Book Review (with SPOILERS) | ARC Review | The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

One dead Santa. A town full of suspects. Will you discover the truth?

Christmas in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, to raise money for the church roof appeal. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking amongst the amateur dramatics enthusiasts. Sarah-Jane is fending off threats to her new position as Chair, the fibreglass beanstalk might be full of asbestos, and a someone is intent on ruining the panto even before the curtain goes up.

Of course there’s also the matter of the dead body. Who could possibly have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they read the round robins, examine the emails and pore over the police transcripts. Will the show go on?

Characters

• Femi and Charlotte – detectives that have been tasked by a retired sleuth to solve a crime; they are given little bits of information to piece together from texts, emails, etc.
• Celia Halliday – part of the drama group; believes she should be the one calling the shots and that her family is better than everyone else
• Joel Halliday, OBE – Celia’s husband
• Greg – Celia’s son
• Jock Rankin
• Sarah-Jane MacDonald – leader of the drama group; chose Jack and the Beanstalk as the Christmas pantomime 
• Kevin – Sarah Jane’s husband
• Harley – Sarah Jane’s son
• Carol Dearing – Sarah Jane’s mom
• Joyce Walford – member of the drama group; has been around for a long time
• Nick and Barry – Joyce’s sons
• Carly and Matt Dexter – tried out for the play but haven’t been heard from or seen since
•  Emma Crooks – member of the drama group; caught between Sarah-Jane and Celia, trying to be on both of their sides
• Denise Malcolm – member of the drama group that has been around a long time
• Marianne Payne – husband Mick was arranging getting treats ordered for the play
• Fran Elroy-Jones – new to the group; Celia is trying to set her up with her son Greg
• Dustin Perez – member of the group; new to the group

My Review

I know it just turned to Pumpkin Spice season… but I’m all for a Christmas Cozy to close out August!

Cute, quick read. This book takes place as transcripts from emails and text chains, so it was definitely different from what I’ve been reading. It starts off with a bang with a Christmas email to ‘friends’ from one of the characters that is basically a multiple page long brag about how amazing her life and family is. 

I have not read the first book in this series and I might go back and read that. There was some character development that I missed by not reading it but it didn’t detract from the plot at all. 

The book was a very quick read, a lot of build up and then it did seem like a rushed ending. I enjoyed it though!