Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
Forty years ago, Steven Smith found a copy of a famous children's book, its margins full of strange markings and annotations. He took it to his remedial English teacher, Miss Isles, who became convinced it was the key to solving a puzzle. That a message in secret code ran through all Edith Twyford's novels. Then Miss Isles disappeared on a class field trip, and Steven's memory won't allow him to remember what happened.
Now, out of prison after a long stretch, Steven decides to investigate the mystery that has haunted him for decades. Was Miss Isles murdered? Was she deluded? Or was she right about the code? And is it still in use today? Desperate to recover his memories and find out what really happened to Miss Isles, Steven revisits the people and places of his childhood. But it soon becomes clear that Edith Twyford wasn't just a writer of forgotten children's stories. The Twyford Code has great power, and he isn't the only one trying to solve it.
Former journalist and British government speechwriter Janice Hallett burst onto the mystery writing scene during the pandemic with The Appeal, a modern take the classic ‘crossword puzzle’ style murder mysteries, with an epistolary twist. Told via letters, emails, and messages, readers were invited to try to solve the mystery alongside two young lawyers looking for ‘the real killer’ among all the documents in a case.
Hallett’s fascinating second novel, The Twyford Code, continues her ‘found documents’ approach; this time readers are given semi-accurate transcripts of audio recordings aging ex-con Steven Smith has made on an old iPhone given to him by his estranged son. Looking for redemption, or perhaps just purpose, Steven tries to find out what happened to his remedial English teacher forty years before. Miss Isles had vanished after an unauthorised field trip to visit the countryside haunts of Edith Twyford, a maligned and rather forgotten children’s author whose old-fashioned mysteries may have contained a secret code to solve a real mystery, along with their racism, sexism, and xenophobia.
Was Miss Isles disappearance linked to the Twyford Code?
Shadowy figures seem determined to stop Steven, who cajoles some old classmates into the hunt, with mixed success, and is joined by young librarian Lucy for what becomes a dangerous mission entwined with wartime secrets and London gangs. But how much can we believe?
Hallett deftly keeps readers guessing throughout an entertaining tale. The error-speckled audio transcripts may take readers a while to adjust to, but overall work very well to give voice to characters and a different sheen to the suspects/clues/red herrings nature of a classic mystery.
The Twyford Code is an original, intricate mystery. A few pacing issues, perhaps, and at times the conceit threatens to overwhelm the story or our connection to characters, but Hallett brings it all together brilliantly at the end. A very good read.
Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned writer, editor, podcast host, awards judge, and event chair. He's the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards, co-founder of Rotorua Noir, author of Macavity and HRF Keating Award-shortlisted non-fiction work SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, editor of the DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER anthology series, and writes about books for magazines and newspapers in several countries.
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