The Silent Appeal

The Appeal #2

by Janice Hallett

A New Play. Another Murder. A Town Full of Secrets...

It's a new theatrical season in Lower Lockwood, and the amateur thespians of the Fairway Players are starting rehearsals for their production of Agatha Christie's The Hollow. Despite troublesome new arrivals, countless petty squabbles and a gruesome accident with the lighting rig, surely this will be their greatest show to date?

But someone is hiding a devastating secret... and they won't make it to opening night. Could it be Sarah-Jane's sister, back in Lockwood after twenty years abroad? New member Lucas, whose shady business dealings may be his downfall? Or is it Issy, out of prison but still up to her old tricks?

Lawyers Charlotte and Femi must sift through the evidence to identify the victim and find out why the convicted murderer refuses to speak in their own defence... Will they uncover the truth in time? Will you?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary, Crime, Cozy Mystery, Thriller

480 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 25, 2026

About the author

Janice Hallett is a former magazine editor, award-winning journalist, and government communications writer. She wrote articles and speeches for, among others, the Cabinet Office, Home Office, and Department for International Development. Her enthusiasm for travel has taken her around the world several times, from Madagascar to the Galapagos, Guatemala to Zimbabwe, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. A playwright and screenwriter, she penned the feminist Shakespearean stage comedy NetherBard and cowrote the feature film Retreat. The Appeal is her first novel.

Reviews

[Shelley's Book Nook]

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⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Silent Appeal (The Appeal #2)
Janice Hallett
Publication Date: September 1st, 2026
Atria Books
480 Pages
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Genre: General Fiction | Mystery & Thrillers

This story takes place in Lower Lockwood, where an amateur theatre group called the Fairway Players is getting ready to produce Agatha Christie's play, The Hollow. Facing a shortage of cast members, the players and their committee leaders, Sarah-Jane and Kevin, try to recruit new people. But then, out of the blue, Sarah-Jane's sister, Nicola, returns. When a murder occurs on opening night, the blackmail, betrayals, and investigations begin. Two lawyers, Femi and Charlotte, are put in charge of sifting through all the evidence.

The story is told in an epistolary style, which I love. There are texts, WhatsApp messages, emails, and transcripts to read through. The reader is taken along for the ride and gets to play detective as well. In a word, this town is chaotic, but the story and mystery are brilliant.

I liked the format of the book so much—it was very realistic and true to life. It made the whole narrative truly character-driven, and with a cast like this, it was fabulous. There is lots of passive-aggressiveness going on, and personalities shine through the everyday messages being sent. The small-town feel is evident, where everyone knows everyone and all the drama, rivalries, gossip, and suspicions come to light.

The lawyers, Femi and Charlotte, have to go through an evidence file to see if a certain person is actually guilty, giving the reader the chance to examine all the pieces too. They also help balance out the chaos of the townspeople. These check-ins with them help you digest all the information without giving anything away.

The sheer number of characters may feel daunting at first, and the quick pace of the messages means you have to pay close attention. Still, I found it to be very clever and charming—just the way a cozy mystery should be. It's perfect for fans of a great whodunit.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Goodreads ratings reflect reader demographics and
popular enthusiasm rather than objective literary merit.

[Srivalli Rekha]

4 Stars

One Liner: Enjoyed it!

Lower Lockwood

The Fairway Players are back again with Sarah-Jane and Kevin MacDonald as committee co-chairs. This year, they will stage Agatha Christie’s The Hollow. Sarah’s sister, Carol, is back home from Barbados. There are not enough men for the male characters and no one interested in playing the role of Gerda from the book. Fran Elroy-Jones, a new member, brings a young couple and the husband’s cousin to join, but all is not well. Kevin and Sarah reach out to an old member who would be happy to take up any role.

Lawyers Femi and Charlotte arrive once again to uncover what happened on the opening night of The Hollow and who is to blame. They sit with tons of chats, emails, and messages to unearth the truth.

The story comes in a collection of emails, text messages, memos, and news reports.

