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. Afterwards, both mother and child vanished, and in the past 18 years anyone who has tried to unearth them seems rapidly to have died in suspicious circumstances.

This can be an effective storytelling device, but in this case, waiting for the private investigator heroine to get to where the reader is at the beginning of the story feels interminable. Also in this case, a lot of emoticons were used, some were unclear because black and white, though I expect just as bad in print, and the ones understood did add some verisimilitude to the storytelling, so insert shrugging emoticon here please. On the surface, the central mystery of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels is far from cosy: it concerns a sinister cult leader who has languished in jail since 2003 after persuading a teenage acolyte that her baby was the Antichrist and needed to be sacrificed. Amanda Bailey intrigued me - she had that carefree attitude - one that resonated confidence and was motivated enough to want to find out the truth behind the horrific events of the past. It’s early December 2022 and the Fairway Players are rehearsing for their latest command performance: a one-night-only production of Jack and the Beanstalk in aid of the local church’s roof repair fund.

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels is the first Janice Hallett book I’ve read, despite having her previous works on my bookshelf. Having skewered the venerable pastimes of amateur dramatics and children’s literature in her previous books, this time round Hallett focuses her perceptive storytelling on the phenomenon of true crime, shining a light on the particularly unsavoury aspects of the hugely popular genre. Granted, there may have been signs here and there that I should have suspected all was not right in Amanda's motives, but it just seemed like such an unnecessary tactic, and just shifted the focus entirely from the current mystery at hand, to a whole other plot device.

I received an advance review copy of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels from the publisher through NetGalley.And, most importantly, will there be a dense mystery that will be satisfyingly solved by sheer authorial ingenuity in the last 50 pages? Because of the format used, it's very drawn out, there's no clear storyline and a confusing multitude of characters, and I use this word loosely as we never actually meet any of them, who may or may not reappear later in the book.

I was somewhat confused with the resolution honestly, despite it being well set up (again, I think this is will be very bad in audiobook) and not sure if a few things were as well explained as they could like the mad squaddie and his role, and why the fuck did Ellie tell her stupid theory about Lady Louise to Oliver, or was Ellie some kind of double agent? Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels, the cult that brainwashed a teenage girl into believing her baby was the anti-Christ. It gets increasingly dramatic and startling with some of the discoveries with an ending that is maybe unsurprisingly given what we learn though I love the ultimate dilemma!

Facing dead ends and obfuscation at every turn in their attempts to investigate the cult and the related deaths, Bailey and Menzies reluctantly agree to combine their resources in an attempt to track down the key players and determine what really happened. That these easter eggs are meaningless and even befuddling to new readers might make sense in terms of costs and benefits. I was born, grew up and still live in Northolt, a London suburb Transport for London considers to be in Zone 5.

Due to the characters’ obscured intentions and unclear goals, even when they are communicating in apparently straightforward and helpful ways, there are numerous strands of mysteries for Bailey and Menzies to follow as they attempt to track down the missing baby and get to the heart of the Angels conspiracy. According to the 2011 census, the largest ethnic group was Indian, 42% of the population, well above Brent's average of 18%. S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. This involved a cult, who, believing they were angels, intended to kill a baby they thought was the Antichrist.It’s the start of a new life after a few incidents that necessitated their moving, and while their new home is comfortable, it comes with a certain level of discomfort. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels is a multi-layered puzzle filled with intrigue and suspense. That triggered the idea for a present-day true crime author attempting to rehash an old crime story for a low-budget beach read – and unexpectedly uncovers aspects to the case no one realised at the time.