The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes (2024)
I couldn't stop laughing and smiling through the entirety of this book. It's so filled with priceless lines and laugh out loud moments, I thought it almost functioned as a spoofy sendup of cozy mysteries.
The mystery at the heart of it, however, is deadly serious. Murder's afoot in the scenic, woodsy British countryside. And four women take it upon themselves to become amateur detectives. Not just any amateur crime solvers .......but four very pregnant women whose prenatal class on the second floor of a town shop was rudely interrupted by the murder of the shop's owner downstairs. And all of this occurring just as one of the women went into labor right there in the class
There's our narrator, newly moved in Alice, attempting to adjust to rural life with husband Joe and their rambunctious dog Helen. . And Poppy, whose partner Lin has become a prime suspect. Making it a quartet - Ailsa, a hot tempered young activist (with the baby's dad nowhere in sight) and Hen, the master of withering wit who delivered her daughter while the dead body popped up only one floor below her.
The four manage to dig up no end of clues, evidence, suspects and deep dark secrets swirling around a back-to-nature commune nestled in the woods. But they accomplish all this while exasperating Jane, the area's police detective who's as constantly irate as her estranged younger sister Ailsa.
Through Alice's eyes, the book navigates its way to the uncovered secrets and shocking reveals, along with non-stop funny observations about attempting to track down a murderer while nine months pregnant. There's literally enough material here to fuel twenty hours of stand-up comedy.
Pure fun from beginning to end and one of the most entertaining 5 star reads I've come across this year. For anyone who loves a good mystery liberally peppered with laughs, look no further. 5 stars (*****) A book that most definitely....uh....delivers.
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