My Thoughts

I wouldn’t recommend reading this as a standalone because the important characters are established in the first book (it’s okay if you want to skip the novella). You can wing it for sure (I would have done it).
The lawyers and Mr. T are not the primary characters, though they have vital responsibilities. The focus is on The Fairway Players and the new members who joined.

Remember that the mystery is not the murder. It is not even really about who did it, though we’ll get there eventually. This is a study of human nature; of what they do, why they do something, how they react to events, and what makes them who they are. The flaws, hypocrisy, emotions, reactions, obsession, vulnerabilities, fears, anger, pain, guilt, egos, insecurities… all of it is present.

The murder does not happen until the last quarter, which is a pattern in this series. Be prepared for it. That is not even an issue because there is so much drama to sort through. All those tangled threads of conversations, the missing contexts, the doubts, the guessing games, etc., are the core.

As with the previous two books, I had a fun time reading the interactions, making my own theories and adjusting my opinions of these characters.

I wish the chats between the lawyers had a bigger font. The pages are images with chat boxes, which cannot be zoomed. I literally had to hold the tab close to my face to read the text (and these conversations are important; can’t skip them). Though it would have been more work, copy-pasting each set of chat boxes would have made it easier on our eyes.

The series may or may not continue, but I really hope it does. I have a few favorite characters, so I would love to meet them again someday!

To summarize, The Silent Appeal is an entertaining read where a murder mystery is used to delve into the drama of human lives and relationships in a lighthearted manner. Did I guess a few twists in the book? You bet I did. ;)

Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

#NetGalley #TheSilentAppeal

[suspenseisthrillingme]

Told in Hallett’s signature epistolary style, The Silent Appeal was yet another slam dunk of brain-teasing fun. Wrapping a murder mystery up in interpersonal drama, small-town secrets, and community-theater dysfunction, it was a clever puzzle-box of a mystery that kept me guessing from page one. Thanks to the case-file-like format of various documents, I was instantly an armchair detective as the snarky, dark humor made the ride into one where I just couldn’t stop laughing out loud. I mean, how could anyone keep a straight face as they’re plunged into the middle of some truly petty rivalries, grudges, jealousies, and love triangles? Don’t get me wrong, I had an absolute blast as the witty banter intersected with ridiculous antics for a rollicking good time. Addictive, twisty, and with a touch of satire, I couldn’t put it down and read all 450 pages in under 24 hours.

So what else did I love about this second book in a series? Well, I’m always a fan of quirky small towns. Add to that a story-within-a-story narrative packed with distinctive voices, and I’m a guaranteed fan. But the deliciously chaotic crew and their gossip-worthy behavior was what made it into an instant hole in one for this whodunnit lover. With a very Agatha Christie-esque feel this cozy mystery delivered in spades. You see, not only was this drama troupe performing The Hollow, but the story itself felt like a tribute to classic mysteries in the very best way. I do have to say, though, that it was somewhat of a slow burn and had a massive cast list. In spite of that, though, I couldn’t get enough of the Fairway Players and their messy-but-lovable personalities. A Midsomer Murder-meets-Agatha Christie kind of tale, I wholeheartedly suggest grabbing this one now. Rating of 4.75 stars.

Read if you’re a fan of:
- A small-town setting
- Cozy mysteries
- Mixed-media format
- Dark humor
- Agatha Christie vibes
- Amateur sleuths
- Unreliable characters
- Distinctive voices
- Interpersonal drama
- Intricate plotting
- Gossipy behavior
- Puzzle-like mysteries

SYNOPSIS:

Welcome back to Lower Lockwood. The Fairway Players return with Sarah-Jane and Kevin MacDonald as committee cochairs. This year, they have chosen to stage Agatha Christie’s The Hollow. But auditions aren’t their only problem: Sarah-Jane’s sister, Nicky-Rose, is suddenly back in town under mysterious circumstances, having sold her home in Barbados, left her business providing entertainment on cruise ships, and moved back into their mother Carol’s house.

As always, they’re short on men, and new Player Fran Elroy-Jones enlists a young married couple and the husband’s cousin to join. But no one wants to play the part of the hated Gerda, leaving Kevin and Sarah-Jane with no option but to reach out to an old member they know would be happy to perform in any role.

