The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels

This is an epistolary novel, told in emails, texts, transcripts and newspaper articles, mostly from the point of view of an acerbic, hardworking true crime writer. I loved the plot and its twists and turns. The audiobook got me through a stressful 13 hour drive and with the narrator having to read ‘laughing face emoji, crying laughing face emoji, throwing-up face emoji’ just made it funnier to me.

Janice Hallett has written three novels that shatter the traditional murder mystery form.

Her first, The Appeal, was a series of emails. And this book is a collection of notes, messages, and emails put together by a non-fiction author, commissioned to write a true crime book about a terrible event 18 years earlier.

For me, Alperton Angels is so amazing because Hallett manages to immerse us in the story, bringing out the characters of those involved in the way they communicate. With impressive twists along the way, it’s simply brilliant.