Author: Jackie Kabler
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Author supplied copy
Publisher: Accent Press
Publication Date: 10th May 2018
Rating: 4 Stars
After a stressful week, TV reporter Cora Baxter is ready for a quiet weekend. What she isn't counting on is witnessing the shocking death of a young woman on her way home.
Cora discovers that seventeen-year-old Leanne has been protesting against a new housing development, angering the powerful establishment. Leanne’s death is ruled a suicide but, when puzzling information comes to light, Cora decides to investigate further.
She might not know what an unscrupulous businessman, a suspended police officer and hate-mail sending neighbours have to do with the case – but she does know there is a news story there.
With her eccentric camera crew on hand to help, can Cora work out what happened in the days before Leanne’s death? And was it really suicide after all?
As it had been so long since I read the previous book in the series it took me a few chapters to get back into the swing of these characters and how they interact. There were early references to the previous books but my memory must be failing as they weren't enough to trigger specifics in my mind.
As a result I think its fairly safe to say this is a book that work as a standalone, and it a great humorous mystery. There are moments in the story that are just completely hilarious, while they are attempting an investigation into a suicide, which has really affected Cora.
Let's face it if a dead body fell onto your car while you were driving along you may start to feel connected to the person and wonder what drove them to kill themselves. Due to the pacing of the book and how quickly I was reading it, I didn't really come up with any theories myself, but was interested in how Cora's investigation was proceeding.
What I think though makes these books really special is the amount of imagination that must go into coming up with many different stories for breakfast TV, that Cora and her crew can get around the country to report on. They go from the relatively normal to the completely bonkers!
The mystery in this book unfortunately didn't hook me as much as I would like, I think it was the topic at the heart of it that just didn't set me on fire. I was curious how Cora would approach it, but it just didn't completely intrigue me. I also found some of the smaller changers of perspective to be a bit random, although they did make more sense in the last few chapters.
Despite that overall I found The Development to be a good book, not the best in the series, but a perfectly enjoyable read that I devoured really fast.
Thank you to Jackie Kabler for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
As a result I think its fairly safe to say this is a book that work as a standalone, and it a great humorous mystery. There are moments in the story that are just completely hilarious, while they are attempting an investigation into a suicide, which has really affected Cora.
Let's face it if a dead body fell onto your car while you were driving along you may start to feel connected to the person and wonder what drove them to kill themselves. Due to the pacing of the book and how quickly I was reading it, I didn't really come up with any theories myself, but was interested in how Cora's investigation was proceeding.
What I think though makes these books really special is the amount of imagination that must go into coming up with many different stories for breakfast TV, that Cora and her crew can get around the country to report on. They go from the relatively normal to the completely bonkers!
The mystery in this book unfortunately didn't hook me as much as I would like, I think it was the topic at the heart of it that just didn't set me on fire. I was curious how Cora would approach it, but it just didn't completely intrigue me. I also found some of the smaller changers of perspective to be a bit random, although they did make more sense in the last few chapters.
Despite that overall I found The Development to be a good book, not the best in the series, but a perfectly enjoyable read that I devoured really fast.
Thank you to Jackie Kabler for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
