I had a lot of fun with this whodunnit, told exclusively through emails, text messages, transcripts, and other documents. Hallett does a great job developing her characters and giving the reader a real sense of them without relying on standard descriptions and interactions.

The story is slightly convoluted and I had a bit of an issue in the beginning keeping track of who was who, but it didn't take long to get it all sorted in my head. The novel focuses on a community theater group in a small English village; the leader of the group has a granddaughter recently diagnosed with cancer, and the community rallies around to raise money for a life-saving treatment. But something isn't right... And then one of the actors is killed... dun dun DUN! I won't say more because you deserve to experience the fun for yourself.

4 stars ( )

This is a cozy mystery revolving around the Fairway Players Theater Group managed by Martin and Helen Hayward. They are very selective about who is allowed into their exclusive group of amateur actors. Each year they work on one play which they take very seriously demanding dedication from the group members. There is an eclectic cast of characters involved with these productions. This year they are working on All My Sons by Arthur Miller and have deemed it a fundraiser with the proceeds to benefit the Haywards' granddaughter, Poppy who has a rare form of cancer and eligible for experimental treatment.

Samantha Greenwood and her husband are new members to the group this year having returned from their volunteer work in Africa for the past 8 years. Isabel Beck is an interesting and needy player who finds an immediate connection with Samantha as she is also a nurse. There are many text messages and emails exchanged throughout the course of this book alternating between the characters which provide insight into their true motives as opposed to those which they want others to believe. Unfortunately, a dead body being found before rehearsals for opening night throws a wrench in the once tightly scheduled event. Alternating chapters have attorneys who have been assigned to gather information regarding the death are also emailing and texting furiously to determine who is responsible for this apparent crime.

There are many twists in the story to keep you guessing as well as some shady but humorous characters. ( )

The best written epistolary mystery I've read! I feel like this format could get annoying very quickly, yet Hallett does such a strong job weaving everything together and creating a super intriguing cast of characters that it is easy to fall right into the story. I also think "The Appeal" is, at least partly, very solvable by the reader, which always bumps up a mystery rating for me. All in all, a very unique and engaging novel; I'm impressed that this is a debut and would love to read more from Hallett. ( )

3.75 stars. this was way more fun than it should have been. it's such a soap opera and gossip mill but i couldn't tear myself away, for probably more than 300 pages. the solving of the crime was actually way less fun for me, but everything up until then was just great. it's intricate and just so so clever. and more about relationships and family and class and the way insular communities work than about the mystery, actually. which was really fun for me.

i have always loved everything epistolary and epistolary adjacent and this is no exception. it does seem wild how many emails are sent that i would have thought would just be texts, but maybe i underuse email more than i realized. (although really making these texts would just make the book so much longer, so that's probably why it was done this way.) i don't think the structure of the lead lawyer withholding info and giving riddles for femi and charlotte to solve works, but i'm more than willing to put that aside for the fun of it all. this will be so fun to talk about in book group.

i love that "the appeal" is the courtroom appeal, not the fundraising appeal. just brilliant. i think femi realizing the truth, though, was a huge leap that didn't make sense to take. that wasn't something that works, in my opinion. but again, i'm not sure how much i care. the entire solving of the crime, the realizing helen's son didn't die of meningitis seemed to have no basis. so this isn't perfect, but it was otherwise so good that i can overlook something that normally would be pretty big. i thought she handled so many different voices and so many threads so well. there is a lot more going on here than at first glance, and she makes it seem effortless. this is really just so well done. ( )

This was a really neat read, different format, but it works well. Takes a bit to get into, but keep going ( )