Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by bonnybonnybooks
The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett
3.0
2.5 stars
I was semi-lukewarm on [b:The Appeal|54621096|The Appeal (The Appeal, #1)|Janice Hallett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600352529l/54621096._SY75_.jpg|85222105]. Everything I disliked about the first book was still here, and the only thing this novella did better was that it was shorter.
Let's talk about the premise. Like the Appeal, an attorney (King's Counsel) gives two junior attorneys a heap of correspondence connected with a case. He does not even tell them who the victim is or what the crime is in this novella. He also withholds key evidence until the end. This is not an effective way to go about a case, and essentially comes across as if he's messing with them. Or very bad at his job.
It then takes half the novella to get to the crime. The first half is just petty amateur theater drama. This novella appears to be written for those who are nostalgic for the characters of the first book, which was certainly not me. Then the actual mystery turns out to be devastatingly underwhelming and also would not have allowed the police to collect all these private emails and text messages. The crime was wrapped up in a day or two and there is no way they would have been granted warrants for all of these folks' electronic communications (who already had all their private communications taken and poured over by strangers in the first book! You think that at least some of them would, you know, MAKE PHONE CALLS instead of putting important things in writing).
I support more Christmas crime novellas, and I like the premise (if not the execution) of an epistolary crime investigation. But I think that I'm done with the world of the Appeal.
I was semi-lukewarm on [b:The Appeal|54621096|The Appeal (The Appeal, #1)|Janice Hallett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600352529l/54621096._SY75_.jpg|85222105]. Everything I disliked about the first book was still here, and the only thing this novella did better was that it was shorter.
Let's talk about the premise. Like the Appeal, an attorney (King's Counsel) gives two junior attorneys a heap of correspondence connected with a case. He does not even tell them who the victim is or what the crime is in this novella. He also withholds key evidence until the end. This is not an effective way to go about a case, and essentially comes across as if he's messing with them. Or very bad at his job.
It then takes half the novella to get to the crime. The first half is just petty amateur theater drama. This novella appears to be written for those who are nostalgic for the characters of the first book, which was certainly not me. Then the actual mystery turns out to be devastatingly underwhelming and also would not have allowed the police to collect all these private emails and text messages. The crime was wrapped up in a day or two and there is no way they would have been granted warrants for all of these folks' electronic communications (who already had all their private communications taken and poured over by strangers in the first book! You think that at least some of them would, you know, MAKE PHONE CALLS instead of putting important things in writing).
I support more Christmas crime novellas, and I like the premise (if not the execution) of an epistolary crime investigation. But I think that I'm done with the world of the Appeal.