I loved this book! In fairness I also loved the appeal and twyford code so I may be biased. It was a good little mystery and parts were laugh out loud funny. Some of the characters from the appeal made a return too which was fun to have a little continuity.
A nice little Christmas panto lighthearted mystery, perfect for Christmas week!
Read through netgalley for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book however I didn’t enjoy it as much as the original the appeal book by this author. I really liked the range of characters and the variety of things that were covered in the book. It was a bit silly in parts but overall very enjoyable.

On its release, The Appeal by Janice Hallett easily made it into my favourite books of the year. This smart, found document crime mystery about a small town's amateur dramatics society and its town secrets and hierarchies sat so squarely in all the things I love, it was just perfect. So to hear there would be a Christmas sequel, I was both excited and perturbed. There has been a fad lately for Christmas mysteries, some better than others, and I was worried Hallett would spoil her little community with a bid for some Christmas sales.

Oh boy, was I wrong! This is a brilliant festive follow-up to the original, with all the fun of the panto season. If the melodramas and farcical situations seem a bit over the top, it's only in keeping with the pantomime performance being undertaken by the players, who are determined to make this the best Jack and the Beanstalk ever! The mystery itself plays second fiddle somewhat, with the dead body only appearing half-way through the story. As in The Appeal, almost more pleasurable than the 'main' crime are the many small, petty mysteries that are intrinsic to a small community. The back-stabbing and bitchiness that many who have been in community groups might recognise.

The mystery itself doesn't push the brain cells too hard, and as in The Appeal, I found the framing narrative of the debating barristers a bit intrusive. I would almost prefer to receive the documents with no editor in charge of arranging them for the viewing, and definitely without commentators repeating what I should have noticed. But these occur only very briefly, and largely the reader is left to enjoy the show for themselves.

I heartily recommend this as an excellent festive-themed read in the run up to Christmas. Come for the farce rather than the mystery, but either way, enjoy the ride!

If you're a fan of The Appeal, this book will not disappoint! Janice Hallett has done it again with another brilliant slice of murder in middle England.

When the local amateur dramatics society start rehearsing their annual pantomime, old tensions come to the fore. This book kept me guessing, made me laugh out loud, and brought some Christmas cheer to these cold, dark December nights

This is a novella in length and made for a quick and easy read. In fact, I have been holding it back to read during the week before Christmas and I have been looking forward to reading this book very much.

It was lovely to reaquaint myself with Femi and Charlotte in this book, and to spend more time with the Fairway Players as they rehearse their Christmas Panto.

As with it's predecessor, The Appeal, this was fun to read as the whole book comprises of a selection of texts, emails and WhatsApp messages. It is refreshingly different and I enjoyed reading it.

The characters are well developed, especially considering the format which must have been very difficult to do and demonstrates the authors skill very well. I enjoyed reading the messages between Sarah Jayne and Celia which portrayed the rivalry between them admirably,

This is well worth reading, particularly if you have already read The Appeal. Even if you haven't this would work as a standalone novella.

It's Christmas time and we are back The Fairway Players in the run up to their annual panto! This was the perfect book for me to pick up as I had recently read The Appeal and, of course, we're in the run up to Christmas ourselves.

Much in the vein of Hallet's other novels, The Christmas Appeal is told through emails, texts and transcripts between an ensemble of characters. It was so nice being back with this group and seeing some people more at the forefront than they were in The Appeal. While I don't think it is absolutely necessary to have read the first book in order to pick this one up, I do think you'd lose out on a lot of the reading experience/backstory of some characters, and also there would be spoilers too!

I don't want to give anything away but I really enjoyed one! It was funny, tragic, witty and there were some truly jaw dropping moments. Thank you so much to NetGalley, Viper Books and Janice Hallet for this copy, a lovely little festive read for this mystery-loving girlie!

* Please look up trigger warnings before reading *

I haven't read 'The Appeal' and probably I should have - this 'mini' novel (novella?) has a number of the same characters as Hallett's first book. This time, though, the focus is on pantomime in the town of Lockwood - and the troublesome people that are involved, as well as a newly-released murderer and a beanstalk which contains a dead body.

Hallett's latest is full of snippets, email exchanges, WhatsApp conversations etc - which makes the format of her writing quite original. For me, there are almost too many snippets, though - and there were times when I found the switching too much. However, this is quite a light seasonal read and possibly will be enjoyed more if 'The Appeal' has been read first.

