Thank you Atria Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Christmas Appeal in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: October 24, 2023
Summary:
This immersive holiday caper from the “modern Agatha Christie” (The Sunday Times, London) follows the hilarious Fairway Players theater group as they put on a Christmas play—and solve a murder that threatens their production.
The Christmas season has arrived in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive holiday production of Jack and the Beanstalk to raise money for a new church roof. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking among the amateur theater enthusiasts with petty rivalries, a possibly asbestos-filled beanstalk, and some perennially absent players behind the scenes.
Of course, there’s also the matter of the dead body onstage. Who could possibly have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they investigate Christmas letters, examine emails, and pore over police transcripts to identify both the victim and killer before the curtain closes on their holiday production—for good.
My thoughts:
I was thrilled to see that Janice Hallett was bringing us another story involving the Fairway Players. I absolutely loved The Appeal and so when I saw this one pop up, I immediately requested it – and how fun that it had a holiday theme! These holiday novellas with a side of murder are really becoming a new favorite of mine!
Once again we have the unique format that made The Appeal so fun – an entire story done in epistolary format. I loved sifting through all the letters, What’s Up messages, text messages and interviews that happen amongst the characters in The Christmas Appeal and I again loved playing detective along with the young lawyers as they decide what the crime is and what should be done about it.
Having this set against the backdrop of the holiday production of Jack and the Beanstalk was hilarious and while I did start to pick up on a few clues as to where things where headed, I didn’t have the motivation behind it all. And that kept me paying even more attention.
I loved this one, as much as I loved the previous book, and I do hope this is not the last we’ve seen of the Fairway Players…they are just so much fun to revisit! This is a quick read, one that is easily knocked out in a few hours and I highly recommend it, even if you haven’t read the other one – though I’m sure you will definitely want to once you read this one!
