The Christmas Appeal: A Novella

Written by Janice Hallett

Narrated by Aysha Kala, Daniel Philpott, Rachel Adedeji and Sid Sagar

This immersive holiday caper from the “modern Agatha Christie” (The Sunday Times, London) follows the hilarious Fairway Players theater group as they put on a Christmas play—and solve a murder that threatens their production.

The Christmas season has arrived in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive holiday production of Jack and the Beanstalk to raise money for a new church roof. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking among the amateur theater enthusiasts with petty rivalries, a possibly asbestos-filled beanstalk, and some perennially absent players behind the scenes.

Of course, there’s also the matter of the dead body onstage. Who could possibly have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they investigate Christmas letters, examine emails, and pore over police transcripts to identify both the victim and killer before the curtain closes on their holiday production—for good.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Oct 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9781797167015

Janice Hallett

Janice Hallett studied English at UCL, and spent several years as a magazine editor, winning two awards for journalism. After gaining an MA in Screenwriting at Royal Holloway, she co-wrote the feature film Retreat. The Appeal is inspired by her lifelong interest in amateur dramatics. Her second novel, The Twyford Code, will be published by Viper in 2022. When not indulging her passion for global adventure travel, she is based in West London.

Reviews for The Christmas Appeal

[Brenda Roberts · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The narration was great, the humor had me rolling on the floor, I literally laughed out loud. Loved it! Will definitely be getting The Appeal next....apparently should have read that first :)

[Jeanenne Robinson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Revisiting this town was as tongue-in-cheek as I thought it would be. You do not need to have read The Appeal to capture the story, but this story does lightly refer to it. The small town politics and squabbles with an intergenerational cast is well-paced. If there is not a sequel, then I think a spin-off, with the lawyers, would please many fans.