The Christmas Appeal reunites us with the Fairway Players and god, was it good to have them back.

The brilliantly insufferable snob Sarah-Jane is now co-chair of the players and they’re putting on Jack and The Beanstalk as this years panto.

Poor Sarah-Jane has to deal with busybody Celia trying to sabotage her play AND a body showing up right in the middle of it all.

Lawyers Femi and Charlotte who are looking over evidence to try and solve the case, and the book is told entirely through text messages, emails and police reports as they try to piece together what happened.

It’s probably strange to say I adore a book about somebody dying but I honestly love Janice Hallett’s writing so much, it’s so fun and inventive and this follow up to The Appeal felt like I was returning to old friends. I loved it.

I’m a huge fan of Janice Hallett, I absolutely loved The Appeal, and this shorter christmas story with all of the familiar characters is so wonderful!! It’s gripping, the character development is fabulous, it’s so funny and comic at times, it is a perfect cosy winter mystery. I cannot wait to get a copy of this book so I can lend it to other people. I think this will get people out of reading slumps. This is just the sort of book that makes me fall in love with reading, I am so grateful that I got to read it before publication!

The Fairway Players just can't catch a break. Having finally put all that ... Mess ... Behind them, the group is getting ready to stage Jack and the Beanstalk as their annual panto. But tensions are running high backstage and on show night, disaster strikes!

This is another brilliantly, cleverly written mystery set in a community that I found myself oddly pleased to be back in. Couldn't put it down, there were some genuine laugh out loud moments and several unexpected twists. A lovely, cozy read!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The perfect "cosy crime" Christmas read!

I laughed out loud several times whilst reading the Christmas Appeal which just goes to show how much I enjoyed it.

Comic misunderstandings, cloying and not entirely truthful, round robin Christmas letters, a mishap prone play and talk of a murderer arriving in the area, what more could you ask for?

When a dead Santa is discovered, we're left wondering how it happened and who was involved.

With rivelries amongst the actors simmering, it's interesting to see how this unfolds!

Perfectly written and I enjoyed that it was written in a WhatsApp message style format as it allowed for conversations to flow between the characters.

This is my second Christmas book this week and it's only August. This is my third read of a book by this author each one written in a unique style using letters, emails, text messages etc. I am still not sure how much I enjoy this style of writing but it is certainly different.

"The Christmas Appeal" by Janice Hallett is a Christmas themed novella with the Fairway Players back on stage preparing for the festive pantomime 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. The novel is set in the village of Lower Lockwood and the story is told in an assortment of emails, letters and texts.

The Fairway Players are aiming to raise money for a church roof appeal but there is tension in the group and plenty of disagreements. The characters communications drip feed information throughout and make you feel you may be able to solve the puzzle yourself. I know there are many people who like this style of writing and although I enjoy the books it does seem to stop the flow for me personally.

I did enjoy this festive read, a cosy tale told in an unconventional way that kept me entertained. A 3.5 star rating for me.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Serpents Tail for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book should come with a warning not to read it in a public place because omg it made me laugh out loud so many times and got me some very odd looks !!
I was so thrilled to be given an early copy of the book from the publisher and also over the moon to be back with the Fairway players from the previous novel The Appeal and I absolutely loved it. I am actually lost for words to describe what an incredible read the book was it had everything that I love in a story and I can honestly say there isn’t anything about it that I can fault.
So superb writing , a whole cast of wonderful characters and a clever plot Janice Hallett gives us all of these things and more I really can’t praise her enough for giving me such a wonderful reading experience … this is why I read to be taken out of myself and loving every minute of it, so a massive thank you to her.
This is a 100% , 5 star must read please don’t miss it it will light up your day.
My thanks to NetGalley and Serpent’s Tail / Viper / Profile Books for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

So pleased that Janice Hallett has reunited us with the Fairway Players for a Christmas novella set in the same world as "The Appeal", this time in "The Christmas Appeal". It did remind me of "The Play that Goes Wrong" and a series of loveable characters in farcical situations. It would be the perfect book to give a crime-lover at Christmas.

really enjoyed this book. wacky group of characters, would love some more, exploring the exploits that these charters get up to whilst trying to put a play on

A lovely festive update to The Appeal. As with other books by this author, this is a clever and well plotted mini novel. Bits of it are properly laugh out loud funny.

A short, funny clever story perfect for the run up to Christmas.

This was such an amazing comeback to the Lockwood and the Fairway Players circle! I devoured this in an evening, relishing in how amazingly Hallett works intertwines plot with the email format. Anyone who read the Appeal and loved it will love this seasonal novella as much or even more!

