About The Book
Book: The Silent Appeal
Author: Janice Hallett
Standalone or Series: Book 3 in The Appeal series (including the novella)
Publisher: Viper Books
Publication Date (UK): 3rd September 2026
My Review
It’s been over 5 years since Hallett burst onto the scene with her successful debut mixed-media mystery, The Appeal. It was quirky, charming and incredibly well received.
Since then, Hallett has had four more stand-alone novels, two children’s books and a Christmas novella tie-in, The Christmas Appeal, published. Now it’s finally time to return to Lockwood with this sequel and be reunited with the Fairway Players and Issy Beck!
This time the amateur dramatic group are undertaking Agatha Christie’s The Hollow and the book unfolds throughout rehearsals and past the final performance nights. This leads to one of my favourite lines in the book: “I’m the biggest fan and have read ALL her books: Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.”
If you’re already a fan, you’ll know what to expect here: a mysterious murder that, like The Appeal, doesn’t actually occur until much later in the book and a story that unfolds through diary entries, emails and text messages. Plus a list of characters which you’ll need for the whopping cast of 37 plus the 4 on the law team, who are reading through all the documents.
I love the way Hallett uses mixed media. We get to see the characters from all sorts of angles and observe how they present themselves to different people through different forms of communication. An email to a member of the am-dram team might be eloquent and carefully drafted, while a text message to a friend reveals what they really think about X, Y and Z.
This was a great addition to the series and Hallett’s wider catalogue of stand alone mysteries. She is one of my favourite authors and her new books are always one of the highlights of my reading year!
If you haven’t read the first book (and novella) then I would recommend doing so first, as this does contain characters from both and some have quite the background
Which leads me onto a slight tangent here, but bear with me. One of my favourite video game series is Dragon Quest; it’s a huge story-driven role-playing game spanning hours of content and lore. When you continue a saved game, you’re presented with “The Story So Far“, which summarises your recent progress and the plot up to that point. Hear me out: I’d love books in a series to have this kind of recap, especially when they feature large casts of characters and intricate plots. This isn’t meant as a slight on this, or any one, book in particular as I’m also the type of person who needs to fire up a YouTube recap video refresher before starting a new season in a TV series. Maybe I will attempt a re-read of The Appeal soon and put my own recap together for others!
If you want to know my thoughts on Hallett’s other books then check out my ranking here.
Thank you to Viper Books for kindly sending me across a proof copy.
Beth Reads Crime 
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