As with any production, tensions run high, and our intrepid lawyers Femi and Charlotte are tasked with uncovering exactly what happened on the opening night of The Hollow—and whether the correct person has taken the blame.

Thank you Janice Hallett and Atria Books for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

PUB DATE: September 1, 2026

Content warning: gaslighting, drug use, infidelity, murder, death, pregnancy, mental illness, violence, trafficking, eating disorder, toxic friendship

[Manon (mysterymanon)]

Janice!!!! Issy!!!!!

[Jonetta]

the setup…
The Fairway Players in Lower Lockwood are back again, this time with Sarah-Jane and Kevin MacDonald as committee co-chairs. This year’s production is Agatha Christie’s The Hollow and there’s the typical jockeying for coveted roles but with a shortage of male performers, they’ve taken on three new Players, a married couple and the husband’s cousin. But on opening night after the performance, a shocking crime was discovered beyond the theater. Things aren’t always what they first seem.

the heart of the story…
The epistolary structure is a key element of this series and continues. It’s a favorite of mine and excellently executed here. The Players have distinctive personalities that are well reflected in their email and group app messages, often hilarious, sometimes snarky and always entertaining. There’s a lot of subterfuge and misdirection that kept me alert.

the narration…
It’s another multicast performance with a group of very talented narrators. I always knew which character was being voiced, essential in this story format. They sounded like a well rehearsed ensemble cast and I loved it!

the bottom line…
The lawyers Femi Hassan and Charlotte Holroyd are also back, setting the stage early that a murder was committed but the who, why and how undefined. It’s another clever performance on the pages that’s lively, gnarly and completely confounding. I hope there will be future performances by The Fairway Players as I can’t seem to get enough of their productions.

Posted on Blue Mood Café

(Thanks to Simon & Schuster Audio and Libro.fm for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)

[liv stormborn ʚɞ]

’Love is so strange, it changes how we see everything else’

The Silent Appeal is the hilarious, twisty and utterly brilliant mixed-media sequel to my favourite mystery novel of all time, The Appeal. We once again return to the town of Lockwood and the amateur drama group The Fairway Players who are putting on their yearly play - this time of Agatha Christie’s The Hollow. But when Sarah-Jane’s elusive sister Nicky-Rose makes her way home and becomes embroiled in the play, things start to take a sinister turn for the worst.

I absolutely adored this book much in the same way I adored its predecessor - for its genius humour, exciting reveals, engaging mystery and creative characters. Sarah-Jane and Kevin remain my firm favourites, but is also loved new editions Fran and Amelia as well. I just had such a wonderful time with this story, and although it didn’t have quite the same impact and final twist as The Appeal, it is certainly a worthy sequel.

I hope this isn’t the last we see of Lockwood or Fairways, but if it was it was a brilliant way to end our time there. Overall, The Silent Appeal gets 4.5/5 stars rounded down to 4/5 stars for Goodreads. There isn’t much I can go into with this book without spoiling the story, so I can only say what I write in every Janice Hallett book review - PLEASE CHECK THESE OUT !! You won’t be disappointed!

[Blair]

I continue to really enjoy Janice Hallett’s books although I’m not sure, at this point, there’s much I can say that I haven’t said before. It was great fun to return to the world of The Appeal again, and I’d read 10 more of these, no matter how daft they get.

I received an advance review copy of The Silent Appeal from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Patty]

The Fairway Players are back with a new play, a few new faces, and another murder. This is the second book by Janice Hallett featuring the bucolic village of Lower Lockwood, England. Sarah-Jane and Kevin have chosen to present The Hollow, a play based on the eponymous book by Agatha Christie (sans Hercule Poirot). There are a few new faces amongst the regular cast and crew who bring a new set of problems to the always beleaguered troop of amateur actors. Will the play be ready for opening night? And will the opening night murder ruin their chances for a National Amateur Drama Award (NADA)?

