The Christmas Appeal is everything I could ask for in a who done it Christmas mystery. This book was such a fun time. I loved being able to visit the characters from The Appeal again. Janice Hallett’s writing style is what makes this book so successful. It’s so much fun trying to solve the mystery before the characters do.
4/5 Stars

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me an arc copy in exchange for my honest review.

I didn't enjoy this novella as much as the first book - The Appeal. It was nice to have many of the main characters back and to pick up a few years later. I just didn't find the drama and the rivalry between the families as entertaining as in the first book. This is written in epistolary fashion and I enjoyed the different format.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

I read the Appeal last month, and I absolutely ADORED it. So of course, I needed to check out this Christmas novella with the same characters and I really had a fun time reading it as well. It's a really fun read. I do think the mystery gets wrapped up extremely quickly after it gets introduced. I would have liked a bit more time to try and figure things out myself. I really loved the characters, just like in the main book. The format still works incredibly well. Definitely a great read for fans of the original.

I think it’s time to officially say that Janice Hallett is a reliable author for me at this point. The writing and different media formats joined together really worked to enhance the experience. The story and pace always kept me intrigued and entertained. A reading slump has taken over for the last two months and this tickled my brain in a way I needed it to.

I’ll be honest and say I was confused about the characters at the beginning but I eventually had everyone down by the 10-15% mark. So with that in mind, then I suggest doing a reread of The Appeal (the first few chapters) as a refresher on the characters if it’s been a long time since you’ve read it. I’m sure my memory would’ve came back quicker had I done that.

Anyways, I still had a good time and I’ll definitely keep reading from this author.


Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing a copy for an honest review.

If you have not given author Janice Hallett, you really should! The stories are always so fun - told through emails, text messages, whatsapp, and more.

This is a story that takes place in the same theater house as a previous book. If you can, I'd recommend reading book 1 first (just because it's so good!) but this one does stand well on it's own. It's a contained mystery and set up just like the previous one.

No longer paralegals or lawyers in training, Charlotte and Fami are contacted by their previous mentoring attorney/co-worker and he has another case for them to read. A new mystery and he's giving little detail at the start. Just a huge file of messages they must sort through to answer the questions - who died? and who killed them?

As usual, I had no idea how to answer those questions. This one is short, so it was a very fast read. It had me laughing out loud at so many points, along with groaning at funny dad jokes as well as mirroring the frustration of other characters as some of the underhanded and passive-aggressive moves by other cast mates. As always, the night of the play was a comedy of errors and I loved it.

I really hope this isn't the last we see of this group. Surely, they can have another mystery or two in this town before it feels like everyone is dying and/or killing everyone? I'd definitely read it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Cute Christmas mystery with the same characters from The Appeal.

Lawyers Femi and Charlotte are tasked to "solve" the mystery presented to them in a series of e-mails, voice recordings, text messages, etc. The Fairway Players are preparing a one night only performance of Jack and the Beanstalk to help raise money for the church roof. Many mishaps and issues come up, and there just might be a dead body. Who is it and was a crime committed?

I really enjoyed this installment. The Appeal was a bit too long and drawn out for me, so the length of this one was just right. There weren't so many extraneous people and side messages, it was more concise and straightforward, which I really appreciated. There's a lot of humor and I did laugh out loud a few times, especially with the storylines involving the "sweets" and all of the extra attendees at the performance.

This was an overall fun read and I enjoyed myself quite a bit. You don't need to have read the first book to enjoy and appreciate this one, it's a self contained story, although if you didn't read that one some of the character actions and interactions won't make as much sense.

it’s been a while since i read the appeal, so it took me a bit to remember the characters and their roles, but it was fairly easy to pick back up on. i didn’t like this as much as the original, that’s for sure. there’s not much of a mystery going on at all here. it’s mostly just a lot of middle aged women being annoying to each other, which is funny, but definitely not really a murder mystery.

thank you to netgalley for an arc.

