The Appeal: The smash-hit bestseller

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Suspicions mount, accusations are made and the tension leads to a DEAD body, and an ARREST on the night of the play’s dress rehearsal . Yes, there is more drama off the stage than on it!, I was not a good detective in this one, but I did enjoy trying to figure things out along the way! I loved the way this one wrapped up, very true to character!

Thomas Hardy, especially Far from the Madding Crowd. It’s so rural – like going on holiday to the West Country. A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.They must decipher IF the appeal is being used for personal gain, and by whom. And, also if the suspect in custody is the correct one. While everyone participates in this fundraiser, the theatre company begins rehearsals for its next play. As the play nears, tensions rise, lies unravel, and someone winds up dead. Thank goodness someone, anyone, is willing to go off the beaten path, throw the formula out the window, and try a different approach, right? fulfilling my 2022 goal to read one book each month that was not published in my country that i wanted badly enough to have a copy shipped to me from abroad and then...never read. So, while I give the author top marks for thinking outside the box and getting super creative with her format, the story itself was just average for me. It was solid, but it wasn't great.

With this being said, the mystery itself wasn't super-engaging for me. Even when I found out who was murdered, I wasn't particularly bothered by it, or really compelled to discover who did it. Giving every character an arc is the most important thing – especially when writing a story with multiple characters. What annoyed me was how correspondence was deliberately left out to confuse the reader. This wasn't clever plotting, but rather it seemed to be a way to drag out the reveal of the murderer. I wish Sam's voice was shared, at least in the end, as that would have added another layer. The case centers around a group of community members involved with a play, and a two year old girl who has been diagnosed with brain cancer. The community members rally around the family involved to raise money for experimental treatment to save the little girl's life. The beginning was a little slow! To learn more about characters, their motives, their secrets, you have to read a lot of paper work!It is good to pay close attention in this one although after a while the characters do come together, and the plot becomes easier to follow. It was interesting to read something in a different format, although I think it did get a bit long. This book had a very large cast of characters that required notes as I attempted to uncover the truth and answer the senior partner’s questions. It’s the second book that I have read with an epistolary format in 2021 and it worked for me. Some of the correspondence is just gossip and others provide key information if one reads them carefully while others seem enigmatic or irrelevant. But are they? To my surprise, given the format of the narrative, suspense was built as details were revealed. Set in a small town in England, the leading and most influential figures are Martin and Helen Haywood. The couple owns the Grange Golf and Country Club and are instrumental in forming the Fairway Players, an amateur drama society. Helen is considered the most talented actor in the group, and every play chosen must have a leading role for her. A couple of new arrivals, Samantha and husband Kel, are drawn into the dramatic society. They are former medical workers for MSF in war-torn Central Africa. Both are soon employed as nurses in nearby hospitals. The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival. Many thanks to Edelweiss, Maudee Genao at Atria, and Janice Hallett for a DRC in exchange for an honest review! Now available in the US as of 1.25!!**

It was so hard to put the book down because we have all these short snippets of information, it was so easy to say "just one more" and keep going an hour after I needed to be in bed. Towards the end of the book it can seem like an information dump but it's information I wanted to know. And then there is the last chapter where we see that life goes on in the most creepy of ways. I started off on Cosmetics International, an industry magazine, and then worked for magazines aimed at retailers of beauty products. Most people got fed up with writing about bubble bath after two years – it took me 15 before I moved on. as a final, shallow note, i'm an incorrigible coverlover, and i am SO grateful i was gifted this lovely UK edition, because this: There has been a murder. Someone is in prison for it. What was the motive? Is the person incarcerated truly guilty of the crime?

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Overall, this is a very clever, immersive and gripping Crime mystery. It’s well written, I like the touches of humour, the astute observations on a community and the intriguing way the cast of characters reveal themselves. It’s been so refreshing to read something presented in a different format to the norm. Highly recommended.