As a book reviewer, I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher or author to facilitate this review. I received no other compensation, and all opinions are always 100% my own.
Alice and Joe are expecting their first, but in spite of a looming due date, make the move from London to a small Cotswold town with their high-maintenence dog Helen. It’s not exactly what they were expecting. Alice has a hard time reading people at first, it seems. Then, at their first prenatal class in an upstairs room of a business selling essential oils and hemp, one of the pregnant mothers goes into labor. When the ambulance arrives, the paramedics discover that downstairs, the business owner has been murdered.
The police seem inclined to look for suspects amongst the pregnant women and their partners. After all, they were all on the scene at the time. In self-defense as much as anything else, several of the women band together to find the real killer. While they initially seem to have nothing in common with each other aside from either being pregnant or having a newborn, they soon find themselves forging real friendships. And there’s so much weirdness about this small town, from the commune, to the manor house, to Joe’s inexplicable attraction to the local right-wing nut. Can Alice and her friends figure things out before her own impending due date?
The Expectant Detectives is a fun read. Sure it’s a cozy mystery, but it’s got lots of humor, unexpected twists, and snarkiness. I really enjoyed it!