The epistolary format allows for insight into the relationships and thoughts of the characters; it’s also an ingenious way to make the story lines easy to follow. We begin with a communication dated September 2025 between lawyers who are looking into a murder. Roderick Tanner is incrementally feeding Femi and Charlotte the texts and emails sent between the people involved in the production of the play. He doesn’t tell them who was murdered and who was convicted (he believes they have the wrong person in jail). These interactions are a way for us to go through the events that occur between January and September of 2025. By the time we get to the end, we have been part of each plot line.

The characters are quirky, the writing is witty, and the setting is right out of a British mystery program. I had a hard time putting this one down. The only problem I had was it was hard to read as an ebook (this is an ARC). There were so many characters, and in order to make it easy to access, I copied, pasted, and printed them to keep them handy (I am willing to share).

I’ve read several of Hallett’s books that are epistolary. We are not experiencing the events, but reading what the characters have written, which have then been chosen as relevant by Roderick Tanner. Everyone and everything is unreliable and open to misinterpretation. If it matters, I almost solved the mystery.

I highly recommend this 480 page (behemoth) novel.

I would like to thank Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Trisha]

Another amazing mystery from one of my favorite authors! This one starts years ago with book 1 - The Appeal. In the first story, we're faced with a legal case on appeal and we're reading with 2 interns who are going through the file. It was a unique idea, told through emails, texts, scarps of papers and play posters and diary entries. I was instantly sucked in and loved it.

And here we are, back with book 2. We're again (amazingly!) back with the interns, only now they are lawyers. There is a new case involving some of the same crew from the previous story - the actors in a play house. I was instantly sucked back into the drama and the mystery, knowing that there was a murder and wondering who and how it all came back to that. It really is such a unique way to tell a story and I love it! I'll be anxiously awaiting our next from Janice Hallett!

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.

[Cassie Luellman]

The Silent Appeal is a compelling sequel that picks up again with The Fairway Players a few years after the events of The Appeal. The group has come together to put on Agatha Christie's story, The Hollow and of course there is murder involved. Told once again in Hallett's signature style of mixed media we have a compelling story of gossip, betrayals, and obsession.

Every time I pick up a Hallett book I'm in awe of what a masterful storyteller she is with her ability to make characters come alive with her mixed media style. Each character has such a distinctive voice and there is just enough detail given about the setting that I could easily picture everything happening in my head. I also appreciated that there was so much interpersonal drama happening that it wasn't clear til the end what was the actual event that led to the lawyers getting involved in an appeal. And I was amazed at how many seeds had been planted by Hallett to make the murder possible.

As usual, there is a lot going on with the story. Between the play and each character's personal dramas it can be a lot to juggle. The Silent Appeal is a story that demands to be read as quickly as possible or else tendrils of the story will be lost and the ending will lose its impact. However, I found myself not really caring who died by the end of it because I was more personally invested in seeing the mystery of who killed who reveal itself. Also, after the high of figuring out who killed who I did think the remainder of the book felt a bit flat. There were moments I really liked but there were also some moments that pushed me out of the story a bit.

Overall this was a fantastic story that kept me fully engaged and turning pages as fast as I could. I will forever read anything Janice Hallett writes and I do hope that we get more from The Fairway Players in the future.

[Alisha]

A compelling reading experience that pulled me effortlessly through the pages.
The framing device is so effective: you’re tasked with poring through reams of text messages, emails, and other documentation from a community theatre group, in the knowledge that SOMETHING is going to happen and that SOMEONE is likely not what they seem (or many people)… but what and who? It’s a great way to approach a murder mystery, and skillfully done.

I read Janice Hallett’s first book when it came out, which is set among the same theatre group, but this one can be read as a standalone if desired.

Content note: There is QUITE a lot of profanity in some spots. No graphic scenes.

I was offered this digital ARC by Simon & Schuster through Edelweiss; all opinions are my own.

[Carolyn Walsh]

The Silent Appeal returns us to the small-town amateur theatre group, the Fairway Players. The cast list is huge and intimidating, and I would have liked it shorter. Nevertheless, the story is easier to read than expected. It is a follow-up to The Appeal and the Christmas Appeal (a novella). I enjoyed The Appeal due to its unique, clever epistolary style by Janice Hallett. Like The Appeal, this second book presents a complex puzzle about a murder on stage. Someone has confessed, but two law students have been tasked with finding out whether the person who confessed is really the murderer. There are doubts about his guilt. They must sort through chat messages, emails, texts, journal entries, newspaper articles, transcripts, and police reports. The reader becomes engaged as they try to solve this case from the clues provided in this clever mystery. Text messages between the law students are too small on the Kindle, making them impossible to read unless one switches to an iPad.

