The Expectant Detectives
Ratings1
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings1
Average rating3.5
Fresh, funny and heartfelt, The Expectant Detectives is a 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 she 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.
Featured Series
2 primary booksThe Expectant Detectives is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2023 with contributions by Kat Ailes.
Reviews with the most likes.
The Expectant Detectives is a cozy mystery set in a quaint, imaginary town called Penton. Alice and her boyfriend Joe (and their disaster of a dog, Helen) have relocated from London to Penton in anticipation of having a baby, yearning for a quieter life in the great outdoors.
Alice is very pregnant and Penton is full of people shoving essential oils and raspberry leaf tea at her in place of an epidural. She finds herself attending a birthing class on the upper level of a homeopathic shop when a fellow classmate starts birthing right then and there. While this is happening, the owner of the shop is murdered downstairs.
The birthing class attendees, one-by-one, begin distracting themselves from the impending unknowns of childbirth and parenthood by investigating the murder. Imagine a group of 8-month pregnant women trouncing through deep woods hunting a murderer on the loose while all of their partners beg them to please stop doing that. It is ridiculous and funny.
My main qualm about this book is that the ending felt very hurried and slapdash. Of course, mysteries are often a slow build to an ending. Still, the reveal was rushed, we skipped over the end of most of the pregnancies (I mean, that part was kind of fine with me), and the naming ceremony at the end had very Albus Severus vibes and by that I mean it was awful.
My lesser qualm about this book is that the characters are pretty one-note, to the point where they are all slightly unbearable because what human is so much of one thing and so nothing of any other thing. Alice is too chaotic and obtuse, Poppy is too determined, Ailsa is too preachy, Hen is too perfect. If the characters had been a little more dimensional, it would have been easier to believe they were growing to like one another.
Still, this was a fun escapist romp and I would probably read more of the series. I also want to try hummingbird cake now.
