Book Review - The Deadline by Jackie Kabler

Amazon UK

Title: The Deadline

Author: Jackie Kabler

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Author supplied review copy

Publisher: Accent Press

Publication Date: 20th October 2016

Rating: 5 Stars

Cora Baxter is back - and this time, she's facing the most important deadline of her career…

When TV reporter Cora Baxter attends the scene of a murder in a London park, she's horrified to discover the victim is someone she knows – and devastated when one of her best friends is charged with the crime. Suddenly the fun-filled life of Cora and her eccentric camera crew takes a darker turn. Cora is convinced that her friend is innocent, but with seemingly solid evidence, the police investigation team – reluctantly led by Cora's boyfriend DCI Adam Bradberry – believe the case is closed. With a trail of clues that leads all the way to New York, can Cora find out the truth before the trial begins – or is it already too late?

The Deadline is the second in the hugely popular Cora Baxter Mysteries series by acclaimed broadcaster Jackie Kabler.

The Deadline is a fabulous mix between a mystery with a very strong lead female character, who won't take know for an answer and is utterly convinced by her best friends innocence, and a story with some brilliantly timed moments of comic relief. 

With regards the comedy, there were moments I almost burst out laughing on my commute, in public, as the scene had tickled me so much. Most of the best humour involved Cora making slight gaffs while on camera, as well as one great typo in an email to a hotel, by one of her colleagues, and then there are some great malapropisms! 

The question this book asks, is would you stand by your best friend, and her pleading her innocence, when all the evidence puts her at the scene of the crime with potential motive and evidence. Well Cora Baxter is loyal to the end and sets herself a deadline to prove her friend's innocence, with the help of a group of their friends. She struggles with the fact the police think its an open and shut case, complete with her boyfriend being in charge of the police investigation. 

I don't think it matters what outlandish thing you think may have happened as you read, I can assure you that unless you are a master at working out fictional mysteries, this will shock you. I did have a complete OMG moment, as I hadn't seen something coming. 

This is the second book in the Cora Baxter mystery series, and it can definitely be read as a standalone, although the first was excellent too. I say this because there is a year between the books, and I don't have full recollection but didn't feel lost at all, so sure people that haven't read The Dead Dog Day wouldn't have a problem either. 

The Deadline is a fantastic second book, from author Jackie Kabler, and it kept me reading longer than my lunch break allowed, and had me wanting to get back to the book all afternoon, which just shows how much it was playing on my mind. 

If you like humour and like your crime and mysteries to not be too gruesome and hardcore then this is definitely a book to be read. 

Thank you to Jackie Kabler for this review copy. This was my honest opinion.