Readers Guide for The Silent Appeal

My Readers Guide to The Silent Appeal will discuss this new addition to The Appeal books by Janice Hallett (two books and a Christmas novella.) My character list will remind you of who’s returning and who’s new, I have a lowdown on the play performed, and so much more!

Readers Guide for The Silent Appeal

Jen’s Quick Take on The Silent Appeal

• The Silent Appeal takes place in 2025, seven years after The Appeal (2018) and two and a half years after The Christmas Appeal (Christmas 2022.
• If you want a full recap on The Appeal, my Spoiler Discussion post is here.
• This time the Fairway Players are putting on a performance of Agatha Christie’s The Hollow. The play didn’t overtly have as much to do with the book as I expected, but maybe I am missing things. (In her acknowledgments, Hallett says she was the line prompter for the play in her teens, so knows it well.) If you’ve read The Hollow, I want to hear your thoughts.
• Lawyers Charlotte and Femi are back, this time to review a case for their boss. He thinks the convicted person could be eligible for an appeal.
• The Silent Appeal withholds the identities of the victim and the killer until close to the end of the book. Because there is a lot of intrigue, there are several possible victims.
• If you have found books like The Twyford Code or The Mysterious Case of The Alperton Angels hard to follow, this book offers more help, using Charlotte and Femi to recap plot points and brainstorm possible victims.
• I love the small town gossipy, bickering feel of The Appeal books, so I really enjoyed this one!
• Publication Date: September 1, 2026 by Atria. Thanks to them for the advance copy!

Character List for The Silent Appeal

In parentheses I have indicated which books each character appears in: (The Appeal = A, Christmas Appeal = CA, Silent Appeal = SA)

The lawyers

• Femi Hassan (A, CA, SA)
• Charlotte Holroyd (A, CA, SA)
• Roderick Tanner (A, CA, SA)

The Macdonalds

• Sarah-Jane and Kevin Macdonald: co-chairs of the Fairway Players (A, CA, SA)
• Carol Dearing: Sarah Jane’s mother  (A, CA, SA)
• Nicky-Rose Dearing: Sarah Jane’s sister (SA)
• Stuart Kinsella: Nicky-Rose’s ex (SA)
• Harley Macdonald: S-J and Kevin’s teenage son (A, CA, SA)
• Samantha “Sammy” Macdonald: S-J and Kevin’s young daughter  (CA, SA)

• Joyce Walford: in her 60s. (A, CA, SA)
• Barry Walford: Joyce’s son  (A, CA, SA)
• Myra: Barry Walford’s partner (CA, SA)
• Kahleesi and Arya: Barry and Myra’s young children (SA)

More Fairway Players

• John O’ Dea: the treasurer (A, CA, SA)
• Denise and Steve Malcolm  (A, CA, SA)
• Marianne and Mick Payne  (A, CA, SA)
• Karen Payne: their daughter (A. CA, SA)
• Joel and Celia Halliday: they have a teenage daughter (A, CA, SA)
• Beth Halliday: their daughter (A, CA, SA)
• Emma Crooks: yoga teacher and artist (A, CA, SA)
• Isabel Beck: a nurse at St. Ann’s hospital  (A, CA, SA)
• Fran Elroy-Jones: caseworker in town  (CA, SA)
• Dustin Perez: new policeman in town (CA, SA)
• Isabel Beck: a nurse at St. Ann’s hospital  (A, SA)
• Rev Joshua Harries (CA, SA)

New Characters in The Silent Appeal

• Amelia and Lucas Stibson: new couple in the Players
• Georgia Tacuso: cousin of Lucas
• Mark Digworth: Karen Payne’s new boyfriend, and undertaker
• Elizabeth Harries: Rev Joshua’s wife

Nicky-Rose’s Cruise Ship Associates

• Katrina “Trina” Neale: Nicky-Rose’s business partner
• Tiffany Ramirez: dancer on the cruise ship

Things to Remember About The Appeal

The Return of Isabel Beck

Isabel is BACK in person. ( In The Appeal, she confessed to the murder of Samantha Greenwood and was sentenced to life in prison. But Isabel didn’t kill Samantha, and later was able to appeal (!!) her case. In The Christmas Appeal, she exchanged some emails with Sarah-Jane, reporting that she was out of prison and her caseworker is none other than Fran Elroy-Jones. By The Silent Appeal, Fran seems to have filed restraining order on Isabel.

Summary of The Hollow by Agatha Christie

The Hollow was first published as a 1946 novel featuring Hercule Poirot. Christie later stripped Poirot out when she adapted it into a stage play in 1951. She reportedly felt Poirot’s appearance had “ruined” the novel and was adamant he had no place in the play version. 

The murder victim in the book is Dr. John Christow, an unfaithful and self-absorbed physician. Christow is shot at a country house weekend. His wife Gerda is found standing over his body holding a gun, but that gun turns out not to be the murder weapon.

The rest of the house party (including Henrietta, John’s mistress, who is also his cousin’s fiancée) all have reasons to protect someone else, and several of them subtly misdirect Poirot to shield Gerda. Henrietta in particular orchestrates a cover-up, interpreting John’s dying words as a plea for his mistress to help his wife.

