{"id":3479,"date":"2024-06-02T12:39:54","date_gmt":"2024-06-02T12:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=3479"},"modified":"2024-09-18T15:49:18","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T15:49:18","slug":"epistolary-book-recommendation-the-mysterious-case-of-the-alperton-angels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=3479","title":{"rendered":"Epistolary Book Recommendation: The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi Readers! You know I love a good mystery. But, lately, all I had been reading were cozy mysteries. So, reading The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels was a nice change of pace from those. It was not cozy, nor was it detective fiction and it was also not action based criminal mystery. Maybe that\u2019s why I loved it so much.<\/strong><\/mark> It\u2019s fresh and unlike any mystery novel I have read before. It\u2019s unpretentious and simply marvellous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl into believing her baby was the anti-Christ. When the girl came to her senses and called the police, the Angels committed suicide and mother and baby disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, true crime author Amanda Bailey is looking to revive her career by writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen; finding them will be the scoop of the year. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and also on the baby\u2019s trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realize that the truth about the Angels is much darker and stranger than they\u2019d ever imagined, and in pursuit of the story they risk becoming part of it.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~THOUGHTS~~<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

~~GENRE & WRITING~~<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Making a 416-page book only in the form of emails, text messages, transcribed interviews & conversations, letters, newspaper articles sounds tedious to read, but Janice Hallett made it unravelling fun.<\/strong><\/mark> Sure, at times, it became slightly monotonous, but with the right reveal at such time is what kept it going. I haven\u2019t read many books in the epistolary fiction genre, but I definitely want to read them now and this book has set a high standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I liked that how the writing was still able to take the spotlight even though all the text was just the day-to-day. It was like having a charm to your daily life. Text messages but make them sound like they can be either really genuine or entirely fake. Emails that say meaningful things but are all just templates sent to multiple people. In all of this, the transcribed text is what we could really rely on. The conversations between Amanda and Oliver, or Amanda and Ellie, or Amanda and other key resources to the case. Those conversations even in dialogue, felt so real that real emotions were captured in those. This balance between all the forms of documents made the writing unusual and also quite refreshing.<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~CHARACTERS~~<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Amanda Bailey<\/strong><\/mark> is our main character in the form of a true crime author on the hunt of her new book. She came across as a no-nonsense woman who is fearless in what she wants to achieve. She may also come across as slightly selfish, but again, if she were a man, no one would question her behaviour twice, so I enjoyed reading her.<\/strong><\/mark> Then we have Oliver Menzies<\/strong><\/mark>, a fool of a character whom I loathed from the beginning. We have Ellie Cooper<\/mark><\/strong>, who is Amanda\u2019s transcriber. I enjoyed her quite a lot. In the transcribes, she has her own little comments, which are sometimes insightful and sometimes just funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from these three, there is a long list of minor characters, all of whom were involved in the case 18 years ago: detectives, journalists, true crime enthusiasts, amateur murder clubs<\/strong><\/mark> and so on. It was a different interaction with each kind of audience. Most of all I loved reading the murder club emails, because as harmless as they were, they also shared vital information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~PLOT~~<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Given the nature of the book, to keep the plot moving briskly is a task. For a long time, I felt like the story did not move forward at all. But, when it did, I wasn\u2019t happy with it. And then, it finally went on the correct track making sense of it all. Solving old and cold cases has never been an interest of mine, because what are the odds you will find something new? But, in this one, the discovery of it all was so fun to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We start by reading about a cult who want to sacrifice a baby who is believed to be the Anti-Christ. And then, the story shifts a little into the paranormal. And, then, there is the big reveal, which is just so simple and plausible.<\/mark><\/strong> For once, I loved the normalcy of the ending. I think the author made it as complicated as possible throughout the book and then kept the ending which would be acceptable to any kind of reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~TO READ OR NOT TO READ~~<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels has it all! It flows across the genres of horror, crime, mystery, paranormal all in the form of epistolary fiction.<\/mark> <\/strong>A cult who called themselves the Alperton Angels were all set to sacrifice the Anti-Christ who was a baby, until things took a turn and there were multiple deaths. Now, 18 years later, the baby who is now an adult has captured the interest of true crime author Amanda Bailey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her search to write the story from the baby\u2019s perspective, what will she uncover? Will she dig deep enough to know what exactly happened that night? Will she meet Gabriel, who was the leader of the cult and find herself understanding him? Will she be able to track the baby only to know something unexpected? And in all of this, will she have a better book than her colleague Oliver Menzies who is set for the same target? Will they find a way to amicably work together or will past difference come in the way of this current partnership? Who will be alive at the end of it all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you find all of this intriguing, you should definitely read the book! I have rated The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett at 5\/5 stars!