Janice Hallett’s murder mystery has pipped Richard Osman to a spot on the bookseller’s list There’s a sleepy town, a murder and multiple twists, but the latest slice of cosy crime heading for the bestseller charts isn’t by Richard Osman, but from newcomer Janice Hallett, who has just been tipped for the top by Waterstones. Hallett’s The Appeal, in which law students Charlotte and Femi investigate a mystery in the sleepy town of Lower Lockwood, dealing with everything from an amateur dramatic society’s disastrous staging of All My Sons to a dodgy charity appeal for a child’s medical treatment, has been shortlisted for the Waterstones book of the year award. It is one of 13 titles in the running for the prize, for which books are nominated by Waterstones booksellers. Buyer Bea Carvalho said it had been a “real word of mouth hit” for the UK’s largest book chain. Continue reading...