Janice Hallett is a genius, of that I have no doubt. It takes a talent to produce entertaining stories in the letters/emails/WhatsApp format and not have them feel stale. I've now read all of her books and she is a go-to author for me. All her books are so entertaining.

Revisiting the Fairway Players gang in Lower Lockwood was such a treat. It follows many familiar characters, as well as some new ones, as they rehearse for the upcoming pantomine, Jack and the Beanstalk. I laughed out loud so many times reading it. The bitchy backstabbing and one upmanship between the characters is hilarious. Then we found out there is a dead Santa as they all try to determine what happened. There's even a drunk pantomime cow. 🐮 🍻

My only complaint is that it is too short! I just wanted it to keep going. It's a perfect stocking filler for a mystery fan and is out now. Congratulations Janice on another triumph!

Thanks to Serpent's Tail, Viper and Netgalley for granted my wish and letting me have an ARC in exchange for an honest review,

Christmas means one thing for amateur dramatics groups, and the Fairway Players of Lower Lockwood prove to be no exception: panto season. With the church in desperate need of funds to repair the roof it is hoped that this year’s performance of Jack and the Beanstalk will be a big success. After all Sarah-Jane has sourced an impressive fibreglass beanstalk to wow the audience but she has accounted for the petty jealousy of others and the liberal application of ‘Sod’s law’.

When the curtain goes up the audience gets a performance that they are not likely to forget.

If you have read any of the previous novels by the author, you will know what to expect. Once again, instead of a more traditional prose format we have we have a series of emails, text and WhatsApp messages to work through. Not as original as it once was but its an entertaining way to construct a puzzle, though I guess it is not everyone’s ‘cup of tea’. It is a great way of demonstrating the two-faced bitchiness of some players as they say one thing and then immediately something else to another character, so read the message to/from carefully.

It is given structure by the framing of a puzzle presented to lawyers Femi Hassan and Charlotte Holroyd by their former boss Roderick Tanner KC (retired), the question is can you the reader solve it first.

At its core it’s the attitudes and social standing of middle-class middle-England, with all its pettiness and one-upmanship. Lower Lockwood now has council and low-cost housing estates and even though The Fairway Player are short on numbers, some don’t want ‘that sort of person’ joining. More energy is expended jockeying for position, control and status within the group than trying to recruit. This is very entertainingly done but in a gentler way rather than caustic.

The traditions of village pantomime are upheld with some aplomb; the dodgy 1970s script, the improvisation (in this case a Sainsburys trolly), the appearance of Santa at the end and sweets for the children (which turn out to be both unusual and expensive). Poor Santa, as the reader will discover.

One family wanted to put on the farce When Did You Last See Your Trousers in the new year but were told farce was dead. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case as Jack and the Beanstalk goes from pantomime to farce before finally tragedy in hilarious fashion, with some genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Elements edge towards the macabre, but most readers will still find it darkly funny in a way that allows us a guilt free escape from a world that is dark enough at times. I love dogs in fiction and here Woof gets a couple of lovely cameos within all this mayhem. Poor Santa. A classic example of how everything going wrong can result in something far better than originally planned, though the Fairway Players are unlikely to top this performance.

I would like to thank Net Galley, the author and publisher for access to a copy in exchange for a fair review.

The Fairway Players return and the story that unfolds doesn’t disappoint.
It’s the Christmas pantomime , Jack and the Beanstalk and things don’t go to plan and there is a mummified skeleton added into the melee.
This story is full of humour and a few twists and turns to make this an excellent read.
The style that Hallet writes in makes for a unique story telling experience.
An engaging, entertaining and quick read .
I read it in one sitting .
Highly recommended!
Thanks to NetGalley Serpent’s Tail/ Viper/Profile Books.

Janice Hallett has done it again! Another piece of work that's just so completely gripping and addictive, it's incredible, I will definitely buy this as a Christmas present for friends and family.

