The Expectant Detectives

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.