I didn’t love this one. I really enjoyed the original Appeal, especially the format of it with emails, texts, etc, but I felt like this one was really hard to read. I also was disappointed that it was basically the same story just with the deceased in a Santa suit.

I am a huge Janice Hallett fan. Her unique style shines through in her most recent novel, The Christmas Appeal. This holiday season The Fairway Players are performing Jack and the Beanstalk and there is a murder afoot. Tons of unreliable characters and suspicions drive the story and made me flip and fly through the story. The novel is told through email, police transcripts, and letters with multiple narrators, Janice Hallett's wit and smart writing glitters through the page like a holiday star. I felt like was watching a performance unfold in my mind. Perfect little Christmas mystery for the holiday!

I loved The Appeal, so I was excited to read this mini-sequel. It was fun to revisit a lot of the characters from the first book, although it did take me a while to re-orient myself to who was who. The mystery in this book isn't nearly as compelling, but I still enjoyed this as a fun seasonal distraction.

There’s nothing quite like the drama of a community theatre group!

This was a fun, Christmas themed novella that follows the Fairway Players as they put on a Christmas pantomime and all the drama that ensues - both onstage and off. The story is told through a series of transcripts, texts and emails leading up to and following their production. I would have loved to go deeper on everything that was happening beyond and get more of each character’s point of view.

I enjoyed Sarah-Jane’s character and have met folks like her in the community theatre space with a real conviction to ensure the “show must go on”.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A novella sequel-ish to The Appeal with plenty of Christmas vibes to go around!

Full disclosure: I did not read The Appeal first, so honestly I was a smidge lost at first. As a novella, this story picks up with the expectation that readers already know the characters and setting. Which I did not. But Hallett's characters are so eclectic and her writing is so to-the-point that you get to know everyone right away -- it wasn't long before I felt like I was all caught up. I gave this story 4.5 stars instead of a full 5 stars because I felt like the murder mystery was lost in all of the hullaballoo that was the hot-mess-express of the pantomime production. There was a ton of in-fighting, sabotage, and shenanigans that the murder itself seemed almost an afterthought. I really enjoyed the story and found it very entertaining, but I wouldn't really classify it as a murder mystery...

**Thank you, NetGalley and publishers, for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.**

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 204 / Genre: Murder Mystery

I found this cozy Christmas murder mystery to be so inventive, fun, and entertaining. The Fairway Players theatre group is putting on a play when a dead body emerges from an old massive beanstalk prop. Lawyers Femi and Charlotte are tasked with figuring out who the dead body is and what happened.

The entire book is basically a collection of emails, text messages, news clippings, and police reports as gathered by the lawyers. I read and listened to the audiobook on this one and although the audiobook was well done, I think reading this one was a better format for this book due to the unique structure.

Overall, I loved the hilarious and snarky banter between characters. This provided a nice break among all the holiday romance I’ve been reading.

Thank you, @NetGalley and @AtriaBooks for the advanced copy of this book. I really enjoyed it.

This book was so fun! Very quick read and had me laughing out loud. It was easy to follow and I enjoyed the mystery. Would absolutely recommend!

I actually haven’t read The Appeal, book #1 in this series (this is a mini novella that is book #1.5), but I still enjoyed this immensely!!

This was a super fast, super fun Christmas read that was uniquely told through a series of text messages, police transcripts, & emails, piecing together the story of the Christmas play that ended up with a dead body on stage!

Laugh out loud funny (seriously, Matt was so confused as to why I kept snorting at my kindle 🤣), this makes me want to devour all of Hallett’s work!

If you’re looking for a lighthearted, easy read this season, I highly recommend this one! 🎄🎅🏼

Similar to the original The Appeal, a fun mystery written entirely through emails and texts. A perfect ready around Christmas time, and will be recommending it to others.

The Appeal was absolutely one of my favorite books of 2021 so I was thrilled to get The Christmas Appeal from NetGalley. I really hope there are more adventures for The Fairway Players forthcoming. This one was such a fun read plus it was way funnier than I remember The Appeal being. I highly recommend this is you liked The Appeal or love fast moving, funny mysteries with a holiday slant.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc I received in exchange for my honest review.

Not my favorite. I wasn’t a fan of the layout. I got super confused between all the emails and texts. There was to many characters to keep up with. And I guess it goes with the appeal. I think I would have liked it more if I read that first. Didn’t feel like a thriller to me.