“I have another fascinating case to run past you. Why you? Well, it seems The Fairway Players are once again at the centre of a mystery. I’ve read the enclosed and think I’ve worked it out. I wonder if you can.“

My thanks to Serpent’sTail/Viper for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Christmas Appeal’ by Janice Hallett. In this novella the cast of Hallett’s best selling debut novel, ‘The Appeal’, return for a festive mystery.

Roderick Tanner, KC, now retired, sends his former young colleagues, Femi Hassan and Charlotte Holroyd, a bundle of evidence, including emails and police transcripts, suggesting that they might enjoy trying to solving this new mystery.

In December 2022 the Fairway Players are rehearsing their festive pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, to raise money for the church roof appeal. It might be the season of goodwill but there’s plenty of drama going on among this group of amateur players. Then there is the body…

‘The Christmas Appeal’ has the same epistolary format as ‘The Appeal’. The intrigues of small town politics, including those of its local am-dram group, were well observed and provided plenty of humour throughout. Plus, the comments of Femi and Charlotte were entertaining as they sought to piece together the evidence and solve the mystery.

‘The Christmas Appeal’ is bound to be welcomed by Hallett’s many fans. I certainly found it a great deal of fun and am recommending it widely.

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett is another incredibly clever and enjoyable mystery by this extremely talented author. In this case, we welcome the return of the amateur dramatic society the Fairway Players who are putting on a Christmas performance of Jack and the beanstalk that doesn't quite go according to the script!! There is a considerable archive of email and text message conversations to review that expose the underlying power struggle for control of the society and possibly explain the strange events that unfolded on opening night.

The Christmas Appeal is a resounding success which could actually become a pantomime in its own right.

The Christmas Appeal - Janice Hallett

I read The Appeal a few years ago and loved the ‘solve the mystery’ approach where you are reading the evidence at the same time as those trying to solve the crime. This short novella follows the same format with two trainee lawyers trying to work out exactly what has happened as The Fairway Players prepare for their annual Christmas pantomime, Jack in the Beanstalk. In the same way as the first book, the murder isn’t revealed until we’ll over half way through the book so you really get to know the characters before anything happened.

This was a short novella at just over 200 pages so I raced through it in one sitting but I really enjoyed it - it was a really engaging way to tell the story and I found myself trying to piece the clues together to find out what had happened. I loved how so many of the characters came across as really unlikeable but as you only get to know them through their emails and What’s App messages you find yourself wondering what they are really like in person.

A really fun read that I enjoyed enormously.

Thank you to the publishers @viperbooks and @netgalley for the free digits copy of the book.

I have been a huge Janice Hallett fan ever since I dived into an ARC of The Appeal relatively blind and was blown away by its originality. So I couldn’t have been more excited to read The Christmas Appeal, and to have the chance to get reacquainted with the Fairwood Players. And it proved to be everything I hoped it would be - and more!

If you’ve read The Appeal you’ll know what to expect - if not, welcome to the genius that is Hallett who manages to tell a story entirely through emails, texts, Whats Apps and interviews and yet bring the story and its fabulous cast of characters alive in a genuinely hilarious whodunnit.

This time the Fairway Players are putting on a pantomime - Jack and the Beanstalk - but they are far from a united team. AmDram is not for the faint hearted! There’s rivalry, backstabbing, sabotage and a dead Santa …. alongside some truly funny madcap moments!

If you’re looking for something a bit different from the more “cutesy” Christmas reads and prefer mystery with some laugh out loud festive fun then you need to pick this one up - at only 200 pages long it’s a quick read, ideal if like me you didn’t want to put it down!

