An Evening with Janice Hallett

Join Blue Bear Bookshop at the Victoria Hall for an evening with Sunday Times bestseller, crime and mystery author Janice Hallett,  best known for her phenomenally successful debut thriller The Appeal.

About the Author – Janice Hallett is a former magazine editor and award-winning journalist whose work has included speechwriting and articles for the UK government, including the Cabinet Office and the Department for International Development. As a screenwriter, her debut feature film Retreat (Sony Pictures), starring Cillian Murphy, Thandiwe Newton, and Jamie Bell, was co-written with director Carl Tibbetts. Her stage plays have been performed at venues including Theatre503 and Rich Mix, and she has developed television scripts with Slim Film & TV and Retort (FremantleMedia).
Janice was selected for the Triforce Creative Network mentoring scheme and appeared on the BBC New Talent Hotlist. She won Best New Screenplay at the British Independent Film Festival in 2014.
Her debut novel, The Appeal (2021), became the UK’s bestselling debut novel of the year, earning critical acclaim and winning the CWA New Blood Dagger. Her subsequent novels—The Twyford Code (2022), The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels (2023), and The Examiner (2024)—have all been Sunday Times bestsellers, with the latter continuing her streak of innovative, genre-pushing crime fiction. Her work has been selected for the Richard & Judy Book Club and optioned for screen adaptation by Birdie Pictures.

About the Book – The Killer Question – The answer is murder. The question is whodunnit?
A quiet country pub stands empty, its windows boarded up. And its kindly landlords, Mal and Sue Eastwood, are missing.
What could have happened? A lot of strange events occurred in the days before the Eastwoods disappeared. A murdered man pulled from the nearby river. An eccentric couple on a houseboat who claimed to be led by a spirit guide.
And a mysterious new team who suddenly appeared and began winning every round at the weekly pub quiz – much to the anger of the locals. They must have been cheating, but no one could figure out how… Can you crack the case of the missing landlords? Someone’s not been playing fair, so get the drinks in and see if you can get a perfect score.

About the Event – The event will be ‘in conversation’ style. Tickets are non-refundable, Two Ticket options, General Admission – £10 plus fees (ticket redeemable against the price of a book). Book Ticket – £18.99 Free entry when you preorder a copy of the book.