While a small-town amateur theatre group is trying to raise money for a young girl’s experimental cancer treatment, a murder is committed in their midst. Two law students are examining the evidence to determine if the person who was sent to prison was wrongfully accused.
Quote
“Her neediness borders on obsession, and where obsession is concerned, isn’t there a fine line between love and hate? Obsessive love – if it can be described as “love” at all – can change direction in a flash.”
Interesting Facts
When Janice Hallett started writing The Appeal, she didn’t know who the victim or the murderer would be. She figured out the story along the way and went back to change things at the beginning of the book to make sure the story was airtight.1
The first draft of The Appeal contained intense emails between Izzy and Sam. The emails were not dated, but the author realized that the dates and hours could help the narrative and even be clues to the reader. The book was also 20,000 words longer than the published novel.2
Janice Hallett writes on a desktop mac, but always keeps a pen and paper close by to jot down notes and ideas.3 She usually writes 3 to 4 hours in the morning. In the afternoon, she replies to emails and goes over what she has written in the morning.4
The author was a member of an amateur theatre group called Raglan Players in West London. She started when she was 14 and even met her partner there. Unfortunately, it folded in 2013.5
Cécile Sune was born in Lyon, France, and her obsession with books started when she was 14. Her grandparents had lent her Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, and she spent part of the summer indoors reading. Needless to say, her tan didn't really improve that year! It was also around that time that Cécile fell in love with the English language. Several years later, in 1999, Cécile moved to Toronto, Canada, with her cat and 5 suitcases. Her love of reading greatly increased when she discovered that English books were much cheaper than French novels. In 2013, she decided to start a blog to share her passion. Cécile now lives in Ottawa, Canada, with her husband and their daughter, and works as a freelance translator (CS Revision).
Summary Leonora Quine hires private detective Cormoran Strike to find her husband, Owen, who has disappeared after an argument with his publisher about his new book, a tell-all about everyone he knows. When Owen turns up dead, the list of suspects is very long. Quote “You can’t plot murder like a novel. There are always loose ends in real life.” Interesting Facts 1 Source: BBC Media Centre2 Source: The Leaky…
When Craig Moore drowns in a lake, Andy Crowl is surprised to learn that his cousin left him his few possessions despite their not seeing each other for years because of a childhood rivalry. Andy and his sister Kate, go to Craig’s house in Mortom to sort through the inheritance when they come upon a dead rat with a key in its mouth. It turns out someone has set up clues for Andy…
Ian Rankin was in Ottawa on Saturday 30 November 2013 to talk about his new book, Saints of the Shadow Bible. Earlier that day, he was having a drink in a pub when he started chatting with one of the customers there. The guy noticed that he was Scottish, and asked Rankin what he was doing for a living. When the author told him, the guy said he was actually…
