Those are great, and have their place, but I appreciated the change up in formatting and storytelling here. The number of characters was a lot which slowed me down to turn back to remember who was who, but it was still enjoyable to chase the clues to find the perpetrator! This is my third book by Hallett, and I absolutely love her style where you can sniff through mails and messages and transcripts, to try and solve a intelligent mystery. One character which stood out for me was Issy, who enters the novel as a modern-day Miss Bates (see Jane Austen’s Emma (1815)) and yet her ultimate role in the tale becomes far more complex and insidious.

Fortunately my opinion on this one ended up being the same — once I got into the rhythm of how the author was setting everything up, I really enjoyed sifting through the letters, texts, and notes and piecing together the bigger picture.I applaud the author for trying something different, but I didn’t feel this approach was successful. It is accepted by you that Daunt Books has no control over additional charges in relation to customs clearance. These documents are part of a QC's evidence bundle for an appeal against someone's murder conviction, but we aren't even told who the supposed victim is, let alone who is is in prison. Then, the cast gets the news that the director’s two year old granddaughter has an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Instead, Charlotte and Femi and the readers are presented with a set of documents, linked together by messages between the main protagonists, which led up to shocking violence and a tragic death. The group bands together to form an Appeal, designed to raise the funds necessary to PROcure the cure. But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—or of the good intentions of those involved.

It sets you thinking: it’s about a plane that lands one March full of passengers and then lands again, full of the same passengers, three months later… an anomaly. Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer View image in fullscreen ‘I never plan a thing in advance – it takes the joy out of it’: Janice Hallett. The last minute evidence added after an initial report back to the senior partner clarified some things.

Sayers’ effort is decidedly more character driven, yet in comparing it to Hallett’s book it works with a smaller cast and includes a more streamlined murder. As the reader races through the book, an accumulation effect occurs, with various strands of the narrative emerging.The Appeal follows the lives of a group of actors within a small town, trying to juggle a play and a fundraising appeal for a young girl. I did figure out a couple of the main twists ahead of time (which is one of the main reasons I compulsively kept reading, to confirm that I was correct! She lives in London and is the author of The Examiner, The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, The Appeal, The Christmas Appeal, and The Twyford Code. The author did try to refresh the reader, multiple times with lists of who everyone is but it proved too little to remove the confusion. It starts with the arrival of two mysterious newcomers to the small town of Lockwood, and ends with a tragic death.

This is for all you crime and mystery readers looking to enliven your normal crime reading fare, particularly if a challenge is something that you are looking for! This mystery is a superb top drawer attention holder as good as the best of Agatha Christie; but that wasn't enough for Janice Hallett, Janice takes a long dark look at close-knit hierarchal communities, local fundraising, digital communications and joy-beyond-joy the creation, management and possible repercussions of digitally-based conspiracy. They are kept in the dark initially as to the true nature of the case and it is best that readers go in without all of the details as well. A lot of the documents are from Izzy, a clingy, ditzy single woman that puts herself into the center of everything.She sends readers in as blind as the two lawyers assigned to go over all the documents and transcripts involved in the case, which can make the sheer volume of names and correspondence to keep track of fairly overwhelming. The reader is invited to solve the mystery in the same way as Roderick Tanner QC invites Charlotte Holroyd and Oufemi Hassan to assist him. 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. Issy is a nurse on a geriatric ward and is delighted when her new colleague Sam Greenwood and her husband Kel agree to audition. For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin.