiler>
- bereavement, including loss of partner, friend & parents
- mental health: depression & stress (both implied)
- police corruption
- sexual harassment
- violence, death/murder and vomit
</spoiler>

If you love a quiz and you love a mystery, this is the book for you. I loved the twists and turns and characterisation was as on point as ever. No one can capture the quietly simmering tensions of a community quite like Janice Hallett!

How do I love Janice’s writing? Let me count the ways… Did I expect Janice’s next book to be anything other than a winner? No, I did not. Set in and around a quiet English pub, who know that quizzes could cause such consternation. Landlords Mal and Sue run a weekly quiz – quite a renegade one, very original – and the local teams pitch up to try and take top spot. All is well until one team arrives and they know everything. Then a body is pulled from the river, and it’s clear something hasn’t been playing fair. There are so many rich, wonderful layers to this novel, written in Janice’s style of messages, emails and reported speech. It’s clever, it’s funny, and there will be moments of open mouthed shock. I can’t wait to read it again to savour.

She never misses. Another outstanding mixed media mystery from the Queen of her genre. The Killer Question is a smart, gripping mystery about a group of shadowy pub quizzers and a body which surfaces from a river. I’ll follow Hallett anywhere……

I’ve read a few Janice Hallett books now and this is very much a rinse and repeat. Format is the same, written through texts and emails, story similar (myster/crime). But I am so glad! This just works for me, loved the story and would recommend to anyone who likes a bit of a mystery but with a nice twist with the formatting.

A quiet country pub, a weekly quiz, and a mysterious team of outsiders that starts winning every round… until a body is found in the river. What lies behind these flawless victories?

📚 by Janice Hallett
⭐ 4.25 stars out of 5
📌 A clever and original thriller, with a unique and thought-provoking structure that makes you want to solve the mystery alongside the characters.

Mal and Sue Eastwood run a remote pub called The Case is Altered, revitalized by a weekly quiz. However, the arrival of a new team that dominates every match coincides with disturbing events, culminating in the discovery of a corpse in the river. Five years later, the pub is abandoned, and the couple’s nephew, Dominic, decides to make a documentary to uncover the truth about what happened.

Janice Hallett uses an innovative narrative style, telling the story through quizzes, messages, and correspondence, creating a "metadata thriller" that draws the reader into an interactive investigation. This distinctive style makes for an engaging and immersive read.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Profile Books Ltd for allowing me to preview this novel. Although my English isn’t perfect, the original format and genre made the reading accessible and captivating. I can’t wait to read it in Italian to fully appreciate every nuance.
Einaudi, if you're out there, give us a sign!

[TW]
Murder
Family secrets
Manipulation

The Killer Question is an original and gripping thriller that confirms Janice Hallett’s talent for reinventing the genre. Highly recommended for fans of intricate mysteries and unconventional storytelling.

Janice Hallett has done it again! I'm a big fan of her books so would read anything she publishes, but The Killer Question is one of her best books yet.

An enjoyable read, but it took me a long time to get into the story because of the format.

It was presented through texts, emails, and interviews, which I found a bit disjointed and prevented me from connecting with the characters.

I persevered and I’m glad I did. I’m sure others will enjoy the format as it did give the opportunity to reveal the story and several twists little bit by little bit.

All in all this is an intriguing tale which is both complex and inventive.

A Killer Of A Quiz
I have read other books by this author and admire her original take on the crime novel. She uses a series of text messages as a means of unfolding the storyline.
The story covers two time zones and begins with a man pitching a TV documentary based on the life story of two of his relatives. The reader is drawn in, step by step, as each new slant to the story is revealed. A series of quizzes, set in a pub, takes centre stage and they are the reader’s introduction to the pubs, quiz masters and teams in the area. The cast of characters reveals itself almost exclusively through online interaction. The first recorded crime, the death of a homeless man, seems almost incidental to proceedings. The arrival of quiz cheats and the appearance of an intriguing new quiz team throw the pub quiz regulars into a far greater state of perturbation than the actual murder.
The main action takes place in an out-of-the-way pub, called ‘The Case Is Altered’. This is a clever ploy as the title refers to a legal term meaning a change in situation that leads to an altered perspective. The case is, in fact, altered several times in the course of the book.
There is an inspired twist at the end, when it transpires that the solution of a number of earlier criminal enterprises actually led to far more heinous crimes.
There is a great deal to recommended this book - original format, fluent writing and impressive character depiction. Just two small quibbles, which are closely related. The extensive cast of characters, some of them on the fringes of the action, can serve to slow down the momentum and lead to confusion. At the same time, there are almost too many events being recorded in the course of the book, some of them involving these minor characters. It seems as if the author is trying to tie up loose ends that did not necessarily need to be untied up in the first place.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read. Thanks to NetGalley and Viper Books for the opportunity to offer this review.