This brings back many of the producers, actors, and stagehands from the first book, and I thought the storyline, format, and style were very similar to The Appeal, so it didn't hold my attention as much.
Some roles in the play are highly sought after, while others are parts actors wanted to avoid. New, inexperienced people were invited to join the cast, pushing a few longtime actors into stagehand roles. Jealousy, rumours, resentment, bickering, gossip, and blame have arisen.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of The Silent Appeal. I have read and enjoyed other books by the author, and hope to read forthcoming books by Janice Hallett.

[megs_bookrack]

Oooo, what's this? More Janice Hallett!

I finally got around to The Killer Question earlier this month, and of course it was so much fun. Thank you so much, Atria! I'm excited for this.

[Erin Talamantes]

3.5

I have so many mixed emotions on this one. I LOVE the way Janice Hallett writes a mystery, she’s always able to keep me in the dark until the end. I was also excited to see The Fairway Players again, especially since I really loved The Appeal.
I think this did fall a little short, unfortunately. I love the mixed media format and feeling like a nosy snoop reading through the messages and emails. However, it felt like a majority of the book was focused on such minor gossip and the real mystery didn’t take center stage until the last 30%.
I just don’t think I was as engaged as I was with The Appeal.
I also think some of the reveals just didn’t have the punch that I typically look for like in her previous works.

[Marissa C]

Welcome back to the world of the Fairway Players! I must say, I enjoyed this one even more than book 1 in the series, The Appeal! Having just read it recently, I really appreciated the connections made to the first book, although this could be read as a standalone. This plot was a bit easier to follow than The Appeal, in my opinion, but was still a plethora of intricate stories amongst a variety of possible suspects. Like The Appeal, we get a look at a play within a play, this time, Agatha Christie in “The Hollow”. That was initially the draw of this particular book to me, as I love a good Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery! Told in an epistolary fashion, this is kind book is almost a puzzle within itself. Overall, I enjoyed this book but towards the 2/3rds mark, it started to drag a little for me. This would be a 3.5 for me!

[Amy]

In this book we are back with The Fairway Players drama group. They are putting a new play of The Hollow by Agatha Christie and as always chaos ensues and someone ends up dead on opening night of the play.

This was another mixed media book, which I absolutely bloody adore. Maybe its because we’re revisiting the world of The Appeal, but I found this one kind of repetitive and trust me, it kills me to say that because I love my queen Janice Hallett.  I just kept having this feeling while reading that I’d already read it multiple times before? Do you know what I mean? There were so many moments where I felt like I was going around in circles a little bit.

I will say, though, that I’m an autumn girly and NOTHING rings in autumn for me quite like a Janice Hallett book. I absolutely adore the format she uses with mixed media, and I especially bloody adore all the good gossip we get in her books. I am LOCKED IN. Give me emails, WhatsApps, transcripts and questionable communications and I’m there. I could literally see myself sitting in the corner of this drama club, completely on the sidelines, absolutely BUZZZIIINNNGGG off all the drama going down. I would be thriving. 

One thing I really appreciated about this book was how often we looped back and summarised what was going on. There are SO many characters and so much communication happening between everyone that it can get a little muddled trying to keep track of who knows what, who is doing what and what the actual hell is going on. So those little recap sections were very much appreciated and definitely helped me keep everything straight.

[Christina Pilkington]

While I enjoyed The Appeal, I adored The Silent Appeal! It’s one of my favorite Janice Hallett books by far.

Just know that you really need to read The Appeal first. I suppose you don’t have to—it is possible to pick up on past references from context clues—but you’ll get SO much more out of this story if you read this series in order.

In The Appeal, I loved getting to know all the main characters. They really grew on me by the end of the story! In The Silent Appeal many of the same characters return, which was so much fun! I already felt like I knew them so it was easy to jump right into the story. It was fun seeing what new things they got up to.