I adore Janice Hallett and I was lucky enough to get a copy of her latest novel #thechristmasappeal via #netgalley

Fabulous as always, it is a lighthearted, cosy sort of crime and if you've read #theappeal already then you will recognise many of the characters.

The cast of suspects are as always enthusiastic in the endeavours and expertly entertaining.

I found myself with a smile on my face the whole time I was reading.

I really hope this isn't the last time we hear from the Fairway Players.

I enjoyed The Appeal The first novel are setting the fictitious village amateur dramatic society. For this novel, the background is a Christmas panto which predictably goes wrong. A body is found inside a giant jack in the beanstalk prop. The mystery is who is the party and how did it to find itself there?
As with the previous novel the story is told as a succession of text messages and emails , I did find myself getting rather lost with the characters as a story flips about quite a lot, because of this I found I didn’t enjoy this novel as much as the previous one.
Anyone who has been involved in how much dramatics would know that it is there a potential hotbed for stories and I love the way the author has done this.
Because of the way the story is told there isn’t much chance for character development. This is primarily a story lead novel.
I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley, UK, then novelist published in the UK on the 28th of October 2023 by Viper
This review will appear on NetGalley UK, good reads and my book log, bionicsarahsbooks.wordpress.com.

I really enjoyed this, would be a lovely quick read in the lead up to Christmas. Unlike The Appeal I did figure out what was going on before the reveal but that didn’t spoil the ending. It was great to visit Lockwood again and I would read more of the trials and tribulations of the Fairway Players!

I loved returning to the world of "The Appeal" in this book! It's light, simple and funny rather than repeating the complex web of connections that made "The Appeal" so compelling, but I really enjoyed it anyway and imagine it would make a fabulously fun festive read. I will definitely be recommending this to readers at Christmas time!

What a delight to be back in the company of the Fairway Players as they rehearse their Christmas pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, in aid of the church roof repairs. The usual hilarious backstabbing, one-upmanship and ludicrous casting and design choices are all evident in the round robins, emails and text messages under scrutiny from the two young lawyers Femi and Charlotte. Can there really have been another murder in this small but active community, and who is it this time. Slyly observed and sharp as ever, this is a short but sweet festive treat not to be missed.

Janice Hallett is one of my favourite authors, I even got to see her in Edinburgh at a Toppings event to celebrate her hardback release of The Alperton Angels. I absolutely adore her writing and The Christmas Appeal did not disappoint.
This cosy, festive murder mystery revisits the cast from The Appeal to solve a new murder which happened in the small town. But don’t worry, you don’t need to have read The Appeal to read this book, it is all very self-explanatory.
Books which let the reader solve the crime themselves seem to be the rage at the moment on bookstagram and booktok, so I’d definitely recommend getting your hands on this one – right in time for Christmas!
Thank you again to Janice Hallett, Rachel Quinn, Viper and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this read, zipping through it in less than a day. I thought there was a bit too much of the to-and-fro between Sarah-Jane and Celia at the start and the establishment of group dynamics. I felt my interest waning through these sections as I waited for some action. When it did come it was a fairly simple plot, but revived my interest.

I did enjoy the humour running throughout, and it was very vivid. Even with the format, a clear picture was created. I think it needed a bit more action earlier on and perhaps a sharper focus. It seemed to be too split between wanting to be a gentle character focused revisist of the group or a mystery.

This is one author who will always shoot straight to the top of my TBR pile and The Christmas Appeal did exactly that. At just over 200 pages, this perfect nugget of joy was devoured in an evening. It features a return to the lives of the superb cast of The Appeal where the Fairway Players are planning a Christmas panto to outdo all previous productions until the usual mayhem descends. Building on the unique nature of The Appeal’s storytelling, the Christmas edition again features emails, what’s app messages and an utterly hilarious round robin letter.
I defy anyone who has enjoyed any of Hallet’s novels to not love this one too.
I thought it was brilliant and very enjoyable reading, despite me usually being a confirmed Grinch especially when it comes to Christmas-adjacent books.

Really enjoyed this book just as much as the first one in the series. It was nice getting back with some of the characters from book one. I would highly recommend reading the appeal before reading this as some repeat characters are in this book. But I really enjoyed this book.

I really enjoy reading Janice Hallett's books and this did not disappoint. Set in the area as The Appeal it's a wonderful dip back into the world and those crafty and secretive theatre characters. I loved the fact that the ending wasn't so clear cut and as always, I love how Janice sets out her book. A great read!