I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were a couple of times when I thought there might be one too many different types of material but they're all totally relevant. Of course you won't know that till the end, which I didn't see coming at all. Great twist. In fact there's several great twists. ABOUT 'THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE ALPERTON ANGELS': Open the safe deposit box. Inside you will find research material for a true crime book. You must read the documents, then make a decision. Will you destroy them? Or will you take them to the police? With Angels we have the notes, interviews, texts, news reports and extracts from other playwrights/authors who have all been intrigued by a decades old mystery involving a cult called The Alperton Angels and its ensuing cover up (or not). The story of the Alperton Angels is far from over. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels Review: My Opinion A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

JS: But I’m scared because now I know all this stuff, all this information, what do I do with it? Will they come for me? I don’t know what to do. All this renders The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels a deviously twisting and twisted puzzle layered with a multitude of deceptions, intrigues and red herrings. It combines the best aspects of the thriller and the whodunnit to present a challenging conundrum for readers to unravel. Everyone knows the sad story of the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl and convinced her that her newborn baby was the anti-Christ. Believing they had a divine mission to kill the infant, they were only stopped when the girl came to her senses and called the police. The Angels committed suicide rather than stand trial, while mother and baby disappeared into the care system. But do we care enough about this baby? Readers presumably shouldn’t find themselves wistfully thinking, as I did once or twice: “But didn’t this all happen ages ago? Is it time to let it lie?” I think the problem is Amanda. In Hallett’s previous books, the detection of the crime – and the crimes themselves – had origins in characters we learned to care about. Here, the narrative engine is a woman whose psychotic single-mindedness is admittedly interesting, but who has no personal involvement. What’s her motivation? If she’s writing purely for gain, how much will she lose if she fails? What I most enjoyed were the passages of pastiche – especially the snatches of an airport novel called White Wings. And as ever, the author’s control of the material is masterly, the eventual solution quelling any misgivings or objections the reader may have had along the way. Her latest is entitled The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels and it’s out 19 January 2023. The story involves a two rival authors, Amanda Bailey and Oliver Menzies, who are both researching a the mad case of a cult that brainwashed a teenage girl and convinced her that her newborn baby was the anti-Christ and tried to kill the baby. Now, that child is 18 and both Amanda and Oliver think there’s a story in it. Indeed, there is, but it’s not quite what they anticipated…This witty, clever, and multi-layered plot is a dark story relieved by touches of humour. Amanda is compelled to work with a rival author, Oliver Menzies, who is also writing a book about the Angel's case for a different publisher. Amanda was deeply hurt by him in the past but decides to cooperate. They agree to focus on different aspects of the case for their upcoming books. Amanda is considered the better reporter, but Oliver has better connections. Oliver publishes in a newspaper some of Amanda's work and a photograph she took. He is not embarrassed or apologetic for his deception and manages to get an interview with Gabriel. He refuses to share anything regarding this interview with Amanda. Oliver seems to have fallen under Gabriel's spell and is becoming obsessed with supernatural spirits, angels, demons, and the Antichrist. People are concerned about his break from reality, but Amanda insists he will snap out of it.

What makes her a publisher’s dream is the bank of ideas stored up from screenwriting. “The fact they didn’t get made as scripts turns out to be a good thing, because now I can develop them further as books.” Woven through Alperton Angels is a script adapted from one Hallett wrote in 2006, about a group of angels who are trying to save the Antichrist. “The twist was that they weren’t angels at all, it was a grooming ring. It was great to build on that story and make it bigger and more relevant to today.” Amanda Bailey is writing the book nearly two decades later. The mysterious Alperton baby will now be 18 and can finally be interviewed. Amanda is determined to find the baby before anyone else, hoping that the exclusive scoop will revive her struggling career. Would be a full 5 star read, but there was one part that felt a little rushed, however it's too much of a spoiler to discuss. Might just be me being sceptical, though.You were inspired by true crime and Michelle McNamara’s book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. What is it that interests you about the genre and that book? There’s something about this case. It burrows insidiously into your mind, then sets about changing it.” However Amanda is forced to join forces with rival writer Oliver Menzies who is also looking for the baby. As Amanda and Oliver delve further into the case, they realise everything they thought they knew was wrong.

I appreciate books that do this dossier format, here though I felt like the reader needed to want to play detective in a way that I never do in mysteries. I never go into a book trying to put on my detective hat with an old school pipe to suss out what really happened and which characters might be lying to me, and here I felt as though Hallett wanted the reader to construct their own murder board with doodles of characters connected by red string to really get the most enjoyment out of the book. As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realise that what everyone thinks they know about the Angels is wrong. The truth is something much darker and stranger. And the devilish story of the Alperton Angels is far from over... Janice Hallett, the author of The Appeal and The Twyford Code, is on a roll... [A] quirky, clever tale * The Times (Best Books of 2023) * From Matt Wesolowski’s Six Stories to Only Murders in the Building, fictional true crime and epistolary storytelling have become pretty popular – it might even be a movement. Do you see it that way and why do you think readers are gravitating to this and indeed to true crime?

We have some exciting news. The English author Janice Hallett has a new novel on the way, and if you’ve read The Appeal or The Twyford Code, you’ll know just what a big deal this is. She’s an author who has caught the imagination of crime fiction lovers everywhere, writing cleverly layered mysteries that roll together elements of half-forgotten secrets, true crime, made-up urban myths and a peculiar sense of, well, Englishness that’s definitely amusing but is hard to actually describe. I thought it was great how Janice Hallett managed to make her characters so distinct although all we had to go on were messages and conversations. Very cleverly done.