The Fairway Players, a volunteer theatrical group is planning to perform Arthur Miller’s, All My Sons as their next production. Martin Hayward is the director and his wife, Helen, is usually one of the main stars in any production that they mount. But tragedy strikes the Hayward family when their three year old granddaughter is diagnosed with a rare cancer. Soon the Fairway Players, in addition to rehearsing and performing their play, are organizing fund raisers in order to pay for an expensive new treatment from the U.S.

But something seems a bit off about this new treatment and money mismanagement seems to plague the fund raising effort. As tensions rise, explosive accusations are made at a dress rehearsal and the next day a dead body is found. and an arrest is made. But have they truly arrested the right person or is the real killer still hiding in plain sight?

The Appeal is a classic whodunnit, the twist however is that the story is narrated by the two young lawyers who have been asked to go through the evidence in the case and see if they can find the true murderer. The story unfolds through texts messages and emails between the lawyers, and the various documents that they are reviewing- phone messages, texts emails and letters. This is really quite clever as it makes the reader part of the process of uncovering the murderer. Although there are some choices the author makes that I might quibble about- like leaving the two lawyers initially in the dark about who they are representing, I found the book compelling, clever and engaging. I alway enjoy a new take on an old genre and I think you will too!

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian and Sharon

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format. Do not recommend audio format for this book.