The Appeal: The smash-hit bestseller

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So cleverly written. I felt like I was a trainee lawyer sifting through evidence and trying to discover the culprit. It was exciting, fresh, and forces the reader to be an active investigator. I loved it -- Louise Mullins, author of I Know You Publication of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels in January, of course! I’m also in the middle of writing book four and even I think this one is devious. I felt exactly as you do! My brother-in-law who doesn’t read much at all, mentioned it to me (‘you know all these crime books, you must know this one’), and I had never heard of it. I absolutely ripped through it, and enjoyed it very much. Yes, too much periphery, and actually I did not find the solution satisfying – but it made me laugh & kept me guessing,and I will certainly be looking out for her next one. Yeah, it’s too early to tell how Hallett might compare to Christie, and at this stage in Agatha’s career even she wouldn’t have been seen as the force she went on to be. I was intrigued by this book and have been wondering for a while whether or not I should give it a go. Having been burnt by too many modern mysteries which have been labelled as Christie-esque, I was somewhat on the fence. Whilst this is not a glowing review, the weaknesses mentioned do not seem to make it impossible to enjoy the story nevertheless. By the sounds of it, is it more in style of Philip Macdonald’s book than Dorothy L. Sayers’? Sayers, from recollection, is more relationship driven I would say.

Is Sam just being paranoid given her unhappy history with Tish? Or is something truly sinister afoot, something that could cost one or more of the Fairway Players their lives as Sam seeks to expose the truth? The Appeal is also a love letter to another kind of masquerade, to acting even in amateur dramatics. As Issy writes to James Hayward, Martin’s son and the play director, who’s called away to his heavily pregnant wife’s bedside ahead of the opening night performance:Her latest is entitled The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels and it’s out 19 January 2023. The story involves a two rival authors, Amanda Bailey and Oliver Menzies, who are both researching a the mad case of a cult that brainwashed a teenage girl and convinced her that her newborn baby was the anti-Christ and tried to kill the baby. Now, that child is 18 and both Amanda and Oliver think there’s a story in it. Indeed, there is, but it’s not quite what they anticipated…

Sam tells James she knows what’s going on. James kills Sam, using his twins’ birth as an alibi. Issy knows James did it, but for some reason, she agrees to keep his secret. I’m not cynical or making excuses, but what do they expect? Crowdfunding campaigns are built on trust. You never really know where the cash goes. We’ve all contributed to friends’ campaigns without asking questions. Fiendishly clever, highly original and totally gripping -- Cass Green, bestselling author of In a Cottage in a Wood I loved this - it's utterly compulsive and unlike anything I've read in a while. It is such a cliche to say it, but I genuinely could NOT put it down. Bravo -- Katie Lowe, author of The Furies

But not everybody is convince of the good intentions of those involved. New actress Sam raises doubts. I raced through it and liked it a lot, but I did find the law student framing really annoying and contrived: Allowing each character to speak for themselves is a great benefit of this style. I much prefer writing in the first person, where I can jump into that character and see the world from their perspective. As a screenwriter I had to write dialogue from every character’s perspective and I think my novels demonstrate an extension of that. There must be downsides but I haven’t discovered them yet. It feels quite natural to me to write this kind of novel.

So many writers have inspired me: Cervantes, Thomas Hardy, Emily Bronte, Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton, Patricia Leitch, Douglas Adams… and that’s only a few. Takes the whodunnit to a whole new level. Intriguing, clever and above all, wholly original. A rare feat indeed, and to be savoured -- Elizabeth Haynes, bestselling author of Into the Darkest Corner The Appeal was told mainly through letters, and The Twyford Code through transcripts. What documents do you use to tell the story in The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels? Michelle’s book is brilliantly written. She was an accomplished wordsmith and absolutely wrote from her heart in a way not all true crime authors do. But when you watch the documentary about her, you can see she becomes so engaged with trying to solve the case that she simply can’t write the book, yet she’s desperately trying to finish it in time for a deadline. I identified with that completely and I’m sure most writers do.Oh, The Maze is certainly much drier — there’s a clear focus on the relationships and interactions between the characters, and a very clear importance on that element of things being key. From Matt Wesolowski’s Six Stories to Only Murders in the Building, fictional true crime and epistolary storytelling have become pretty popular – it might even be a movement. Do you see it that way and why do you think readers are gravitating to this and indeed to true crime? The constant notes from them 'oooh did you spot that thing that x said, nudge nudge' spelling out the clues for the reader. Munchausen by Proxy is typically an individual mental illness resulting in abuse perpetuated by a single person, usually a mother, who has control over the victim, typically a child. Why do Martin and Poppy’s parents agree to be in on the deception? Paige, Poppy’s mother, doesn’t seem to be in on it. But how is that possible? Synopsis: The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals for an Arthur Miller play, when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Haywood 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 fellow castmates rally to raise money.

The summary files, as you say, are just an irritating way of summarising what we already know and don't add anything. It's like the author doesn't trust you to follow anything. I wasn’t aware of any other writing while working on my first two novels. If it’s a movement, then hopefully it’s like most movements in art – it arises naturally in response to what we as a society choose to consume as entertainment. A lot of readers say they like that my style is different, so it could simply be that a change is as good as a rest… Martin and Helen reveal that Helen lost a child to meningitis years ago, before their children Paige and James were born.

A] daring debut... Hallett will soon have you laughing out loud... The Appeal is clever and funny * The Times *