I really admired the way in which Janice Hallett had modernised the epistolary format in The Appeal. A whole cast of characters sprang to life from their emails and WhatsApps. Gradually, the reader began to notice that they were a bunch of stinking rotters. It was subtle, it was clever, it was compelling. Since then however, The Alperton Angels was underwhelming and now the Killer Question. I did not find the characters in the Killer Question to be detailed or indeed interesting. The mystery did not unfold itself gradually to the reader, it was instead rather unceremoniously plonked down. There was no breadcrumb trail of clues but instead information was telegraphed as being withheld. I think that this concept has run dry for me and that I will not be requesting Hallett's books in future. I will not share this review publicly.

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Janet Hallett strikes again with ‘The Killer Question”; with an interesting setting of a country pub aptly named ‘The Case is Altered’, and centres primarily around the weekly quiz evenings with flashbacks to Sue and Malcom’s past career. Are the Eastwoods everything they seem?

I continued to enjoy her use of an epistolary format (letters, texts, documents) which made a triumphant return in this book. I didn’t see the exact major twist coming and that was an enjoyable aspect (as sometimes you guess where it is going) and there are twists aplenty. However, I felt in parts the book dragged on, especially some of the ‘texts’ between the various different pub landlords over quiz questions.

Do I recommend this book? Yes
Who would I recommend this book to? Someone who enjoys mysteries, slow-burns and someone who wants to try something new (a unique format).

Thank you to viper and netgalley for the arc, in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this! I devoured the whole thing on a long haul flight. I’ve read all of Janice Hallett’s books and every single one has been 5 stars.
Another unique concept, with twists and turns you won’t see coming.

Intriguing, Witty, Compelling..
Local village public house The Case (is Altered) appears to have shut down. Once famed for its weekly pub quiz and friendly landlords- now, windows are boarded, doors locked up and the building stands empty. What could have happened? We may be about to discover the truth. This latest contemporary epistolary format novel from Hallett does not disappoint. Populated with red herrings, clues and information galore the narrative is at once intriguing, witty and compelling and will keep the reader wholly immersed until the very end.

Sue and Mal, the new landlords of The Case Is Altered country pub are concerned that a team that joins their regular quiz night is cheating. It's a delicate situation to handle as they don't want to upset their regular clientele but feel that a new infusion of blood is just what the quiz night needs. The discovery of a dead body near the pub puts everyone in the spotlight.

As with every other fan of Janice Hallett I have been eagerly awaiting The Killer Question. Part of the appeal of Janice Hallett's books is reading them and trying (usually unsuccessfully) to spot hints, clues and red herrings. The style is similar to that of the author's previous books with the story being told through a variety of media such as emails, text messages and WhatsApp messages.

I loved the opening of the book. The events in the book took place in 2019, five years later Sue and Mal's nephew pitches the story to Netflix as an idea for a true crime series. While I don't watch true crime I am well aware of its popularity, along with the interest it sparks online as viewers discuss what they've watched. This genre also seems to have ignited a rise in amateur detectives.

To entice a production company, the nephew sends them evidence in the form of emails and messages that have never been seen by the public before. I adore this style of narrative, it's easy to read, you quickly become engrossed and it feels very voyeuristic. The story had me completely absorbed, to the extent that I felt as if I was one of the regular quizzers. The introduction of a quiz team who are obviously cheating is a stroke of genius as it brings out the true characters of some of the regulars. I honestly didn't realise that pub quizzes were so cut-throat. The way in which the usual winners react when they lose is hilarious, they become sticklers for the rules unless it's something that benefits them. The message threads and emails around this are pure gold, I was laughing out loud. Far too frequently something is mentioned that is so true to life or resembles someone you may know. Not all of the teams take things quite as seriously as others; for some, it's a laugh, for others, it's a social event. For the serious quizzers, there's nothing fun about the quiz, so when they feel an injustice has been done they try to get everyone on their side.