Hallett is unbelievably talented at using a mixed media format to tell an engaging story! I’m amazed at how with just emails and text exchanges she can make a character feel more real than in many of the traditionally structured novels I read. Her character’s personalities shine, with all their quirks and eccentricities.

And the mixed media format is perfect for creating misdirection, tension and suspense. Hallett leaves little clues sprinkled along the way that may not initially stand out as clues. That was very true for The Silent Appeal! It’s intelligently and intricately structured, and if you love puzzling together a complex mystery story, this book is for you!

I’m sure you can tell that I HIGHLY recommend picking up The Appeal series! It’s one of my favorite ongoing mysteries series, and I wish more people would read it.

*Thank you to Atria for the physical arc and NetGalley for the digital arc. All opinions are my own.

[Jen Ryland (jenrylandreviews & yaallday)]

So much fun!! Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review!


I thoroughly enjoyed being back with the Fairway Players again, meeting old friends and new, and trying to solve a murder. The Players are putting on The Hollow by Agatha Christie, bickering over parts, bickering over the set, bickering over everything.

I'll post the link to my Readers Guide soon, but if you need a Recap of The Appeal you can find that here!

[Amy]

If you’re anything like me, there’s something irresistible about an epistolary novel. Give me a stack of fictional emails, texts, messages, and correspondence and I am immediately in full on nosy mode. The Silent Appeal absolutely delivers on that front, using its unconventional format to create a clever, twisty mystery that kept me questioning what I was reading, and, more importantly, what I was missing.

Set around an amateur theater group preparing to perform Agatha Christie’s The Hollow, this story has plenty of built in drama before anyone even gets around to murder. Between strained relationships, suspicious newcomers, secrets, blackmail, and a cast of characters who all seem to have something to hide, there is no shortage of potential motives. I especially enjoyed knowing that someone was lying without necessarily knowing why they were lying. The motivations behind everyone’s actions became just as interesting as figuring out who was responsible.

The plotting is smart and full of misdirection, with enough characters and storylines to keep you on your toes without losing sight of the central mystery. I also loved solving the case alongside Femi and Charlotte as they tried to piece together the evidence and determine whether the right person had actually been arrested. There’s something especially satisfying about a mystery that lets you play detective right along with the characters.

I read The Appeal but somehow haven’t gotten around to The Christmas Appeal yet, so that one is officially going on my holiday TBR. If it has even half the same deliciously nosy, dramatic energy as The Silent Appeal, I know I’m going to have a great time. A murder mystery told through correspondence, an amateur theater production, plenty of secrets and misdirection, and the chance to try to solve the case yourself? Absolutely my kind of reading experience.

Perfect for Readers Who Love

* Epistolary novels told through emails, texts, and correspondence
* Cleverly plotted mystery thrillers
* Amateur theater groups and behind the scenes drama
* Agatha Christie vibes
* Multiple suspects with secrets and hidden motives
* Twists, misdirection, and plenty of questions
* Legal investigations and playing detective
* Murder mysteries where you can try to solve the case alongside the characters

[Cofi]

the heart desires to read small town petty gossip with a murder on the side (truly on the side because it literally did not matter, if you want it to matter this is gonna be a very boring read for you)

[Rob McMinn]

