Book Review - The Dead Dog Day by Jackie Kabler - Blog Tour

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Title: The Dead Dog Day - A Cora Baxter Mystery

Author: Jackie Kabler

Format reviewed: Paperback

Source: Author supplied reivew copy

Publisher: Accent Press

Publication Date: 22nd October 2015

Rating: 4 Stars

When your Monday morning begins with a dead dog and ends with a dead boss, you know it’s going to be one of those days. And breakfast TV reporter Cora Baxter has already had the weekend from hell, after the man she’d planned a fabulous future with unceremoniously dumped her. 

Now Cora’s much-hated boss has been murdered – the list of suspects isn’t exactly short, but as the enquiry continues the trail leads frighteningly close to home. Why is Cora’s rival, glamorous, bitchy newsreader Alice Lomas, so devastated by their boss’s death? What dark secrets are Cora’s camera crew hiding? And why has her now ex-boyfriend vanished? 

The race to stop the killer striking again is on…

The Dead Dog Day is an entertaining book, that became compulsive, unputdownable reading as it progressed. 

Cora is a breakfast TV reporter, who travels up and down the country reporting on anything from the serious to the ridiculous. She was at the main studios on the fateful morning, where to start with one of the guests, a dog, died before it was at the studio. Jeanette the boss tried to insist they just continue with the dead dog on air (in a series of conversations that sets the tone for the humour that is present throughout the book). Shortly afterwards Jeanette is found dead, murdered to be precise. 

Occasionally towards the ends of chapters there would be an aside from the murderer although I can't imagine who would have guessed who it is, and especially the motivation, until it was revealed. At least I had no idea. 

Various chapters were either focusing on Cora and her life, Benjamin her new boyfriend, and Adam the detective running the murder investigation (who Cora may also fancy). 

Work on the case is very slow, and soon questions are asked over various of Cora's colleagues who are acting more oddly than before. 

However it wasn't necessarily the mystery aspect that gripped me from the start. It was the indepth details of Cora's job, and the sheer range of stories she was expected to report from. It was a regular occurrence for her to have to be a ridiculous O'Clock, to travel 3+ hours by car, sometimes just in search of a specific weather condition, and then be ready to be live on air during the broadcast. 

I believe this must be where Jackie Kabler's TV knowledge comes in, and everything about the outside broadcast teams sounds very feasible and realistic, and you really had a good idea about the circumstances these teams work in. 

There were efforts to step up the tension, and as they were introduced, I think it was then, that I started wanting to read more and more of this story, to see the final outcomes. 

I am really hoping the Cora is going to be a recurring character of Jackie's, as you get such a great feel for her various sets of friends and colleagues, I can imagine this being a fantastic series. 

As it is I found it to be a very entertaining, funny at times, and definitely gripping story, that I loved reading.  An excellent debut novel, and a fabulous start to Jackie's writing career. 

Thank you so much to Jackie Kabler for offering me a review copy. This was my honest review. 

Guest Post - Jackie Kabler on The perils of ice-skating...!

The final part of my debut novel, The Dead Dog Day, took somewhat longer to write than I'd anticipated, because I had to type it with just one hand. This was because last December I, in my infinite wisdom, decided that it would be a marvellous idea to go ice-skating with one of my oldest friends. How fabulously festive it will be, I thought! A lovely mid-morning skate on the gorgeous rink outside the Natural History Museum in London, followed by a yummy lunch in our favourite little Italian restaurant. Sounds fabulous, right? That is, until you realise that we're talking about me, a woman so clumsy she can barely cross a room without walking into a wall.

Hence, fifteen minutes after stepping onto the ice, I'm being escorted off it again by two paramedics, my right wrist so badly broken I can't even look at it without wanting to pass out. Five hours later, my oh-so-sweet and tolerant friend and I finally leave the nearest hospital A&E department, where I have had my wrist bones pulled back into vaguely the right position by three doctors while I sucked frantically on gas and air. But the wrist-pulling wasn't enough, so a few days later (two days before Christmas Eve) I am back in hospital having surgery to insert three pins to fix it properly. 

I went straight back to work on Boxing Day (I'm a presenter on shopping channel QVC) with an extremely painful arm in plaster, artfully disguised by a variety of drapey scarves. But because of the weird position my hand was now fixed in, effectively I was now unable to use my right hand for anything at all. It was surprising how quickly I adapted - things that at first seemed totally impossible with one hand, like inserting contact lenses and using hair straighteners, were soon being done, slowly and awkwardly. And then, of course, I had a book to finish, and a deadline to meet, and being one-handed simply couldn't be allowed to interfere with that. So, for two long months, I slowly typed the final chapters of my novel with just my left hand. 

Ten months on, the right one is still slightly wonky and doesn't work properly, and I'm still having physiotherapy to try to correct it. But at least typing isn't such a slow process these days. And no, I won't be going ice-skating again this winter. I think we'll just head straight for the Italian restaurant this time...much safer!

The Dead Dog Day

Amazon link

 When your Monday morning begins with a dead dog and ends with a dead boss, you know it’s going to be one of those days. And breakfast TV reporter Cora Baxter has already had the weekend from hell, after the man she’d planned a fabulous future with unceremoniously dumped her. 

Now Cora’s much-hated boss has been murdered – the list of suspects isn’t exactly short, but as the enquiry continues the trail leads frighteningly close to home. Why is Cora’s rival, glamorous, bitchy newsreader Alice Lomas, so devastated by their boss’s death? What dark secrets are Cora’s camera crew hiding? And why has her now ex-boyfriend vanished? 

The race to stop the killer striking again is on…

About Jackie Kabler

Jackie Kabler worked as a newspaper reporter and then in television news for twenty years, including nearly a decade on GMTV. She later appeared on BBC and ITV news, presented a property show for Sky, hosted sports shows on Setanta Sports News and worked as a media trainer for the Armed Forces. She is now a presenter on shopping channel QVC and her first novel, The Dead Dog Day, is now available for pre-order on Amazon ahead of its release on 22nd October. 



Find Jackie on Facebook - www.facebook.com/jackiekablerauthor
And on Twitter - @jackiekabler 
And on her website - www.jackiekabler.com

Thank you so much Jackie for sharing that painful sounding experience. I hope your right hand fully recovers, and that in time you may be willing to look at an ice-rink again! Although I suspect if that had been me, I would have probably broken both ankles to go with the wrists!