Part of The Appeal
First published 2021
Martin Hayward directs the Fairway Players while his wife Helen takes the starring role in their latest production. Their world shifts when their granddaughter receives a devastating diagnosis of rare cancer. The experimental treatment that might save her costs more money than the family possesses. The theater group mobilizes to raise funds, but doubts surface about the treatment's value and the motives of those pushing for it. Rehearsals continue as community tensions escalate. The dress rehearsal erupts in conflict. Someone dies the following day. Police make an arrest quickly. Two junior lawyers prepare for trial by examining the evidence trail of emails, text messages, and correspondence. They begin to suspect the real murderer remains free. The truth lies buried in the digital communications, waiting for careful readers to piece together the real story.
Genres: drama, mystery, crime, contemporary, adult-fiction, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, intricate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: epistolary-narrative, found-family, puzzle-mystery, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Fairway Players theater
Period: 21st-century
447 pages · Paperback · Viper
Content warnings: death, murder, terminal-illness