The Expectant Detectives
A Mystery
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Fresh, funny and heartfelt, The Expectant Detectives is Kat Ailes's charming debut mystery about a group of soon-to-be moms-turned-detectives.
“A darkly witty debut. Archly funny and highly recommended!”—Deanna Raybourn
Can they solve the mother of all murders?
For Alice and her partner Joe, moving to the sleepy village of Penton is a chance to embrace country life and prepare for the birth of their first child. He can take up woodwork; maybe she’ll learn to make jam? But the rural idyll they’d hoped for doesn’t quite pan out when a dead body is discovered at their local prenatal class, and they find themselves suspects in a murder investigation.
With a cloud of suspicion hanging over the heads of the whole group, Alice and her new-found pregnant friends set out to solve the mystery and clear their names, with the help of her troublesome dog, Helen. However, there are more secrets and tensions in the heart of Penton than first meet the eye. Between the discovery of a shady commune up in the woods, the unearthing of a mysterious death years earlier, and the near-tragic poisoning of Helen, Alice is soon in way over her head.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ailes's witty debut opens with Alice and her boyfriend, Joe, deciding to move from London to a small town in the Cotswolds two weeks before Alice's due date. Utterly unprepared for their imminent parenthood, the pair attend a local birthing class, where one of the students delivers her child mid-class. Chaos reigns as fellow students attempt to help the new mother, so no one is sure who was (or wasn't) in the room when Mr. Oliver, owner of the herb shop downstairs, keeled over dead. What at first appears to be a natural death turns out to be a case of poisoned tea, and before long, Alice has teamed up with a group of other women from the birthing class to investigate. They make a surprisingly effective sleuthing team, sussing out Mr. Oliver's many secrets by relying on their individual strengths. As the soon to be mothers turn up evidence that the town has been host to a string of suspicious deaths, they receive threats aimed at slowing their investigation. Meanwhile, Alice notices that Joe has been acting strangely, and fears how close to home the group's inquiry might get. Full of charming characters, including Alice's goofy dog, this fast-paced, original cozy is great fun. A sequel would be welcome.