What a Christmas treat. Femi and Charlotte are back with another mystery from Rodney Tanner and it involves the Fairway Players again. An amusing read with power struggles, pantomime and Father Christmas. I thoroughly enjoyed this little read

Really happy to review this one after having loved Janice Hallets previous titles.
This is another great mystery to solve, this time with a lovely festive setting.
The Fairway Players are planning their Christmas pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk. All proceeds are to go to raising money to fix the church roof.
Despite the festivities there is animosity between the players and the sense that there is a secret some do not want to be revealed.
With rumours that the beanstalk contains asbestos will the panto be a success? Opening night arrives and a dead Santa is uncovered. But who is he? Will we uncover the circumstances?
I really enjoyed this read especially as there was not too much going on to keep up with, a simple Christmas murder mystery

I was keen to read this one, as a fan of Janice Hallett and having read The Appeal. I put off reading it, concerned it would be very Christmassy, but beyone being set around the Christmas Pantomime and Santa being mentioned, it wan't too bad reading in October.

Reading The Appeal first is essential as we were revisiting old characters from the book. Lawyers Femi and Charlotte are back again, having been sent some information from Mr Roderick Tanner KC (Retired). As the mystery unfolds the reader is not sure what the focus of the investigation is, only that it involves the Fairway Players again.

In true Janice Hallett style the story is made up of emails, WhatApp conversations and news articles. It is a nice short novella that keeps you guessing. It is full of humour and made me laugh, I particularly liked Kevin MacDonald who doesn't seem to take it all as seriously as his wife Sarah Jane.

One star removed as I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending. With thanks to NetGalley and Viper for the ARC.

I have previously read Janet Hallets books but not The Appeal which is the precursor to this one. It’s easy to read as a standalone novel. There is a lot of humour and anyone who has lived in a village or been in a position where inflated egos clash, rumours swirl and rampant snobbery abounds will recognise the characters. Not particularly Christmassy apart from the pan to theme.

Another brilliant read from Janice Hallett and perfect to cosy up with this Christmas if you like a bit of murder in the mix! I love the format and way the story unfolds, humour added in as well. I can't wait for more!

The Christmas Appeal is a brilliant return to the world of the Fairway Players, and one I enjoyed just as much as the first in the series, The Appeal – in fact, I think I might have enjoyed The Christmas Appeal even more!

We’re back with Femi and Charlotte as they’re asked to look at a case once again involving the Fairway Players. The story is great fun, featuring a return to characters who, if you had to interact with in real life, you’d likely want to strangle, but reading about them and their interactions with each other is SO entertaining. And if you’ve read The Appeal, you’ll know some of the extra detail around the character’s backstories which adds extra depth to their sniping!

As with The Appeal, the humour is quite subtle – sometimes you almost have to re-read a sentence to realise the digs the characters are aiming at each other. And of course, it’s a return to the winning format of various text messages, emails and transcripts which makes this book so much fun to read.

At only just over 200 pages, this is a short, sharp Christmas read which makes for addictive reading. Highly recommended!

Janice has done it again! A murder mystery set against a festive pantomime scene, what a juxtaposition!
The Fairways Players are back again, this time rehearsing Jack and the Beanstalk. There are the usual egos on parade, the snobbish family, with so many skeletons in the cupboard, a controlling woman, who needs this endeavour to be a success, but is being driven to distraction by frequent interruptions, a busy body , false friend to the main antagonists with her own agenda, yes, all village life is so very well depicted in this wonderful novel.
Told by a series of text messages and emails, the reader quickly becomes involved in the petty jealousies and the overt back stabbing that is present both on and off stage. Really, these events could happen to anyone in the festive season, trying to organise an event, that is riven with marvellous misunderstandings, witty and chaotic messages, hilarious and illegal helpfulness from teenage children, not to mention the discovery of a dead body, poor old Santa.
I didn’t guess the killer, but the previous books stumped me as well. I haven’t read the first book, which my daughter raved about and recommended to me, now I take delight in seeing her envious face as I read these advance copies. I plan to read the first novel, and this series will provide the inspiration for future birthday presents for my book club members.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Viper/ Serpents Tail and Profile books for my advance digital copy, freely given in exchange for my honest review. A five star read. I will leave reviews to Goodreads and Amazon UK.

