Review: "The Silent Appeal," Janice Hallett

The Fairway Players are back at their usual antics in this delicious, suspenseful mystery.

This time, however, committee co-chair Sarah-Jane MacDonald’s sister, Nicky-Rose, has suddenly returned to Lower Lockwood after 20 years abroad—with a big secret to hide.

The Players are staging Agatha Christie’s The Hollow. Since I happened to reread this classic just last year, I was pleased by the choice and the way Hallett reflects Christie’s novel in the plot of The Silent Appeal. The Fairway Players grumble, of course, as they are wont to do. No one wants to play Greta, the dumpy wife who’s wronged, so director Kevin MacDonald (Sarah-Jane’s husband) has to call in the infamous Issy Beck, well known to the readers of Hallett’s first book, The Appeal.

There is also the matter of the star prop of the piece, a Victorian mole-trap, which prop coordinator Denise amazingly locates in an antique shop. Readers, keep your eye on that beauty.

Kevin struggles to keep the unruly players in line. Nicky-Rose, who has a background in dance and theatre, finally decides to help out and she knows what’s she’s doing. Does Kevin fall in love with her? Sarah-Jane is stuck at home with the tot from hell, Sammy, because her mother and usual babysitter, Carol, has decided to take up with the Mendon Players when she doesn’t get the part she wants with the Fairway group.

As in The Appeal, the story is told through texts, emails and documents, with Roderick Tanner, KC (retired), enlisting the help of former law students, now full-fledged lawyers, Femi and Charlotte to solve the case.

It’s amazing how well this technique works. There’s so much going on besides the play, and the reader gets the whole scoop, albeit from a bevy of unreliable narrators. 

Do-gooder Fran Elroy-Jones has brought more dubious types into the group: Amelia and Lucas Stibson and his cousin Georgia. They sponge off Fran and are alternately annoying and dangerous. 

Fran, meanwhile, is having an affair with a married man.

Celia Halliday, who directs every other play with her husband Joel (don’t forget the OBE after his name—it’s the law) is up to her usual tricks. She just hates it when she’s not in charge.

And at the heart of it all is Nicky-Rose. What happened in Barbados? Why is she tolerating a friendship with clingy Issy? Is she somehow involved with Lucas?

Femi and Charlotte discuss and reflect as Roderick sends them documents in batches. He has a medical emergency, but that doesn’t stop him. As the finale approaches, Hallett pulls out all the stops: The texts and emails are out of consecutive order!

I enjoyed this romp from start to finish and can only hope the crazy Fairway Players will be back again. Well, most of them. A few will be in jail.

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Note: As the holidays approach, consider reading Hallett’s novella, The Christmas Appeal, featuring the Fairway gang. I know I’ll be rereading it in December. It’s a hoot.

Review: "The Body in the Bath," Ragnar Jónasson

 

Reykjavik police officer Helgi is in trouble. Bergbóra, his former girlfriend, is dead---and Helgi is accused of murdering her.

 

This is Helgi's third appearance, following Death at the Sanatorium and The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer. He is a low-key guy who's obsessed with classic murder mysteries. Given his passive nature, it's not surprising he puts up with Bergbóra's alcoholic, violent rages. Or that he never told anyone except his psychotherapist about how she abused him. Or that he even kept paying the rent on the apartment they once shared even after he left her.

 

Helgi finally put his foot down when Bergbóra ran over his new girlfriend, Anita. Of course, the fact that Bergbóra murdered Anita makes Helgi a prime suspect in her death.

 

Before Helgi is taken into custody, he was continuing to investigate the disappearance of his predecessor, Hulda. (She is the main character in Jónasson’s “Hidden Iceland” series.) Bergbóra was found dead in her bathtub. By strange coincidence, Helgi was examining one of Hulda’s cases that also involved a corpse in a tub.

But he is interrupted in his work by two of his colleagues. Alexander seems convinced Helgi did it, but the younger Mani is keeping an open mind. After all, Bergbóra was a beast. Surely she had destroyed other lives along the way.

Jónasson is the master of the slow boil. He builds suspense with spare prose. Helgi’s plight is agonizing. He has a decent lawyer, but is that enough? He doesn’t always stand up for himself as he should, but the pressure is wearing on him. Will he break?

When the final revelation of the murderer’s identity is made, it is shocking, heartbreaking, and yet totally believable.

This is a gripping addition to a fine series.

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The Body in the Bath will be released on November 10, 2026. I read an advanced reader’s copy through NetGalley.

