I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. This book is very clever and very unique! It is written in a series of electronic messages, which although was a little bit confusing at the beginning, became a very effective manner to follow this ensemble of characters in a small town. Recommended!

What a unique concept for a murder mystery! A law professor gives 2 of his students *all* the correspondence between *all* the suspects surrounding a murder & tells them to go through it all to see if they can piece together the events and figure out the motive & murderer.
It’s told completely in emails, texts, reports & messages. It was fun reading along with the students, trying to see what everyone else might have missed.
Because there are so many characters, it can be a little confusing (this definitely isn’t a book you can read a little from, put it down, & casually come back to.) But if you commit to it, there were some great twists at the end.

For fans of whodunits, complex mysteries, and Agatha Christie, The Appeal is written in a new-to-me format. It’s all based on written communications. The concept is two young lawyers reviewing correspondence between members of a small town where a murder has taken place and reporting back to their senior lawyer, who is comically rusty on texting.
The group of people being reviewed is a bit large, but thankfully, a chart is provided early in the book. This came in handy for me to refer back to as the correspondence flitted around between people.
The snarky comments, backstabbing, turning molehills into mountains, and desire to be most informed are extremely entertaining when looking in from this vantage point. The plot centers on a group of townsfolk who are putting on a play, and they take their roles very seriously. Full of twists, chuckles, and vivid personalities, if you like a mystery, you’ll enjoy trying to figure this one out.
Sincere thanks to St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is January 25, 2022.

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

The Appeal is an epistolary novel surrounding a murder that happened around a community theater production of an Arthur Miller play and a fundraiser for a child associated with the theatre who has cancer. The murder doesn't occur until the last fourth of the novel but until that point we are lead down a winding road of possible deceit not knowing who we can trust.

The Appeal is set in England and has different connotations to the meaning of the novel as you read it, which I enjoyed. Because it is told in an epistolary fashion it did get a little tiring at times of reading emails but I was still intrigued enough to keep going in the story. I would suggest for readers to read it vs. listening to it because of the layout of the novel. I think it could be harder to follow in an audiobook. Although there are quite a few characters in the novel, we are treated to the narrations of a select few so it was easier to follow and get a whos-who among the Fairway Players cast. I kept myself guessing who was behind the crime along with Femi and Charlotte as it kept going along. It wasn't as action packed as I expected but I was still mildly surprised by the end. I think as readers we can easily put quite a few pieces of the puzzle together but it's easy to miss one of them which left me surprised. I did think it was an original way to tell a crime novel and I'd read another novel by Janice Hallett in the future.

If you enjoy slow procedural novels or shows, I think you'll enjoy The Appeal.

Oh wow! This was just an amazing reading experience. It has been so long since I have been completely taken by a book. I started this in the evening and could not fall asleep because I was wide awake, reading it like mad. I even woke up early, grabbing for it and finishing it before starting the workday. It was that gripping.

This book had everything I love in a mystery- great premise, strong structure, conflicted characters, and a banging ending. I adored the outsider perspective role the reader was given, as we observe two layers of the mystery- the conversations between the two young lawyers who are assigned to review the case with new eyes, and then the material they are looking at. While there are so many characters, the voices were distinct, the format was brilliant in that we are only seeing texts or email conversations between the characters of this village. The appeal is a play on the idea of a legal appeal and an appeal for help for a young girl who is suffering from cancer that the performers of a local community theater group take on, as the child in question is the daughter of one of the families that are heavily engaged in the playhouse.

Gripping, cringe-worthy, smart, astute, and all-around wonderful read. I absolutely loved it.

There is a lot going on in this book, but it works somehow.

Firstly, I love epistolary novels. Two law clerks are tasked with sorting out a murder mystery using only the correspondence between some of the major players in the drama. And it's a real case, so no pressure.

Secondly, I love when there are multiple things going on because it's harder to unravel the entire thing early on, which I am known to do. It opens with the statement that there was a murder, but there is all this info in the correspondence about what looks to be a major money scheme (or several) that involves stealing money from a young girl's cancer charity appeal. It's complicated. It's not even clear until later who exactly has died.

So, murder mystery + financial nefariousness + epistolary = definitely read this one.

