The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes was published in 2023.
Our Sleuth: Alice, 30ish, a copywriter for an ad agency in London who decides to move to the country with her boyfriend Joe when – surprise! – they get pregnant.
The Setting: We’re in Penton, a picturesque market town in the Cotswolds.
The Premise: Within days of their arrival in Penton, Alice and Joe attend their first local prenatal class, where one mom unexpectedly gives birth. During the commotion, the shopkeeper downstairs is murdered, and everyone in the class becomes a suspect. Alice, who’s panicking over the stress of becoming a parent, decides to investigate as a way to distract herself and try to make some friends along the way.
My Take: I came for the sheer incongruity of very pregnant women as homicide sleuths and stayed for the humor, which delighted me from the opening lines. Cozies often feature unlikely amateur detectives – the elderly Miss Marple being a prime example – but I have not previously seen these particular protagonists. That’s not to say Alice is the most likable lead, given her absolute lack of preparedness for parenthood, but it becomes apparent that her procrastination is based on terror of whether she is up for the challenges of motherhood. This seems an understandable fear. The tenacity of her investigation shows us all, including Alice herself, that she may be better suited for the task than she realizes.
As a voracious reader of mysteries, I read and love all manner of cozies, including the traditional small-town variety. But I also love being surprised by a cozy, and this slightly subversive take did just that. Several reviewers have labeled the book “fresh” or “refreshing” for its sometimes-snarky humor, diverse cast in terms of race and sexuality, pop culture references and less conservative outlook (while staying within the cozy lines of no explicit violence, sex or language). As a writer, I’m looking at the author’s use of humor and how she makes it work without completely undermining the more serious aspects of the murder investigation.
Opening Lines:
For my boyfriend’s thirtieth birthday I thought I’d go all out and surprise him with a pregnancy. I mean, I surprised myself too, but it was a broadly good surprise, so Joe and I decided to roll with it. And if you’re going to do a thing, you may as well do it properly. So as responsible soon-to-be parents we thought we’d better leave the hive of criminal activity that is London and opt for a safer, more wholesome life in the country. This despite the fact that, in nearly ten years in London, the most heinous crime I’d ever witnessed was a bunch of teenagers running out without paying in a Pizza Express. The metropolitan criminal underworld aside, with neither of us earning a six-figure salary, if we stayed in London, we’d be living in a (barely) converted garage and our baby would be sleeping in a drawer. London was out. We were Moving to the Country ™.
Heads Up: As with most cozy mysteries, no trigger warnings here.
Etc.: I’m very much looking forward to book two in the series, Dead Tired, which is scheduled for release in June 2024.
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