| Publisher | Accent Press Ltd |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 11 February 2016 |
| ISBN-10 | 1783752270 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1783752270 |
| Format | paperback |
| Pages | 366 |
| Price | £ 12.99 |
The Dead Dog Day
by
TV reporter Cora Baxter has both personal and professional problems, after her boyfriend dumps her and her boss from hell is murdered.
Review
Sometimes a book falls off your review pile at just the right moment. I’d had a sequence of identikit psychological thrillers set amidst dysfunctional families. So The Dead Dog Day was a welcome respite from missing sprogs, paranoid mummies and dodgy daddies
Jackie Kabler’s novel is on the chick lit side of the genre, with a sparky female lead and her BFFs. It’s light and witty without being frothy – and features a main character who has no interest whatsoever in having sprogs. And that was a relief after the procession of angsty brats in the thrillers!
Cora Baxter is a TV reporter who spends most of her time chasing around the UK in search of news. But she’s called up to London on newsreading duties. It’s 4am and before long the headlines move from the dead dog of the title to a dead editor, as Jeanette Kendrick, the boss from hell, is pushed out of her office window. And once the police start investigating, and release CCTV footage, Cora realises she knows the shifty-looking figure hanging around outside.
The plot is fine – you might guess whodunit, but I doubt you’ll guess why. But it’s the characters who make this book such an entertaining read, from the usual range of meeja types, to Cora’s best friends from back home who offer a healthy dose of normality – and plenty to drink! And it’s a novelty to have angst-free gay and lesbian characters around in steady relationships and whose sexuality is thoroughly irrelevant.
Cora has just split up from her boyfriend, so there’s bound to be love life angst around. But Kabler keeps it the right side of tiresome – and there’s a highly amusing scene where she sends hunky TV star Benjamin Boland away with a thick ear after he tries out the worst chat-up line in the universe. And DCI Adam Bradberry, who’s in charge of the case, just happens to be single (albeit with a sprog in tow).
Being a Cheltenham girl, I loved the fact that it’s Cora’s home town and her place of refuge with best friends Rosie and Nicole (a florist and a vet). Kabler also captures the glitzy London crowd, the flipside of Cora’s life where the paparazzi are always prowling.
The Dead Dog Days provides TV journalist Kabler with an excuse to tell a load of her war stories. But there are some cracking good ones there, particularly the yarn that gives the book its title. And hold the front page – the second book in the series is due out later this year.
Jackie Kabler’s novel is on the chick lit side of the genre, with a sparky female lead and her BFFs. It’s light and witty without being frothy – and features a main character who has no interest whatsoever in having sprogs. And that was a relief after the procession of angsty brats in the thrillers!
Cora Baxter is a TV reporter who spends most of her time chasing around the UK in search of news. But she’s called up to London on newsreading duties. It’s 4am and before long the headlines move from the dead dog of the title to a dead editor, as Jeanette Kendrick, the boss from hell, is pushed out of her office window. And once the police start investigating, and release CCTV footage, Cora realises she knows the shifty-looking figure hanging around outside.
The plot is fine – you might guess whodunit, but I doubt you’ll guess why. But it’s the characters who make this book such an entertaining read, from the usual range of meeja types, to Cora’s best friends from back home who offer a healthy dose of normality – and plenty to drink! And it’s a novelty to have angst-free gay and lesbian characters around in steady relationships and whose sexuality is thoroughly irrelevant.
Cora has just split up from her boyfriend, so there’s bound to be love life angst around. But Kabler keeps it the right side of tiresome – and there’s a highly amusing scene where she sends hunky TV star Benjamin Boland away with a thick ear after he tries out the worst chat-up line in the universe. And DCI Adam Bradberry, who’s in charge of the case, just happens to be single (albeit with a sprog in tow).
Being a Cheltenham girl, I loved the fact that it’s Cora’s home town and her place of refuge with best friends Rosie and Nicole (a florist and a vet). Kabler also captures the glitzy London crowd, the flipside of Cora’s life where the paparazzi are always prowling.
The Dead Dog Days provides TV journalist Kabler with an excuse to tell a load of her war stories. But there are some cracking good ones there, particularly the yarn that gives the book its title. And hold the front page – the second book in the series is due out later this year.
Reviewed 23 April 2016 by Sharon Wheeler
