Author: Janice Hallett
Rating: ★★3/4☆ (3.75/5)
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley
Publication date: August 25, 2026
Series: The Appeal #2 (works as a standalone)
I received an advanced reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
The Fairway Players are back in Lower Lockwood, this time staging Agatha Christie’s The Hollow. Sarah-Jane and Kevin return as committee cochairs, but the production quickly becomes complicated by a shortage of male actors, tension over casting, and the unexpected return of Sarah-Jane’s sister, Nicky-Rose, who has moved back home under mysterious circumstances.
After opening night, lawyers Femi and Charlotte are asked to sort through what happened and determine whether the right person has taken the blame.
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I was excited to read The Silent Appeal because this has been my favorite of Janice Hallett’s books. I read The Appeal and The Christmas Appeal, so picking up the next one was an easy choice. All three have been pretty consistent for me. They’re solid mysteries, and I like the process of slowly figuring out what everyone is hiding and what actually happened.
Like the earlier books, The Silent Appeal is told entirely through emails, text messages, voice memos, and other communications. A couple of lawyers are sorting through everything to determine who is guilty, who is innocent, whether someone died, and who that person might be. The story once again centers around a play, which gives everyone a reason to start sending a ridiculous number of messages and getting involved in each other’s business.
This format is very distinctly Janice Hallett, and I knew what I was getting into. You do have to pay attention because there are a lot of people and plot threads to keep straight. I definitely had moments where I wondered whether I had missed something, but the lawyers periodically stop to summarize what they’ve learned. Those checkpoints helped break up the story and pulled the important pieces together without making everything too easy.
The pacing was even throughout. It wasn’t particularly fast, but it didn’t feel slow either. It takes a while to reach the actual mystery, but the buildup worked for me. I wanted to understand what was happening, and the fun was less about becoming attached to one particular character and more about untangling the full mess. There’s a lot going on, and the book relies on information being withheld, but that’s also the entire structure of this series.
I rated this 3.75 stars. It was good, and that’s a strong rating from me since it takes quite a bit for a book to reach four stars or higher. Nothing about it felt outstanding enough to push it higher, but everything worked. The different threads eventually came together in a satisfying way, which is what I wanted from it.
I’d recommend this to readers who enjoy epistolary mysteries and don’t mind having to pay close attention. If you don’t like books told through emails and messages, this probably won’t be the book that changes your mind. It can technically work as a standalone, but I’d start with The Appeal The format and recurring characters will make more sense, and all three books are worth reading in order.
Content notes: If you don’t like epistolary mysteries, you will not like this
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