Janice Hallett, hailed as “the new queen of crime” (Electric Literature), returns with a fresh, edge-of-your-seat mystery set during a pub’s weekly trivia night. Told through quiz categories, phone messages, and email correspondence, this ingenious whodunit pulls readers straight into the game.
Sue and Mal Eastwood run an isolated rural pub, The Case is Altered, where a weekly trivia night has breathed new life into their struggling business—until a body is discovered in the nearby river. Soon after, a mysterious new team arrives, sweeping the scoreboard every round and unsettling the eclectic group of regulars.
But Sue and Mal are hiding a past of their own. Before coming to the pub, they were entangled in a covert police operation that forced them to flee their former lives—and now, that past is catching up with them.
Five years later, the pub lies abandoned. Their nephew Dominic sets out to uncover the truth by making a documentary about Sue and Mal’s story. What really happened in this quiet corner of the countryside? And can a single question be deadly?
Author Interview
Conducted by Becca Hughes
1. Did your idea for setting the plot around a small-town pub quiz come from a real-life experience? Are you a quizzer?
I’m a very keen quizzer and belong to a team called “Friends & Family”—some members related, others not. Here in North West London there’s a warm but competitive quiz community. Over time you learn each team’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as your own. Regular quizzing has made me a more active learner and forced me to remember details I’d otherwise forget. It keeps your brain ticking over and offers a safe space to exercise competitive instincts without sport—or even standing up! Quizzers are famously passionate, but few people realise how dedicated quiz-setters are. Crafting inventive, challenging questions is harder than it looks. I’ve dedicated The Killer Question to both quizzers and quiz-setters alike.
2. Does the absence of traditional prose change what readers get out of the story—or enhance it? How do you decide what to reveal through messages and documents versus what to leave unsaid?
I hope the epistolary format makes the reading experience more active. Instead of being told what characters wear or what colour their eyes are, readers see how they communicate—and interpret what’s said (and unsaid). My readers witness the world from multiple viewpoints and must piece the truth together themselves. I spend a lot of time deciding when to reveal crucial facts, but I also leave deliberate gaps. Those spaces act like sinkholes, drawing readers deeper into the mystery.
3. What first drew you to the epistolary format, and what keeps bringing you back? Is it the puzzle, the intimacy, or something else?
As a playwright and screenwriter, I was used to building character and atmosphere through dialogue. When I turned to novels, I carried that instinct over. My readers are essentially eavesdropping on characters unaware that we’re “listening.” I’ve always been fascinated by how what we say—and what we don’t—reveals who we are. I also love the “found footage” film genre (The Blair Witch Project is a favourite), and that sense of immediacy carries into my books. It offers endless opportunities for mystery and intrigue.
4. What do you say to those who think the epistolary format is limiting or gimmicky?
I’d invite them to read my books and decide for themselves!
5. The setting gives off cosy mystery vibes, yet the story doesn’t shy away from darkness. How do you balance charm and shock?
I’ve always had a complicated relationship with the “cosy crime” label. It’s a broad category, and my books tend to be darker. Even in their lightest moments, I don’t shy away from the reality of murder. I think keeping the humour and warmth grounded in reality helps the darker elements land with greater impact. Life itself is always a mix of light and dark.
6. Which comes first for you—the twist, the characters, or the setting? For example, that reveal about Chris’s phone name made me wonder how early you plan backstories versus plot.
Characters always come first, though I do need a setting to place them in before I can start. For this book, I only knew I wanted the world of pub quizzes—and the community that forms around them. From that, the characters took shape. Names fascinate me. When people choose to be called something different, it says a lot about identity and perception—perfect fuel for a whodunit. Chris’s pseudonym appeared the very first time he “spoke,” long before I knew the reason behind it. I had to write the entire book before I discovered why.
7. Is there a mystery convention you particularly like to subvert—or one you think should be retired?
I often turn the classic “six suspects in a room” setup on its head. My books tend to feature large casts, and sometimes the central crime doesn’t even emerge until later. As for retiring tropes, I prefer reinvention over retirement.
8. Have you ever come up with a twist so elaborate you had to tone it down?
Yes, more than once! Because I never plan in advance, first drafts can be sprawling, full of dead ends and plotlines that go nowhere. My editor’s structural notes always help me tighten things. What remains constant is the tone and the themes—I trust the story will emerge from there.
9. Do you deliberately plant red herrings, or do they emerge naturally?
Both. In early drafts I scatter cliffhangers, clues, and possible misdirections. Many don’t survive to the final version. I write much as readers read—without knowing what happens next. Once I land on the final twists, I go back to plant clues and red herrings so readers have a fair chance of solving it.
10. This is easily the funniest murder mystery I’ve read this year. How important is humour in your storytelling?
Thank you! Humour is vital, but it has to feel natural to character and circumstance. A joke that doesn’t fit a moment can destroy hard-won tension. Crime fiction humour differs from comic fiction—where you can reshape the story around the gag. In crime, you can’t force it.
11. Which character would be the worst teammate in a group chat or pub quiz?
Poor Andy. Exhausted, unsupported, and stuck in a soul-crushing job, he’s not much fun at first. But once he hits his stride in the quiz team, things are bound to change—though perhaps not for the better!
About the Author
Janice Hallett is a former magazine editor, award-winning journalist, and government communications writer who has worked for the Cabinet Office, Home Office, and Department for International Development. A lifelong traveller, she has journeyed everywhere from Madagascar to the Galápagos, Guatemala to Zimbabwe, and across Asia and Europe. A playwright and screenwriter, she co-wrote the feature film Retreat and penned the Shakespearean feminist comedy NetherBard. She lives in London and is the author of The Killer Question, The Examiner, The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, The Appeal, The Christmas Appeal, and The Twyford Code.
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