The Expectant Detectives: A Novel

by Kat Ailes

Overview

Fresh, funny and heartfelt, The Expectant Detectives is Kat Ailes's charming debut mystery about a group of soon-to-be moms-turned-detectives.

“A darkly witty debut. Archly funny and highly recommended!”—Deanna Raybourn

Can they solve the mother of all murders?

For Alice and her partner Joe, moving to the sleepy village of Penton is a chance to embrace country life and prepare for the birth of their 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 prenatal class, and they find themselves suspects in a murder investigation.

With a cloud of suspicion hanging over the heads of the whole group, Alice and her new-found pregnant friends set out to solve the mystery and clear their names, 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250322722
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/04/2024
Series:	Expectant Detectives Mystery
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	191,090
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

KAT AILES works in publishing 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 husband, their young son and her beautiful but foolish dog. The Expectant Detectives is her debut novel, the first draft of which was written largely (and frantically) in three weeks after she submitted the first few chapters to the Comedy Women in Print Prize and was unexpectedly shortlisted.

Editorial Reviews

Good Housekeeping’s January 2024 Book Club Pick!
An Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense
One of Goodreads’ “New Debut Novels to Check Out This Season”

“[An] exuberant debut mystery . . . Ailes sets a cheerful tone but doesn’t shy away from emotional heft, especially when writing about the secrets testing Alice’s relationship.”—New York Times

"Full of charming characters, including Alice’s goofy dog, this fast-paced, original cozy is great fun. A sequel would be welcome."—Publishers Weekly

"Pointed banter between the heroine and pretty much everyone else keeps this debut sharp."—Kirkus Reviews

“Witty, bright, and with an unexpected twist ending, Ailes' debut mystery will appeal to fans of British comedies and cozy mysteries.”—Booklist

“A book title this precious comes with the unspoken promise that what you’re about to read is as cozy as an episode of Midsomer Murders and as charming as Call the Midwife. Ailes delivers on that promise with humor and the kind of mystery Miss Marple loved to solve . . . A fresh and fun take on the mystery genre perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella and Helen Fielding.”—Oprah Daily

“In her first novel, Ailes has created a delightful mystery that both amuses and enthralls.”—Washington Post

“[The Expectant Detectives] is uber-witty [and] energetic . . . Ailes's strong sense of humor drives this clever novel.”—Shelf Awareness

“A darkly witty debut. Archly funny and highly recommended!”—Deanna Raybourn, New York Times bestselling author of Killers of a Certain Age

“The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes is a wildly impressive debut. Pacy, energetic and best of all hilariously funny—without detracting from the shadowy mystery and genuine humanity at its core. Its characters and twisty plot feel absolutely real—you’ll be on the edge of your seat, totally immersed in trying to work out who did it, but rest assured you’re never far from a smile. Cozy crime at its finest!”—Janice Hallett, international bestselling author of The Appeal

“A gloriously smart and witty telling of the darker side of prenatal groups—this is really funny with edge.”—Helen Lederer

“Murdering every mommy cliché with hilarity and heart, this book is a complete triumph. Perfectly plotted, brilliantly observed and just so much fun.”—Lauren Bravo, author of How To Break Up With Fast Fashion

“I LOVED this book! Alice is hilarious, the mystery is compelling and fun, and this group of about-to-be-moms deserves a sequel, and some cake, obvi! Kat Ailes has written a winner of a book and you’ll want to read it immediately!”—Catherine McKenzie, USA Today bestselling author of Have You Seen Her

“The Expectant Detectives is wildly funny, clever, twisty, charming, and unexpectedly relatable. It is exactly the surprisingly heartwarming and uproariously hilarious mystery we all need in our lives. This book is one of a kind and I can’t wait for the next installment.”—Nora Murphy, author of The New Mother

“This fun romp offers hilarious moments while taking on some real-life issues: the fear involved in becoming a first-time parent and the shadows of one’s own upbringing that can darken parenthood, all while Alice and friends undertake the whodunit.”—First Clue

From the Publisher

10/23/2023

Ailes’s witty debut opens with Alice and her boyfriend, Joe, deciding to move from London to a small town in the Cotswolds two weeks before Alice’s due date. Utterly unprepared for their imminent parenthood, the pair attend a local birthing class, where one of the students delivers her child mid-class. Chaos reigns as fellow students attempt to help the new mother, so no one is sure who was (or wasn’t) in the room when Mr. Oliver, owner of the herb shop downstairs, keeled over dead. What at first appears to be a natural death turns out to be a case of poisoned tea, and before long, Alice has teamed up with a group of other women from the birthing class to investigate. They make a surprisingly effective sleuthing team, sussing out Mr. Oliver’s many secrets by relying on their individual strengths. As the soon to be mothers turn up evidence that the town has been host to a string of suspicious deaths, they receive threats aimed at slowing their investigation. Meanwhile, Alice notices that Joe has been acting strangely, and fears how close to home the group’s inquiry might get. Full of charming characters, including Alice’s goofy dog, this fast-paced, original cozy is great fun. A sequel would be welcome. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 12/02/2023

DEBUT Ailes knocks it out of the park with this humorous debut. Alice and her partner Joe want to raise their soon-to-be-born child away from the hustle and bustle of London, so they move to the idyllic countryside in the Cotswolds. All is not as calm and serene as hoped, however. Alice finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation when a dead body is discovered at a prenatal class she's attending. Together with the other three moms from the class, as well as her rambunctious, goofy canine companion Helen, Alice and her band of pregnant sleuths begin their own investigation. Ailes is one to watch. Her book is filled with witty banter, a quirky cast of characters (including a gong bath priestess and hippie commune members), several plot twists. VERDICT Readers of Darci Hannah will enjoy Helen's spotlight in this series. The humor is akin to Elle Cosimano's Finlay Donovan series, and the relationship between Joe and Alice is reminiscent of Jules Capshaw's romantic endeavors in Ellie Alexander's "Bakeshop Mysteries."—Katy Duperry

Library Journal

2023-11-04
Murder at a prenatal class turns moms-to-be into sleuths.

An unexpected but not unwelcome pregnancy sends Londoners Alice and Joe to the Cotswold village of Penton in search of a quieter and less expensive place to welcome their imminent arrival. Penton’s “posh hippy” vibe intrigues but intimidates the couple, who revel in the town’s lush landscape but have to sleep on an air mattress because their bed won’t fit up the narrow staircase in their tiny cottage. Hoping to learn enough to get through the life-changing event that’s now less than a month off, they sign up for a prenatal crash course; the class will meet in three sessions over two weekends in the upstairs room of Nature’s Way, a shop catering to folks who want to replace their wind chimes or buy a few dozen new dream catchers. Dot, the class leader, believes anyone can give birth comfortably using no painkiller stronger than willow bark tea. Her approach is put to the test when Alice’s fellow student Hen goes into labor during the second session and welcomes her new daughter between screams of agony. Hen’s delivery, however, isn’t the evening’s headliner. Paramedics who arrive to offer Hen some modern medical care inform the prenatal students that there’s a “dead guy downstairs” in the shop. The police confirm that while Hen was loudly giving birth upstairs, the store’s owner, Crispin Oliver, quietly expired downstairs, and apparently not of natural causes. Alice and Hen join forces with steady Poppy and volatile Ailsa, their fellow students, to learn who would dispatch a gentle shopkeeper whose besetting sin was to offer slippery elm bark tea to expectant moms who’d really rather have a beer.

Pointed banter between the heroine and pretty much everyone else keeps this debut sharp.

Kirkus Reviews