There are two things I should have realized earlier.
1. I have The Appeal sitting on my TBR shelf from Christmas last year
2. This is a novella and it would have been helpful for me to have read The Appeal ahead of this

With those two items taken into consideration here is my review:
I did enjoy this quick novella. I read it in a couple of hours. The characters are funny, I love the sarcasm and drama of a group people working together especially on local theater. This didn't really give any Christmas vibes except it was set in December. From the cover and the title I thought Christmas would play more into the story. Originally I gravitated to this book because I thought it could be a fun holiday read. It is a fun read, just not really Christmasy. I would recommend this to anyone who has read The Appeal or wants a quick, light hearted read. The storytelling through solely text messages, emails and WhatsApp messages is easy to read and entertaining to follow along with the "evidence" as the detectives are reading through it too.

My thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book.

This was a cute story and enjoyed the way it was told, again. The characters were human, with flaws and I could certainly see a group like this, struggling for power and keeping secrets secret.

This book is delightful in returning us to the Fairway Players. There is all the intrigue and ephemera of the first Appeal book, and still a good deal of charm. However the mystery was much less mysterious, and I think it was like a fun Christmas special- entertaining, but pretty fluffy and lacking in substance. Rounding up from 3.5 stars because I did enjoy it, and blew through it quickly. It's a nice festive read, with some mildly gruesome Santa and "candy" bits to add to the atmosphere.

I loved The Appeal and was very excited to return to the Fairway Players for another production and accompanying murder investigation with The Christmas Appeal!

This time, the crew is putting on a pantomime of Jack and the Beanstalk to raise funds for a new church roof when a dead body in a Santa suit ends up onstage. Young lawyers Femi and Charlotte must wade through emails, texts, and police transcripts detailing petty rivalries, snark, ordeals, and general chaos to see if they can identify both the victim and the killer.

Hallett is a fantastic writer and so clever in the way she puts together her epistolary novels! Her mysteries are always unique, entertaining puzzles to piece together. And her characters are so well done that they feel like real people caught in the middle of (or creating) these shenanigans. I was engaged and laughing the whole way through! Being a novella, this is a quick read and a fun and festive one to add to your holiday tbr! Love the charming, nostalgic cover!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to review this ARC. I enjoyed it!

A great mini-sequel to an already amazing book. I loved going back to the original story with almost all the same characters but a few years apart. I really loved that we got to focus on so many characters that weren't featured as much in the first story. Another great mystery that Femi and Charlotte were able to solve, and I ate up the whole thing. The short story was perfect and I loved the holiday setting. Thank you Net Galley and Atria Books for the ARC.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Fairway Players are back again - this time giving a holiday performance of Jack and the Beanstalk. In Janice Hallett's signature style, we are presented with emails, text messages, police transcripts and Christmas letters to learn more about the victim and the killer. A fun, unique read for the holidays and you just can't go wrong with this author!

This was a fun quick holiday read. It took me a bit to adjust to the rather novel format, but once I did, it really served the story quite well. A bit of mystery, a great deal of humor, and a touch of holiday magic- hard not to enjoy this one.

Thank you Janice Hallett, Atria Books, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Follow along a small community as they put on a Christmas pantomime to raise money for their church.

I definitely think I would have enjoyed this better if I had read The Appeal before this. I felt like I wasn’t able to connect to the characters as much as I would like to (but that’s completely my fault!). It’s like watching The Gilmore Girls reboot before watching the original series. For fans of the book, this would be a great little Christmas gift.

I did love how this was told all through texts, emails, and transcripts. It definitely makes me want to go back and read the original novel.

Thank you to Netgally for providing this ARC.
This sounds like it should be a great mystery, however, I found this book lacking. It is presented as a holiday book, but I feel like it missed the mark on Christmas theme and cheer. The format for this book as well as The Appeal is very intriguing and unique. I thought I would enjoy this email and instant messaging format, but it was a little daunting and thought reading The Christmas Appeal would be the perfect way to try it. I quickly found that this is not a format of reading that I like. I was unable to really get into the story and it felt like I was reading lots of snit between catty play members with not much substance. It took a good chunk of the book for the murder to take place, which made the book take even longer. As this is book 1.5 in the series, I know they are not as substantial but the ending also fell flat and made it seem kind of pointless.

If you read and loved The Appeal by Janice Hallett, you will enjoy catching up with the characters in this short follow-up. Hallett masters the epistolary mystery, and The Christmas Appeal does not disappoint. I deducted a point from my rating because getting into the novel was surprisingly challenging, even though I'd read the previous book. I had a great time piecing everything together, so I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys puzzles.

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for this ARC!

I really enjoyed this festive follow up to The Appeal, though I think it would be great at any time of year!

Some of the pantomime jokes will be lost on Americans, but having grown up in England I loved them. This book was the perfect short read to kick off my Christmas-y reading season.

I did read this on an e-reader, and the inability to zoom in on the text messages made them very hard to read. Otherwise, love the unique format!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.

And just like that another @janice.hallett book that I absolutely LOVED! Like the 1st Appeal book, this takes place amongst the Fairway Players Christmas play. It is written in the same style, as told by emails and other correspondence, which makes the book super readable and endlessly entertaining as you piece together the who, what, where, when, and why.

If you if you are looking for a fun cozy holiday mystery vibe (but Santa is ☠️🪦😵), with twists and turns, laugh out loud banter, that includes some morally grey/unreliable and calculating narrators then this book is for you! Janice’s books that are ones that are hard to put down, original, full of hi-jinks and the most interesting characters (you will not be able to forget about)!

Happy Pub Day @janice.hallett !!!!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, @atriabooks for a review copy of this book!!!

4.25⭐️

The Christmas Appeal is a standalone followup to The Appeal, but it's not necessary to have read the first book to read this one. It's Christmas time, and the Fairway Players theater troupe are preparing to stage their yearly festive Pantomime for the local children, the proceeds of which are needed to to repair the church roof, which was damaged by a massive and weighty accumulation of bat poo. There is no shortage of behind-the-scenes drama, as rival chair couples jockey for power and influence, actors play one faction off of the other, connive for bigger roles, plot to sabotage the show, or simply fail to show up for rehearsals. Chekov's prop is introduced in the form of a huge, smelly, moldering, rumored-to-be-asbestos-laden old beanstalk for their production's Jack to climb. On the evening of the big performance, things go from bad to worse with an accidental drug deal and a dead Santa dramatically taking center stage and stealing the show.


The book is written as purely mixed media in the form of emails (including a braggadocious holiday newsletter that would make Hyacinth Bucket proud), texts, and What's App messages. I realize not all readers will connect with this format, but I found it clever and a refreshing change of pace that made the book a much quicker read than I expected. While not technically cozy, this was a fun and fairly lighthearted (and darkly comedic) mystery.


Not all of the humour completely landed for me, however. It was difficult to tell sometimes if the author was mocking things like gender nonconformity or "wokeness" and punching down, or if I just didn't get the joke. For example, the caricature of a mom we are meant to laugh at as ridiculously oversensitive is the only one who shares pronouns in her email signature, and it's hard to tell if sharing pronouns is something the author is poking fun at. It's oblique enough that I can't quite guage the author's intent, but it feels uncomfortably like the author is saying "look at this silly person sharing what pronouns they use" in the same way another silly character insisted her husband's name must always be followed by the title OBE. The uncertainty has me conflicted about how to reflect this quantifiably.

My rating does not reflect formatting issues, but I feel I should mention that in the ebook copy I read, some messages are extremely tiny and difficult to read, and the font size cannot be increased like the rest of the text. If you read this on an eReader this may potentially be a problem.


Overall I enjoyed a lot of elements of the book, but other elements didn't work for me. I'm thankful to the author, to Simon & Shuster, and to Netgalley for providing me with a free advance reader copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.