Doesn’t seem five minutes since I was reviewing the (audiobook of) The Killer Question, but here we are with an ARC from Netgalley and publisher Viper of the forthcoming sequel to The Appeal, her first novel. Janice Hallett is on fire.
A couple of technical matters to begin with. I’ve consumed all of the Janice Hallett books I have “read” (which is almost all of them) as audiobooks, so I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy actually reading one, with my eyes, as an ebook. This is because she uses the modern-day epistolary form, doing away with a narrator, and having the plot unfold through emails and whatsapps and texts. There are also some facsimiles of paper documents. With the audiobook, you get the entertainment offered by different voices, but reading off the page or screen, you’ve only got your own brain.
As it turned out, it proved impossible to read the Kindle version of this provided by Netgalley, for a couple of reasons. The first was that, as they so often do, the ARC played havoc with my Kindle, causing it to crash literally every time I turned it on while reading the book. The second was that the Kindle formatting was hopeless, completely messing up the various text exchanges, failing to display tabular data, and generally making it difficult to follow. So I resorted to the Netgalley app, and read the facsimile of the printed version provided there. This was a different kind of pain because the pages obviously rendered tiny on my phone and I bloody hate reading on my phone screen, especially in the sun, which is where the Kindle wins every time.
That said, it was great to see how the book was meant to look, with a variety of different fonts and layouts, depending on the communications technology being used.
How was the book, and how was it to read one of these rather than listen?
Well, the reading experience was absolutely fine, though I still intend to get the audiobook version when it’s out, because I love those full cast recordings. And since this one features a particular character who was all over the original Appeal, I do hope they get the same voice actor.
As to the book, it was an odd experience, because I realised that it is a hell of a long time since I enjoyed reading anything quite this much. I’ve read 241 books over the past three years, and, setting aside audiobooks, of those 200+ books, there was not a single one I enjoyed as much as this. I absolutely blasted through it, even having to read it on my phone.
We’re back in Lower Lockwood, where the Fairway Players (excluding those in jail or overseas or otherwise making themselves scarce) are planning a production of Agatha Christie’s The Hollow.
The Hollow was originally a Poirot novel that Christie disliked because she regretted having the Belgian detective in it. So she recast it as a stage play, wrote Poirot out of it, and replaced him with a couple of regular policemen. The play takes place in a country house, with a cast consisting of the owner and his family, several houseguests, and a glamorous movie star. There are love triangles, a murder committed in plain sight, cousin marriages, and a dowdy wife who everybody thinks is slow-witted.
I explain all this because Hallett brilliantly riffs on The Hollow while weaving her own mystery around the amateur dramatics. Successful businessman Kevin McDonald is to direct, with his Microsoft Excel-fixated wife Sarah-Jane as producer. A spanner is thrown in the works when Sarah-Jane’s sister Nicky-Rose reappears after 20 years working in entertainment on cruise ships. When casting the play, they find themselves both short of men and short of anyone willing to play the drudge.
So they send out an appeal to former members of the troupe, and… in they come. If you know, you know, as they say.
There are dodgy dealings, there are drugs, there are risky props, on-stage accidents, charity appeals, affairs, love triangles, pregnancies, cousins, limerent obsessions, and lots and lots and lots of texts, emails, and whatsapps. There’s at least one hilarious “Reply All” and a dangerous copy-paste.
All of this is overseen by lawyers Femi and Charlotte, who have to try to work out what has happened and whether it can be the basis of an appeal for someone who is in jail for murder. The whole thing is a hoot from start to finish, even better, I think, than the original Appeal, because, well, you already know what a certain character is like and what they’re likely to do.
It’s a banger.

[Lisa Leone-campbell]

In the Silent Appeal, Janice Hallett has masterfully succeeded in telling a murder story without giving us a murder, victim or suspects until the end! Brilliant! To add to the delight and humor, some of the same characters return from her first book, The Appeal. Once again, the story is told via email and text and group chats.

This year's Fairway Players theatre production is Agatha Christie's The Hollow. It is being directed by Kevin and Sarah Jane McDonald. As the auditions begin and there are a couple of juicy women's parts up for grabs everyone vies for the starring roles. But unfortunately, both Kevin and Sarah Jane were hoping Sarah Jane's mother would help them out by babysitting, but she opts to audition at another playhouse leaving Sarh Jane as the babysitter in chief and Keven the director in confusion.

Sarah Jane's sister Nicky Rose who has not been seen in these parts in years as she has been living in Barbados and who with a business partner owns an entertainment company which cruise ships hire talent from appears out of the blue. For what reason? No one knows.

She will not tell anybody why she has come back and acts very mysterious. But she has a knack for theater and Kevin immediately hires her to be his assistant. As the players receive their parts, some not very happy with the casting, one in particular drops out which unfortunately for Kevin leaves him and Sarah Jane searching for a substitute. And who they find is someone, well, the readers will know very well for stirring up trouble as well as being overly friendly. What a treat I may add!

