The Appeal by Janice Hallet
You might think this whodunnit’s USP, that it is composed almost entirely of email exchanges between the characters, would be some form of limitation on the tension and mystery – but that would be a wrong conclusion. In fact, I found this to be a perfect example of a page turning novel and one that I devoured in large, absorbed chunks desperate to discover the answers to all the conundrums it sets up.
The framing device is that a criminal barrister, Rodney Tanner, instructs two of his legal team, Charlotte and Femi, to look over the evidence for a case in order to provide him with some fresh insight. At the start, we are not sure about the stage this case has reached, or whether he has provided his colleagues with all the information. After this initial exchange, however, we are in exactly the same place as these legal detectives in having to work our way through a glut of emails from a glut of characters.
The setting is that staple of a traditional, golden era murder mystery: Lower Lockwood is a cosy English village, probably in the Home Counties. The centre of village life is The Grange, an upmarket hotel and conference centre that provides employment and business for a large number of the local residents, and is presided over by the Haywards, undoubtedly the community’s alpha family. They also run the village’s amateur dramatics society, the focus of the community’s cultural and social life, which is about to start work on its next production, ‘All My Sons”.
Into this seemingly tranquil, conventional society, Charlotte and Femi find out about the arrival of two new members of the community and drama group, Samantha and Kel Greenwood. They have returned in mysterious circumstances from working overseas for a medical charity and begin to stir things up. At the same time, Poppy Hayward, a young member of the alpha family, falls seriously ill and is in need of expensive, ground-breaking medical treatment. Of course, the community falls over itself to raise funds in order to ingratiate themselves with the Haywards. The Greenwoods, though, smell a rat, the rehearsals for the play become a tense arena and we realise, as Femi and Charlotte delve further into the emails, that a crime has taken place.
It is a long time before it becomes clear exactly what crime or crimes have taken place. Helpfully, Femi and break off from the perusal of the messages to summarise what has happened and what deductions can be made about the motives and behaviour of each member of the acting group and the medical staff involved with Poppy. Eventually, when they have worked their way through the emails, Roderick explains exactly what he wants from them as well as further information about the case. However, this is not a cop out where the reader is provided with information that makes everything clear. We, like his colleagues, still have to deduce, and the pleasure of the book is that we do it alongside two perceptive, intelligent individuals who have kept notes and who bounce ideas off one another.
The denouement is satisfying and appropriate; and, oh, I haven’t mentioned that the book is also very funny in a typical English way. Lower Lockwood is a class-conscious, gossipy microcosm of society - think Vicar of Dibley, Dad’s Army, Pride and Prejudice – with a whole tranche of secrets and deceits lying just below the surface. Highly recommended.