<\/strong> <\/mark>I cannot wait to read all of her books!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until next time,<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Readers! You know I love a good mystery. But, lately, all I had been reading were cozy mysteries. So, reading The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels was a nice change of pace from those. It was not cozy, nor was it detective fiction and it was also not action based criminal mystery. Maybe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,23,3],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-3479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-books","category-book-reviews","category-mindscape-reviews","tag-favorite-books"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/PXL_20240521_133511347-2-1.jpg?fit=2500%2C2500&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3462,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=3462","url_meta":{"origin":3479,"position":0},"title":"May 2024 Wrap-Up!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"May 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! May has been the highlight of 2024! It was the month of my first international trip to the US! I had the time of my life. Never had 20 days felt so ridiculously short! I was in Virginia, Washington DC, Philadelphia & New York City! Of course, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Picsart_24-05-31_10-38-48-460-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Picsart_24-05-31_10-38-48-460-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Picsart_24-05-31_10-38-48-460-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Picsart_24-05-31_10-38-48-460-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Picsart_24-05-31_10-38-48-460-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3825,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=3825","url_meta":{"origin":3479,"position":1},"title":"Top 8 Books of 2024 \u2013 Year in Review (Part 1)","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"December 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to the 2024 Year in Review series!!!For those who have been with Mindscape in Words long enough, would know that every year I share a few posts in a series called \u2018Year in Review\u2019. And, for\u00a0those who started following me recently, you are in for a treat this year.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PSX_20241221_122912-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PSX_20241221_122912-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PSX_20241221_122912-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PSX_20241221_122912-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PSX_20241221_122912-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4539,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=4539","url_meta":{"origin":3479,"position":2},"title":"Book Recommendation: The Examiner by Janice Hallett","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"November 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! Another mood reading sojourn encapsulated me to pick up The Examiner by Janice Hallett. I made the mistake of starting the book on a Monday. I had loved Hallet\u2019s previous book also of a similar genre of epistolary mystery fiction. So, I should have known better than to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PSX_20251116_162722-2-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PSX_20251116_162722-2-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PSX_20251116_162722-2-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PSX_20251116_162722-2-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PSX_20251116_162722-2-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":136,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=136","url_meta":{"origin":3479,"position":3},"title":"March Reads!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"March 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"March is undoubtedly my favourite month of the year and why shouldn\u2019t it be? It\u2019s my BIRTHDAY MONTH!! I absolutely love celebrating it. I don\u2019t even get morose about aging. But, now that I turned 25, who knows, I might!\u00a0Another reason why March was fantastic is because I read a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-flICBhG5KcA\/XJpfKBFvhpI\/AAAAAAAAheQ\/6Uu6MMzB4P4J6QijbGvjcfBOGQIMCxUyACLcBGAs\/s400\/IMG_20190326_223232_Bokeh-01.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2737,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=2737","url_meta":{"origin":3479,"position":4},"title":"Japanese Murder Mystery Book Recommendation: The Tokyo Zodiac Murders","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"April 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! April has been a fantastic reading month. I read 14 books and I might just read one more before the end of the month. Here's a short review of a gory yet fun murder mystery novel. Have you ever read a mystery that has so many angles to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230426_185017-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230426_185017-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230426_185017-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230426_185017-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230426_185017-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3036,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=3036","url_meta":{"origin":3479,"position":5},"title":"Cozy Mystery Book Recommendation: The Last Devil to Die! (The Thursday Murder Club #4)","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"October 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! It has been a while since I shared a review, hasn\u2019t it? I was just more focused on reading and less on writing. So it\u2019s completely my fault that I have three reviews to write now! But, here we are. Obviously, I thought it would be better to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/PXL_20231003_054150798-01-01-scaled.jpeg?fit=904%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/PXL_20231003_054150798-01-01-scaled.jpeg?fit=904%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/PXL_20231003_054150798-01-01-scaled.jpeg?fit=904%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/PXL_20231003_054150798-01-01-scaled.jpeg?fit=904%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3479"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3484,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3479\/revisions\/3484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}