Everyone has a secret in the clever and often wryly funny mystery The Appeal by Janice Hallett. From page one, Hallett invites the reader to pop on their detective hat as the story unfolds entirely through correspondence, phone calls, and text messages shared among a community theatre troupe. Somewhere in there is the answer to who among them is a murderer and why, but cracking the case won't be easy when it seems everyone in this small town has a secret to hide — and plenty of reasons to kill to protect their reputations and families from total ruin.