A fun follow up to the appeal. This was utterly bonkers and did have me laughing at the absurdity at times! This was very quick to read and the perfect cosy Christmas mystery; you could easily read this in one afternoon.

Yet again, Janice Hallett astounds me with her ability to tell a story just through emails and messages! She is so clever and has a wicked sense of humour too.

You can read this as a standalone story, although you will certainly get more from the book if you have already read The Appeal, as it features the same characters.

It is a short book, but one that is full of festive faux pas and in-fighting - perfect for this time of year!

Thanks to the author, Viper, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

This is such a loveable quirky read. It's the Hallett effect all over again - the style of writing, plot quirks and general working it out from what you read between the lines, this is good stuff. Lovely to have a Hallett for Xmas!

I enjoyed the variety of mediums through which the story is told. It was nice to be back with the characters of The Fairways Players again.

"The Christmas Appeal" picks up right where the wonderful “The Appeal” leaves off, but now with the MacDonalds in charge of the Fairway Players as they begin the run-up to their Christmas Pantomime. Through emails, texts and voice messages, lawyers Charlotte and Femi must again pick their way through the snide comments, mass emails, and caustic remarks to solve another crime connected with the troupe.

It was so great to be back in Lower Lockwood, and the interactions between the characters are as hilariously dysfunctional as in the previous instalment. The writing is sublime, with a large number of laugh out loud moments in amongst a festively chaotic plot that sees a hopelessly out of date script, a giant prop that may or may not be filled with asbestos, and more backstabbing than you could shake a stick at.

Highly recommend for anyone who enjoyed the original book, “The Appeal”.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

The Christmas Appeal is a sequel to The Appeal, one of my recent favourite reads. It follows the same cast of characters, who are putting on a pantomime. Bear in mind this is a novella, so it’s a much shorter read than I had anticipated. It’s been a while since I read The Appeal, so I didn’t quite remember the characters but that didn’t deter from enjoying the book. My only gripe is that I didn’t like how we don’t find out who the victim is until 2 thirds of the way through the story so the mystery part was a bit weak and I felt the start was good and funny but it soon lost its grip as plotwise. Overall I think I liked The Appeal more, but this is a fun, lighthearted follow up.

Janice Hallett has done it again! 



I absolutely ate this book up- The Appeal was up until now one of my favourite thrillers and being back in this world once again with the Fairway Players for a Christmas extravaganza was an absolute joy. 



Janice Hallett’s books are so clever and as a not typical thriller reader I love the humour and coziness of her books. 



This book is absolutely good to read as a standalone especially if you are looking for a quick Christmas read but I would fully recommend reading The Appeal first as it was such a joy to be back with the characters in this book.

I read Janice Hallett for the first time this year but they are now an auto buy author and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

The Christmas Appeal by @jan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It was lovely being back with the Fairway Players for the festive season! This time we join them during their annual panto in order to discover who killed Santa!

It took me a little while to remember who was who but as this can easily be read as a stand alone I don’t think that really mattered.

I loved the clever format of the book, with emails, WhatsApps, police reports and even Christmas round robins to help us solve the mystery, and so many laugh out loud moments!

Janice Hallett has DONE IT AGAIN. I raced through this one, loving every minute of it. It made me look forward to go to panto this Christmas.

I enjoyed this book but not as much as the first Appeal book. There was some funny moments but I did find the style of writing, with emails and texts, hard to follow this time and I kept having to double check who each character was.

I enjoyed spending more time with the characters from The Appeal, and I do like the way that the story is told in emails and texts, but I felt that this needed to be longer so that I could have found out more about the new characters that were introduced and then just seemed to disappear from the story.

A short but fun addition to the series! We follow the same characters as they put on a Christmas pantomime where santa turns up dead. Very easy and quick to read. The ending was maybe a little silly but still really great!

Thank you NetGalley for the Kindle copy in exchange for a honest review. I love the way Janice Hallett writes her murder mysteries with email, text and What’s App excerpts. The Panto goes wrong when one of the committee members unwittingly order sweets for the children from a drug dealer! The. A mummified Santa makes an appearance on stage. Cleverly written, gripping and funny. Well worth reading.