SPOILERS BELOW:

In the book, Poirot realizes Gerda is dangerous enough to kill again to keep her secret. When he believes Gerda has poisoned Henrietta’s tea to keep her quiet, Poirot switches the cups and Gerda drinks the poisoned tea. The 1951 play changes ending slightly. In the play, after confessing to Henrietta, Gerda poisons her tea, but the Inspector in charge of the case innocently offers Henrietta’s cup to Gerda, who drinks it.

Cast of the Hollow

Plot Sumary for The Silent Appeal

These books are a little tough to recap, so I’ll do the best I can to hit the high points. If you have a question or think I missed (or messed up) something, please leave a comment!

The case is about a convicted criminal who might have grounds for an appeal.

Charlotte and Femi are on the case, reading documents.

The Fairway Players select their new play, The Hollow by Agatha Christie

Immediately, most of the women want to be Henrietta and no one wants to play Gerda.

The Return of Nicky-Rose

We learn that Sarah-Jane has a sister, Nicky-Rose, who has been away for twenty years. She studied at Julliard, did some Off Broadway plays, and then worked at a company that booked cruise ship entertainers.

Right away there are issues:

• Charlotte and Femi wonder where Nicky-Rose was between quitting the cruise ship job in June and the time she showed up in Lockwood (early January)
• Nicky-Rose tells her sister where she’s been recently, but we don’t get the information.
• Someone named Trina accuses Nicky-Rose of stealing something, while Nicky-Rose suggests that Trina forged Nicky’s signature on loans and used her house as collateral. Not only did Nicky-Rose loses her house in Barbados, she is getting demands from creditors.
• Nicky consults a lawyer and is told there is little she can do … except make a deal with Trina.

In the prop department, there’s Chekhov’s gun and a Mole Trap

There’s a shooting in the play, and Denise wants to use a starter pistol, which has got me worried. The script also refers to a mole trap, and Denise found one. Here’s what it looks like

Casting is announced and..

• Sarah-Jane’s mother is overlooked and takes a part with a rival theater group
• Georgia, a new member who is playing Gerda, drops out.
• A desperate Kevin reaches out to Isabel Beck.

Romantic Drama:

• Nicky-Jane is having an affair with a married man. Is it Kevin?
• Fran is carrying on with Reverend Josh
• Georgia, the surly cousin of Lucas, is straining the marriage of Lucas and Amelia

Drug Issues in Lockwood:

• Lucas is working at a sketchy place called The Lunar Club, and definitely up to something
• Dustin is worried about printed sheets of LSD being sold in town

Who Tried to Harm Amelia?

The group holds a “sleep out” at the church for charity and a light falls on Amelia, who is playing Henrietta. Luckily she has a minor leg injury. Was it an accident? Was it sabotage? Joel presents Kevin with evidence that the light was tampered with.

Cruise Ship True Crime

We learn a possible source of tension between Nicky-Rose and Trina. In June 2024, the same time Nicky left her job, a dancer named Tiffany Ramirez vanished from the ship.

Friendship Bracelet Drama

This seems petty, but will be important later. Despite warnings from Sarah-Jane, Nicky befriends Isabel. Isabel, thrilled to have a friend, makes them matching bracelets and puts Nicky’s in her bag during the sleep-out.

BUT Fran and Nicky have identical bags and the bracelet ends up in Fran’s bag.

Nicky-Rose Can’t Hide Forever

• Nicky gets a heads-up that the detective from Barbados is headed to the UK to interview witnesses.
• Using Sarah-Jane’s name, Nicky buys an airline ticket
• Nicky has also successfully negotiated a price with Trina, who is coming to Lockwood to trade cash for incriminating documents.
• But Nicky has scammed Isabel into being the go-between.

More Secrets Are Revealed!

• Georgia is not Lucas’s cousin. She’s his girlfriend, and she’s pregnant.
• Amelia, still in pain due to her leg injury, borrows some of Lucas’s LSD. He frantically messages her not to take it, as it’s a “bad batch.”
• Trina and Isabel make the switch, then Trina is arrested for possession of LSD.
• Nicky reveals that Tiffany, the missing woman, was dealing drugs on the ship. She and Trina agreed to turn her over to a rival drug dealer in exchange for debt forgiveness.
• Kevin is NOT having an affair with Nicky-Jane. Lucas is three-timing: married to Amelia, expecting a baby with Georgia, and having an affair with Nicky-Rose

The Murder Victim and Culprit are Revealed!

• On opening day, Kevin accidentally let it slip that Reverend Joshua’s wife was pregnant. He’d told Fran their marriage was over.
• Reverend Josh’s body is found in the alley between the church and the theater after she show.
• Fran confesses: during the interval (intermission) she met Josh with the starter pistol and the mole trap. When she realized the pistol was fake she stabbed him with the mole trap.

What Happened After That

• Mark was the one who sabotaged the light so his girlfriend Karen could have Amelia’s part in the play
• Nicky-Rose flees the country with Sarah-Jane’s passport
• In August, Fran is convicted of Reverend Joshua’s murder.
• BUT it comes out that Amelia put LSD in what she thought was Nicky-Rose’s water bottle. It was actually Fran’s. (Remember the identical bags.)
• The legal team files an appeal for Fran alleging that she was drugged when she committed the murder.

Questions, corrections, comments, information about Agatha Christie? Leave them in the comments below!