By Janice Hallett

I’ve had The Twyford Code sitting on my bookshelf since just after it came out, unread, so when my copy of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels came in, I decided I didn’t want to leave it unread for more than a couple of months. And boy am I glad I made that decision. The premise intrigued me, but then I opened to this first page…

and I was hooked.

This book is written in an odd style – I’ve seen it called mixed media. It is pretty much solely a collection of text message conversations, emails and interview transcripts. I wasn’t sure what I thought about it, and I admit that it took a bit of getting used to. But I was still intrigued enough from that first page to make it through to the point where it wasn’t bothering me any more.

Amanda is a true crime author. She has been pondering what to do next, even contemplating writing a novel (shock!), when her editor links her with a publisher that has planned a new series on putting new spins on old crimes, and asks if she is interested in covering the Alperton Angels case from 18 years earlier. This was a case of a cult where teenage parents were convinced that their baby was the Antichrist and needed to be killed. However, the baby’s mother came to her senses in time and escaped, and all the cult members, bar the leader, committed suicide. The leader escaped but was later arrested and is now in jail, for a full life term. At the time, due to the teenagers and baby being under-aged, they were hidden away and the press had no access to them. But the baby is now 18, and Amanda has been tasked with finding him/her and reinvigorating the story.

Thus begins a hunt to locate the players and uncover what really happened. At the same time, Amanda is required to work with someone from her past, that did something that completely changed her life at the time. Remember that, it’s important.

I’d like to tell you more about this story, but there is too much danger of spoiling it. There are twists and turns as the truth is slowly uncovered. And you need to follow that journey to get maximum appreciation of the book. Due to the style of the book, I can’t really review the writing – though I will say that if the draft book chapters are an example of how the author would write a traditional book, it’s probably a good thing she tends to stick to mixed media books. And the characters? Well, that’s tricky too. You do get to know some of the characters to a small degree, but not in the way that you would in a traditionally written story. I will say, neither Amanda, nor her nemesis Oliver, were all that likeable. On the plus side, a book of this style makes it easier to continue when you don’t have much interest in the characters. So really, this book comes down to plot and the mystery itself. Which are definitely done well. Well enough that I read this book in a single day – thanks to the Easter long weekend.

I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery books.