I loved reading this author's fabulous debut, The Appeal, which fired my imagination , and so it is with great delight that I return to the company of the Fairway Players as they countdown to their annual Christmas Pantomime.

With her usual flair, the author plunges us deep into the frantic preparations for Jack and the Beanstalk and as emails, and messages, fly to and fro between the actors, we soon start to understand that all is not well with this group of amateur thespians. The epistolary theme gives the story its quirkiness and as the banter and cutting comments start to flow, so we start to build up a picture of what happened, where, when and to whom.

It can take a little while to become comfortable with this style of narrative but I enjoy the way the story unfolds and I pretty soon became immersed in trying to piece together the clues which are so carefully presented. Overall, The Christmas Appeal is great fun to read, laugh out loud funny in places, and entering into the ‘acting’ world which this talented author creates so beautifully is a real joy as not only does she give us all the back room shenanigans, and believe me there is a lot going on behind the scenes, but there’s also a rather interesting murder mystery to solve.

Cleverly created to be a shortish novella, The Christmas Appeal sits comfortably alongside The Appeal bringing together the company of players we recognise from the first story whilst at the same time introducing new people who add their own special charm to this intriguing murder mystery. I absolutely loved it and read in one sitting as, like all this author’s books, I simply couldn’t put it down.

As a huge fan of Janice Hallett’s The Appeal, I was extremely excited to find out about The Christmas Appeal… to the extent that I actually asked Janice if I could gatecrash the book launch party at Harrogate Crime Festival. She was lovely… the answer was no 🤣

Much in the same vein as The Appeal, this story is told through documents and follows two lawyers as they try and work out how a dead santa ended up at the Fairway Players pantomine. Oh no he didn’t…

Hilariously entertaining, Hallett once again delivers a fabulously fun read, this time with a festive twist. Many characters from The Appeal are back, and just as weird and wonderful as before.

Laugh out loud funny, Hallett manages to capture the tedium and in-house politics of a community group, with the Fairway Players bickering and unmining each other at every turn. Jokes abound, and for a show about a pantomime it is quite apt that it often borders on farce.

Shorter than The Appeal, this is the perfect Christmas crime story to get lost in over a winter weekend. If you loved The Appeal, you need to put The Christmas Appeal on your Christmas list!

Firstly thank you Netgalley for this Arc

A whodunnit in the lines of Agatha Christie and comical in places

Just brilliant! This needs to be on everyone’s Christmas list!

I love Janice’s books they are so uniquely written in emails, texts, WhatsApp chats, interview notes etc.

In this case, a retired KC has sent paperwork from a case for two new criminal lawyers to see if they can work out ‘whodunnit’.

It revolves around a Christmas amateur dramatics production of Jack and The Beanstalk and we get first hand evidence of all the backstabbing going on behind the ‘conversations. The first ‘round Robin’ Christmas letter from Celia had me in stitches! I absolutely hate those things and Celia took it to another level, with her husband being given an OBE (only because his brother-in-law is on the honours committee) and their daughter who took a break (dropped out) of Oxford (Brooke’s) university! And she even had a dig at the current chair of the dramatics group.

There were so many laugh out loud moments as the play turns into a farce and then a murder mystery.

Poor Sarah-Jane, the chair of the group, keeps a level head throughout some hilarious setbacks such as buying drugs instead of sweets by mistake, and having to rescue her husband from a wheelie bin. Not to mention the possible asbestos in the beanstalk! What a woman! She was my favourite character. I hoped nasty Celia would get her comeuppance.

I didn’t manage to solve the mystery!.

The Fairway Players return for another uniquely written ‘whodunnit’. When I first read ‘The Appeal’, I loved the quirkiness of the message exchanges and the chance to read along and analyse the ‘evidence’. Following suit, ‘The Christmas Appeal’ is both clever and funny. I would definitely recommend for fans of the original and crime fans who want to read something a bit different.