The Expectant Detectives
ISBN: 9781804180884
Description
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.
Reviewed on 23rd September 2023
This was one of those books that I picked at random from the shelves of a bookshop one day based entirely on the cover. Big bold words and the promise of a cosy crime with a unique twist in the choice of detectives.
The set up is not quite what I had expected from the blurb - but it’s even better. Alice and Joe have moved to the countryside with only a few weeks to the baby’s arrival, and while at their ante-natal class, a murder occurs just downstairs. Naturally, the expectant mothers band together to investigate, and the police are unimpressed.
It’s a really funny narrative, with recurring laughs and many reflections on life which feel very much drawn from the author’s own experiences, and which make the characters and setting seem entirely real.
The plot is solid too, with plenty going on and loads of clues, red herrings, and side-mysteries to solve. There are some elements which to me seemed maybe a tiny bit obvious coming, but I don’t think that wasn’t deliberate.
Really good - looking forward to book two next year.