The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

Happy Thursday! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things tour for Janice Hallett's delightful novella, The Christmas Appeal. 

The Fairway Players are back and up to their old tricks. With the loss of their leaders, Sarah-Jane MacDonald and husband Kevin are co chairs of the organization, much to the dismay of Celia and Joel Halliday. Mustn't forget that's Joel Halliday, OBE.

It's Christmas now and they're prepping for their annual pantomime. This year it's to be Jack and the Beanstalk—all money raised will go to fixing the church hall roof after an unfortunate bat incident. And Sarah-Jane is determined that this will be the best production yet, going all out and even securing a massive beanstalk set piece. 

As it turns out, the beanstalk itself could be a problem with rumors of asbestos swirling around the emails and apps behind the scenes. But it's the dead body that's discovered the night of the play that's the real issue!

So apologies, readers, as I've not posted a review of The Appeal, this book's predecessor as of yet. But I will do so very soon as it is quite fun and highly recommended!

The Christmas Appeal is wonderful! Literally laugh-out-loud hilarious at parts and overall a very lighthearted read. 

If you've read The Appeal, the characters you know and love are back and feisty as ever. 

Sarah-Jane has a new baby, which hasn't slowed her down at all. Celia is at her throat, at least passive and not so passive aggressively. And the Players are recruiting new members now that they're down quite a few. It's a good thing two new housing developments have gone up even though some of the members would rather not recruit from the other side of the Tesco. 

As with The Appeal, the book is built through texts, emails, and WhatsApp, and other ephemera with Charlotte and Femi once again reading alongside trying to untangle the various clues to determine a. what crime has actually been committed and b. who committed said crime. 

Honestly, delightful only begins to describe this one. The Christmas Appeal is out and out fun! Definitely recommended, though if you haven't read The Appeal just yet, you might want to dive into that one first so you can get to know the characters and the first case a bit more!

The Christmas Appeal is out now in the UK and in the US. Happy reading!