The Appeal
Book Feature - The Appeal by Janice Hallett
HBL Note: Calling all fans of Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell, debut novelist Janice Hallett just might be your new favorite author. But what struck me about THE APPEAL was the unique delivery of the story through emails, messages, and transcripts, known as an epistolary novel. It is a modern take on the crime novel, but still provides all the twists and turns that we know and love. Scroll down to read how a drama production leads to a murder in THE APPEAL by Janice Hallett.
From the publisher:
The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their fellow castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival.
But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—nor of the good intentions of those involved. As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material—emails, messages, letters—with a growing suspicion that a killer may be hiding in plain sight. The evidence is all there, between the lines, waiting to be uncovered.
A wholly modern take on the epistolary novel, The Appeal is a “daring…clever, and funny” (The Times, London) debut for fans of Richard Osman and Lucy Foley.