I enjoyed this one! As a fan of The Appeal, I was excited to dive back into the world of the Fairway Players. This was a quick, breezy read that was easier to follow than The Appeal. Still, it could have benefited from a character list at the start, as it had been some time since I read the first book. It was a little light on the mystery front, but I still found it to be fun and it did make me want to keep reading.

Such a fun little escapade back in the village of the Fairway Players, perfect for this holiday season. I love this format, the author makes it work so well. While I had the digital edition on hand I wanted to see the print version as well and it is so fun. The cover art, on a jacketless hardback, is perfect for this time of year. If you loved The Appeal, I recommend this one as well. It's not as thorough as it's a novella, but it's a fun time.

Reader: Your Assignment, should you accept it, is to read through this file of documents including loose notes, emails, texts etc., reports, discovery production and all that entails, and come up with your solution of what exactly happened to the dead Santa, in the middle of a play.

We wish you luck! this review will self-destruct in . . . oh! wait! Different story. Altogether.

But, very funny and sassy - completely different than your usual Christmas read.

*A sincere thank you to Janice Hallett, Atria Books and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.*

A fun and suspenseful mystery to follow along with, that follows a group of characters filled with grudges and drama.

This fascinating tale of a Drama Troupe called The Fairway Players presents readers with a view of the interworkings, underminings, and hilarious miscommunications all through various forms of electronic communication.

What I Loved.
Sarah Jane McDonald - our female lead - is trying her hardest to keep the Christmas Panto, aka Play, Jack and the Bean Stalk, on schedule without too much fuss. Unfortunately, the ousted former Chairs of the Troupe, the Hallidays, specifically Celia, are quite bent on throwing a wrench into Sarah Jane's plans. Watching the messages go back and forth and having to be fielded including dealing with the Halliday's dog, Woof, urinating in the church where they rehearse and put on the play, is laugh out loud funny. Bloody Celia!

What I liked.
The outcome of determination of the two lawyers. I happen to agree with them.

What I thought could have been better.

I'm certain in the hard copy (paper or hardback), this isn't an issue. But in the ebook the messages between the lawyers were presented as pictures. You'd have to enlarge them every time. It became time consuming to do just to read their messages. I think this should be changed.

This is a charming book but I'm not certain everyone will enjoy reading the format of it being conveyed through electronic communication.

The Fairway Players, first featured in Janice Hallett's novel The Appeal, are back! It's time for the annual Christmas pantomime, and the Players are hopeful that their one-night-only performance of Jack and the Beanstalk will go off without a hitch. Except there is a hitch, quite a large one in fact: the discovery of a dead body onstage. Lawyers Femi and Charlotte are tasked with sorting through the Fairway Players' correspondence to determine who was killed, and why, and whether or not foul play was involved.

The Appeal was one of my favorite reads of last year with its inventive, modern take on the epistolary format, so I was happy to be back with the Fairway Players once again. Reading The Appeal isn't necessary in order to enjoy this novella, which works as a fun and entertaining standalone, but I do recommend it. The subtleties and complexities of the characters' interactions won't be as meaningful without the context of The Appeal.

What I enjoyed most about The Christmas Appeal was revisiting these characters, with all their petty jealousies, vendettas, shenanigans, and passive-aggressive comments embedded so cleverly in their correspondence. Hallett is able to convey so much in the lines -- and between the lines -- of their e-mails, letters, and text messages, and there are a few aspects of the plot that had me laughing out loud (especially the "gender-neutral" Christmas "sweets").

As for the dead body -- it isn't discovered until pretty late in the story, so the mystery of its origins feels almost secondary to the plot. Instead, The Christmas Appeal feels more like a madcap epistolary romp with a mystery tacked on at the end. And honestly, that was just fine with me, because I was still so entertained. I hope this isn't the last we'll see of the Fairway Players. Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the complimentary reading opportunity.

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

• Christmas mystery novella
• epistolary format
• fun to "solve-along"

I read The Appeal a couple of years ago, but definitely didn't remember all of the characters. It helps to have their backstories. I enjoyed this quick, festive read!

🗣️ Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC! All opinions are honest and my own.

I love novellas and was very excited for this one but unfortunately I hadn’t realized it was part of a series! I will be reading the first book before I can properly rate this one!

This was such a delightful follow up to The Appeal! This short novel was so fun and fast to read, and funny!! It was exactly what I needed! I forgot just how much I loved the quirky characters from The Appeal until reading this! I will say, however, that while this book does take place during the Christmas season, there isn't a very strong Christmas vibe, which I was hoping for a little more of. But I still enjoyed it anyway. Told in the same epistolary format as the original, ick this one up if you need something out of the ordinary!