The story takes the reader through the rehearsals, a stage accident and the very different personalities of the characters and the secrets most of them are keeping. Some, affairs, some blackmail and some obsessive. But not as shocking there are secrets, misunderstanding and a very unlikely heroine!

Until opening night when a theatre award critic is in the audience and lo and behold someone is murdered!

I truly don't want to give anything of substance away as The Silent Appeal is so funny, enjoyable, mysterious and actually very surprising! The uniqueness of the plot and the twists and turns in the lives of the characters will keep you riveted until the last word! My one wish is this series continues.

Thank you #NetGalley #AtriaPress #TheSilentAppeal #JaniceHallett for the advanced copy.

[Cassie]

The Fairway Players are back! And so are Femi and Charlotte, the long-suffering lawyers tasked with reading through heaps of correspondence, trying to solve a murder mystery.

Like all of Janice Hallett’s novels, The Silent Appeal is told in a mixed-media epistolary format, through a series of emails, texts, journal entries, newspaper articles, and WhatsApp messages. I absolutely love this method of storytelling, particularly in Hallett’s able hands, because it’s so fascinating how the characters reveal themselves through only their own words. And as a reader, it’s so fun to see all the evidence laid out in front of you, to try to pick through the correspondence to see if you can spot the clues within the intricate web Hallett weaves.

I do suggest reading both The Appeal and The Christmas Appeal before diving into this one, just to give you background on the lore of the Fairway Players and context for the petty rivalries, jealousies, and grudges that exist between some of the characters. But The Silent Appeal feels a bit more…salacious than those previous offerings; it’s rife with betrayals, relationship drama, love triangles, and international crime, which combined with the format make it nearly impossible to put down.

I will return to Lower Lockwood as many times as Janice Hallett wants to take me there. These characters feel like friends at this point...yes, even Celia. Thank you to Atria Books for the complimentary reading opportunity.

[Sasha]

4.5 stars

Loved seeing this cast of characters again! The appeal holds a special place in my heart so I loved seeing them put on another play and all the drama, gossip, and death that it brought on.

This story is once again told through emails, texts, and letters which is makes it that much more intriguing! Not to mention, it’s so frustrating, but also fun, to have no idea what’s going on for most of the book lol!

I am absolutely obsessed with the Fairway Players and is it kinda bad to want another murder to happen at one of their plays so we could get another book? At this point I’ll even take a petty theft haha!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for my arc in exchange for my honest review

[Kimberly Koper]

I really loved being back in Lockwood with the Fairway Players. I also really love the way Janice Hallett writes her books, mixed media style. I usually give her books 5 stars, but I was very disappointed that I figured a lot of things out during the first 25% of the book. Nevertheless, I highly recommend reading this one if you love anything Janice writes.

[Bree]

4.5⭐️ I will read anything Janice Hallett writes!

[Annie Carpenter]

AS ALWAYS... Janice knocks it out of the park... nobody doing it like HER... I pledge to read anything she ever writes, forever

[Lily]

Janice Hallett, you never let me down

[Chris Barnes]

she’s done it again. janice hallett day is my favourite day of the year

[Taylor Reads Chaos]

I had SUCH a good time with this book. Janice Hallett really knows how to write a mystery that makes me feel like I need a corkboard, red string, and about 47 tabs open at all times 😂

I have read a lot of Janice Hallet’s books and I am always so impressed with how much depth and personality she is able to capture through just the use of texts and emails. I feel like I know all the Fairway Players so well by now.

I love epistolary format so much because you’re not just reading about an investigation, you actually feel like you’re part of it. I was constantly picking apart messages, questioning tiny details, going back to things I had already read, and changing my mind about basically everyone.

The way everything slowly starts clicking into place was SO satisfying, and I loved how little details that seemed completely unimportant ended up mattering later. Every time I thought I finally had it figured out, something else would happen and send me right back into detective mode.

At this point I’m pretty such Id love anything Janice Hallet writes. Her style is just so unique and addicting to read. This was an easy 5 stars for me!!

Thank you to Atria books for a copy of the e-book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.