After doing a quick flip through the book, I was very excited to see that it was formatted in a different way. It looked so unique and I was very keen to read it. Unfortunately, this ended up not being my cup of tea. The amount of characters mixed with the formatting made it incredibly difficult to follow the story and keep everyone straight. It came off as overly complicated. I also did not realize it was a neighborhood drama. Based on the blurb and quotes from other authors I thought it was going to be more of a crime novel/mystery.

Can you really tell a complex murder mystery in epistolary style?

Turns out-you CAN!!

The Fairway Players, a local theater group, is in the midst of rehearsals for their latest production, when tragedy strikes the family of the director Martin Haywood, and his wife, Helen, the play’s leading lady. Their two year old granddaughter, Poppy Reswick has been diagnosed with Medulloblastoma-a rare form of brain cancer.

Their only hope is to try and raise $350,000 through a crowdfunding campaign-A Cure For Poppy-so that they can import an experimental drug from the U.S. for the first round of treatment.

But, not everyone is convinced that THE APPEAL for the funds, and the drug, are legitimate.

Suspicions mount, accusations are made and the tension leads to a DEAD body, and an ARREST on the night of the play’s dress rehearsal . Yes, there is more drama off the stage than on it!,

Roderick Tanner, QC, the senior partner at Tanner & Dewey, LLP, is representing the accused, and tasks his young law interns, Olefemi Hassan and Charlotte Holroyd, with the tedious job of sorting through the emails, texts and messages sent and received by all those involved with THE APPEAL.

They must decipher If the appeal is being used for personal gain, and by whom.
And, if the suspect in custody is the correct one.

We, the reader join them in their endeavor, as the story is told ENTIRELY through these various means of correspondence, as they attempt to determine who is guilty and who is innocent.

Initially, I thought to myself, how in the heck do you keep 15 suspects straight? Turns out, although there are a LOT of characters, once you get into the flow of the story, the key players easily stand out, as their correspondence is much more frequent. So, DON’T get bogged down with the supporting cast, and how each is related to the others-it isn’t necessary.

However, I can understand why the book won’t be for every reader. If you sit in front of a computer all day, answering emails for a living, doing so after work, in a book, may not work for you!

I thought it helped that there was levity supplied through the email exchanges sent and received by Isabel Beck, a nurse and cast member, who is OBSESSED with rehearsals for the play, AND with with a new co-worker, Samantha. greenwood, who she has deemed her new BEST friend.

And, the LAST chapter is perfect. 👌

Overall, although the book felt a little too long, by the end, I found it to be CLEVER, COMPLEX and UNIQUE and kudos to author Janice Hallett for that! I will definitely be reading her next book, “The Twyford Code” when it becomes available to U.S. readers.

This book is now available abroad and will be published in the U.S. by Atria Books on January 25, 2022, who supplied me with a gifted copy. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

An ARC book = The Fairway Players were putting on an amateur production of All My Sons when the young daughter of two of the actors was told she had an incurable brain cancer. They decided to arrange a fund raising program to collect money for a cure that was only done in the US. All of the story is done by email and a little hard to keep up with the story. Everything was repeated over and over even after one of the players was found dead and Izzy was found guilty. Then the attorney's communicated with each other trying to figure out who actually killed Sam. It then became interesting enough to finish.

I really enjoyed the chance to play amateur detective while reading this book. It's a pretty unique set up in that you are provided with case notes and emails pertaining to a client who has been convicted of murder. You follow along as two junior lawyers try to piece together who is the person who actually committed the crime. I was hooked from the beginning!

I LOVED this book. Told from the viewpoint of various people surrounding a murder and also the viewpoint of the people investigating it through emails, texts, and articles. This was an unconventional and well-utilized and supremely well-done way of writing this book. The story follows a possibly homicide/suicide, possible fraud, and a lot of twists and turns. We encounter people who are not only doctors and nurses, but also actors in an acting troupe. The owners of the group have a granddaughter who subsequently is diagnosed with a rare type of cancer (or is she?). The story was absolutely compelling and I would HIGHLY recommend this as a great quick read for anyone.

~Someone was murdered
 ~Someone went to Prison
 ~Everyone is a Suspect

You the reader need to uncover the truth by reading a series of emails and other correspondence!

I went into this story blind except that I love mysteries and the genre for this is listed as a mystery.
So when I am reading email after email … I thought hmmm what did I get myself into?
Personal Note: I am not a fan of long emails. I prefer …‘get to the point’ messages.
I like short text messages, emails as well as quick fun Facebook posts. In fact, I am impatient with not only long emails but those Christmas messages that go back to what has happened the WHOLE year 🤔
I usually often skim read them!!

