Publication: 8th June 2023 – Zaffre
Motherland meets Midsomer Murders in this fresh and funny mystery about a group of soon-to-be mums who turn detective when there’s a murder at their antenatal class.
For Alice and her partner Joe, moving to the sleepy Cotswold village of Penton is a chance to embrace country life and prepare for the birth of their unexpected 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 antenatal class and they find themselves suspects in a murder investigation.
With a cloud of suspicion hanging over the heads of the whole group, Alice sets out to solve the mystery and clear her name, 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.
Today, I am thrilled to be on the blog tour for The Expectant Detectives, the fantastic debut novel by Kat Ailes.
Alice and Joe are expecting their first baby and they have decided to leave behind the chaos of London and move to the quiet town of Penton in the Cotswold Hills. With just a few weeks before the birth, they have just the time to organize their new house for the arrival of their baby and attend antenatal class. Alice hopes to bond with other future mothers and make a few friends, but what she gets is mopping the floor while one of them gives birth and being involved in a murder investigation.
This was quite an enjoyable and intriguing cozy mystery and I had so much fun reading it. There is a lot going on. A picturesque setting, a small community, an organic farm commune with a few secrets, gong baths (a meditation thing), and lots more. The author put together an eclectic cast of characters with little in common, except for pregnancy and murder. And it is the murder that allows Alice to bond with the other expectant mothers as, helped by three adorable and funny dogs (especially Alice’s dog, Helen, who was my favorite character in the entire novel!), they start their own investigation, first out of curiosity, and then to help one of their own under suspicion.
The story is told from Alice’s perspective. She is funny, smart, and authentic. Her dry humour made me often laugh, and I found her approach to motherhood, her fears, and her doubts, relatable and honest. Initially, she starts snooping together with her new friend Poppy for fun – and to avoid unpacking all the boxes in her new house -, but then the investigation turns more serious and things hit closer to home when she starts suspecting that her partner Joe is hiding something.
I really liked The Expectant Detectives. I enjoyed the writing, the humour, the characters (especially the dogs), and the mystery where I figured out some of the things on my own, but I was mostly taken by surprise. Immersive, fun, and refreshing, The Expectant Detectives is a fantastic read!
A huge thank you to Tracy and Zaffre for inviting me to join the blog tour and providing me with a proof of the novel.
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Kat Ailes‘ debut novel, The Expectant Detectives, was runner-up for the Comedy Women in Print Unpublished Prize 2021. She works as an editor and freelanced for several years to allow her to take a couple of belated gap years, including hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. She now lives in the Cotswolds with her lovely husband and son and her beautiful but foolish dog.
Book After Book 