Review: "The Correspondent," Virginia Evans

Sybil, a retired lawyer, is 72. She has been writing letters all her life. In The Correspondent, we follow Sybil’s “third act” through her correspondence.

It’s quite a show.

Sybil’s story is amusing, sad, sometimes infuriating—but always compelling. The Correspondent is one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Sybil is crusty, funny and has a “take no prisoners” attitude. She is ready to do battle on behalf of just about any perceived injustice to herself or the people she (apparently) cares about.

She has exchanged letters with Rosalie, her friend and sister-in-law, since they were teens. They always end their letters with a note on what they are reading. But when Sybil perceives Rosalie has overstepped a boundary, their relationship is endangered.

Sybil’s ex-husband, Lars, is dying of cancer in Belgium. Can she bring herself to write back to him?

When the new head of the English department at the University of Maryland doesn’t want to let Sybil audit classes, as she’s done for years, Sybil tries to deal with the situation through letters, but finally has to face the woman in person.

Her interactions with her neighbor, Mr. Lubec, involve notes, but are also recounted in letters to others. Mr. Lubec is attracted to Sybil, even after she accidentally runs over his cat. 

This tragic mistake happens because Sybil has macular degeneration, a devastating diagnosis for a reader and writer. Her condition runs as a thread throughout the novel.

Meanwhile, a lawyer from Houston whom she meets at a funeral wants to date her and won’t take no for an answer. She exchanges letters with the quirky, troubled teenage son of a former colleague and helps him when he reaches a crisis point.

Sybil has a secret, deep and dark. She tries to deal with it through letters. But her fraught relationship with her daughter Fiona is related to this past trauma, and that too must be dealt with in person.

Sybil is adopted, and has a warm relationship with her brother (also adopted), who lives in Paris. Yes, they exchange letters. Then Sybil has the opportunity to connect with her birth family. Should she? Her decision could change her life.

Through it all, she writes letters to authors—and Joan Didion writes back. More than once!

Sybil can be an exasperating character, and her relationship with Fiona is truly awful, but I found it impossible not to like her and feel compassion for her. Sybil is stubborn and usually doesn’t see the big picture, but that’s not the sum of her character.  I was in tears as I reached the final pages.

And that’s all you really need to know about this wonderful book.

Review: "How to Read a Book," Monica Wood

Harriet, a retired teacher, facilitates a book group at the Maine women’s prison. 

Violet is a member. She drove under the influence and killed a woman: Lorraine Daigle, a kindergarten teacher.

Frank Daigle is Lorraine’s husband, a retired machinist. He had a complicated relationship with Lorraine and is at loose ends after her death.

The three meet up in a fateful moment at a Portland book store. Violet, released early, is drawn to a cat, up for adoption, that she sees in the window.

Harriet is looking for the next selection for the book group.

Frank is working part-time doing maintenance in the shop. He spots Harriet, speaks to her, and feels a wave of attraction. Then he spies Violet.

Worlds collide.

This heartfelt, gently humorous novel left me teary-eyed. Then I proclaimed it an instant favorite.

Before all hell breaks loose when Violet comes into Frank’s view, he has suggested to Harriet that she try poetry next. She reacts warmly to him, but when he freaks out (in his way; he’s a gentle, kind man) at seeing the woman responsible for his wife’s death, she hardens to him.

Frank, however, wants to forgive Violet, and she is ready to begin a new chapter, to lead a good life. Eventually, the three unite.

Harriet helps Violet get a job in a bird lab at the university. The young woman loves working with the verbal, intelligent African gray parrots. She also grows too close to the lab’s director, Mishka, a brilliant but sullen Russian. 

Harriet continues to lead the book group. The women affectionately call her “Bookie.” When they read Spoon River Anthology, their imaginations are fired up and they start writing. Harriet is fulfilled by her work, but her niece and daughters are concerned that Harriet is too familiar with the inmates. They even know where her cat, Tabsy, hangs out in her home.

Frank has to deal with a drama-queen daughter, who idolized her mother. Should he, can he, tell her the truth about Lorraine?

These issues all come to a head for the characters, individually and together, in dramatic fashion. And the Spoon River Anthology fits in wonderfully with the poignant ending of the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the bird lab, and Violet’s interactions with the parrots. I may have even learned a thing or two about animal behavior. Of course, as a retired librarian, I found the book group interactions and Harriet’s process for selecting materials engrossing. And Frank’s love of working with metal and fashioning it into useful objects was fascinating. 

How to Read a Book is the community read selection for Lithgow Public Library this year. I’m looking forward to participating in a book discussion on it and then a reception for and program by Monica Wood later this month.