There is no doubt this is clever and YES! Ms. Hallett certainly is thinking ‘outside the box’.
I am old and set in my way!!! I am a reader who loves twists and turns.
I know others who are far more into ‘new’ and shall we say ‘more flexible’ than me and they will LOVE this!!

Want to thank NetGalley and Atrea Books ~ for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 25, 2022

The Appeal follows a community as they raise money for a little girl with a brain tumor while simultaneously putting on a play. This novel is very different because it is told completely through email and messaging correspondence. It was difficult at the beginning to sort out everyone and follow the threads. I was intrigued on how this would end and was eager to find the answers.

Ok this one was not for me. This format was cute at first but honestly, it became so tedious. Reading this book felt like work. I did not finish this one so I will not be posting about it anywhere else.

I’m a huge fan of an epistolary style novel and will always jump at the chance to read one so basically that’s all I knew about this one before I started it. The style satisfies my nosy side, I love getting a glimpse into emails, text messages etc so the format of this one worked well for me. I was also intrigued by the mystery aspect of as well, the other epistolary books I’ve read have been romance or contemporary fiction so I wondered how a mystery would work this way and unfortunately it didn’t work all that well for me in the end. I was fully invested for the bulk of it after I settled into keeping all the characters straight, because there were a ton. You also only saw one side of emails from certain people, like Issy’s emails were only her side no responses so it was confusing. But once I figured it out I was pretty comfortable until the emails stopped and basically the whole entire book was regurgitated again. Totally unnecessary and frankly boring, I actually felt like it was a waste of time and was annoyed by it. It was a solid story and idea but the execution was weak for me, it was too long and drawn out and repetitive, which was a shame because it had potential. The right reader may enjoy this, reviews are solid it just became tedious for me.

"The Appeal" by Janice Hallet, started of so straightforward and compelling, then became a very unexpected mystery. I did not expect the twists in the plot, and the format was creative and unusual (via many emails), filled with colorful characters. I appreciated this new spin on solving a mystery! Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advance reader copy for review. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book and couldn't put it down. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher who gave me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this fabulous and clever book. I always like epistolary novels, and they're unusual to find with mysteries or thrillers. At first, the reader doesn't even know what the crime is, and, eventually, we want to solve the murder as well as possible other crimes. The author was able to really bring the characters to life, make us question everyone's credibility and motivation, and create a lot of suspense. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading future books by the author.

This novel is designed in all text and email format, which is a bit hard to get used to and yet I really enjoyed by the end. 2 young lawyers filter through all these messages to find out who has committed a murder in the Fairways Players community theater. The book has your guessing until the end, with secrets and surprises continually popping up.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an advanced copy of this novel.

The Appeal by Janice Hallett. Rating: 🌟🌟. Publication Date: January 25, 2022. I don’t know why, but this book just wasn’t of much interest to me. Told in epistolary style, the book centers around a sick child in which a community comes together to fundraise for her treatment. In the midst of the chaos, drama ensues and murder happens. Who killed Sam and why? For me, the format of the book didn’t work because there were so many characters and each storyline jumped around through e-mail correspondence. Too much to keep track of and not enough fast paced scenes for me to really enjoy this book. This one was a miss for me! Thanks to @netgalley and @atriabooks for this free e-arc copy in exchange for my honest review! #netgalley #bookstagram #bibliophile #bookworm #igreads #theappeal

The Fairway Players is a small-town theater group. The majority of the parts are done by one extended family. This is a close-knit group. As production starts on their latest play, an announcement is made that the two-year old granddaughter of their beloved director is seriously ill. A campaign is started to raise funds for the little girls cutting edge treatment which will be quite expensive. Two people new to the area are welcomed into the group. It’s not long before questions begin circulating about the efficacy of the little girls’ treatment and the amount raised in the appeal so far. Suddenly one of the actors turns up dead.

This is my first negative review so I am afraid I am at a loss. I liked the story but not the manner in which it was presented. From the first page to the last page, the book consists of emails and texts between some of the characters. The premise of the book is that two lawyers must review these texts and emails to determine whether the appeal was a charade, who planned it, who was involved and when each caste member knew about the fraud. It is also a murder mystery but I don’t think the author did a good job fleshing this part of the book out.
Robyn Heil, Brodart Co. Buyer