There is more to the story than a Monday night quiz, prepare yourself for murder and blackmail as, just like any true life crime series, the story takes unexpected twists and turns. Having read the author's previous books I tried to spot clues and red herrings but failed miserably, which made the reading and the big reveal even more pleasurable. This is one of those books where as soon as you know "whodunnit" you want to go straight back to the beginning to look for the subtle hints. I can't wait to see what Janice Hallett comes up with next but it going to have to be something special to beat The Killer Question.

This was another fantastic read from Janice Hallett using her usual mix of emails, text messages, police reports and more to tell the story of what happened to publicans Mal and Sue. These always draw me in as I try to figure out what has happened based on the information as it’s revealed and new layers are added which add further confusion until gradually one twist is revealed but that’s only a fraction of the story ad further twists are added u til you finally get the full picture. The setting of this was great with the country pub and the many characters and cliques within not to mention the uproar of a team of outsiders coming in and regularly winning the weekly quiz. There’s some great humour peppered throughout this and it really keeps you on your toes but if you like this style of writing it’s a fantastic read with brilliant twists and turns.

Many thanks to netgalley, the author and the publisher for approving my request to read this book.

Sue and Mal owners of The Case Is Altered hold a weekly quiz night which is a roaring success with the locals until a body is found in the village. Flash forward 5 years and the pub is now abandoned and Sue and Mal's nephew is in talks to make a documentary about the events that led up to it's closure. So what happened and more importantly who done it?

This book is a really fun read with lots of twists-I'll be recommending this one!

Once again, Janice Hallett has created a novel full of suspense, humour and drama - and one where the twists just keep on coming!
I love quizzes - both in person and on tv so when I heard about " The Killer Question", I had to read it. I had no doubt that this would be a twisty, entertaining read.
The setting in a pub called The Case is Altered, a rural pub, formerly the home of a popular quiz night and now best known for the murder for its doorstep.
As usual, the storyline is told via the texts/whatsapp
between our protoganists over the preceeding months.
And we soon discover the individual cliques, and personalities of the group of landlords and quizzers - and with how serious some individuals take the quiz and the lengths they will go to in order to win - some of the conversations are genuinely hilarious.
Along with the smaller mysteries that are occurring and the backstory involving certain characters.
And the reader is soon drawn into the darker puzzle of the storyline as we endeavour to determine what has really been happening during the final quiz night!
Just brilliant!

Yet another highly addictive mystery from a truly dangerous author!
This one, despite the immediacy of delivery (texts, emails, opening pages whetting our appetites) was possibly a little slow to get underway, but Hallett is so good at building characters that one is content to follow along. She really makes the best of the epistolary style, which in other hands could be very limiting, and uses it to give us "behind the scenes" info - which, of course, as in real life, is completely false.
Any Hallett fan will just want to know about the ending - yes, it was the usual kick in the gut. I won't say I didn't have a small bit of an inkling, but nowhere near the full picture so, as usual, I was both gobsmacked and thrilled.
The best thing about a Hallett book is that you can speed-read for the gory dénouement, then go back and wallow in the clues/red herrings she has scattered everywhere.
I suppose the only negative thing is that she can quite viciously highlight the petty and not-so-petty sides of even the most innocuous past-times, but as long as you keep away from amateur dramatics and quiz teams, you should be okay.
My heart-felt gratitude to Netgalley for the DRC, as usual, lost a whole day...

Janice Hallett is now undoubtedly the new British Queen of "unique" crime stories.

Weaving phone messages, emails, quiz posters, score results and varied forms of written communication, The Killer Question is another great conundrum-filled read..

This time the world of quizzing sets the scene for a series of events that twist and turn more than Birmingham's Spaghetti Junction. Each week in the pub," The Case is Altered", Mal and Sue Eastwood play host to a group of teams who enjoy their weekly challenge of a quiz and a simple money prize but the equilibrium is knocked with the arrival of a new team who are getting incredible scores- something is not right.... then a body is found in. the nearby canal.

A good cast of characters - especially the different landlords /owners of the pubs and the word play and banter in messages is brilliant.

This is a great read- yes, it is fun in many ways - but the meticulous plotting through the use of various types of print once again displays an ingenuity that keeps the reader on their toes up until the very end... is anybody what they appear to be? The past comes back to haunt. To say anymore would be to spoil the surprises ahead.

Another winner which will be enjoyed by many through the autumn evenings of 2025

I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback

This book!! This book is amazing!! When I think Janice can't get better she just improves with every single book I read of hers. This one has so many twist and turns. Every time I thought I had it all figured out I realised I was completely wrong. Amazing. Mind blown. Don't miss it.