The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes
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.
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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.
My Review
It’s been decades since I had my two sons. Born in the mid-eighties, it was the beginning of the whole natural labour, water birthing, NCT bonding (it was really cheap to join back then) and ‘breast is best’ movement. Except it stuck around. Had we done our pelvic floor exercises every day? Were we prepared for the breathing during contractions? We talked openly about constipation, piles and heartburn. Husbands would be there on the labour ward, helping us choose the right mood music when the time came. I was so disappointed when after 14 hours of natural labour I gave in and had an epidural.
We never talked about what to do with the baby afterwards. At least not until the midwife showed us how to fold a towelling nappy and gave us a free Guiness for the iron content. I lasted three months before I gave in yet again and resorted to Pampers. Same with breastfeeding. I lasted about three months. What a failure I was made to feel (by the books and magazines I read).
Oh how this novel took me back! Yes, things have changed. Terry nappies to disposables and now it’s all reusable TotBots. I attended antenatal classes at the hospital as well as the NCT. When they showed us a cesarean section I suddenly needed to pop out to the toilet, because it wasn’t going to happen to me. My first would be born in under an hour (like I was), ha ha. Actually, my second was, but that’s another story and I’m supposed to be reviewing the book – not reliving those forceps.
I found this book absolutely hilarious. I felt for Alice, I sympathised, I emphasised, I could relate to the naivety, the denial, the mess….the snacks. Especially the snacks. Though not to investigating a murder. Luckily that wasn’t part of the dynamic of our friendship group. We talked about knitting booties for baby (not really), would baby be late or early, what was involved in being induced – no-one planned to give birth naked in a yurt – they hadn’t become trendy yet – under a full moon.
Heavily pregnant Alice and her boyfriend Joe have moved from London to a Cotswold village – not a real one I don’t think – I live in the Cotswolds and I don’t recognise a Penton. They don’t want the baby brought up amongst the traffic and the smog of the city. They want a healthy life in the country, somewhere they can also walk their unruly dog, Helen. In my head I imagined Helen to be a crazy, short-legged, stumpy-tailed Jack Russell, probably because we lost our crazy, short-legged, stumpy-tailed Jack Russell eighteen months ago and I still miss her. But Helen is very different, all blond fur and long legs.
Alice doesn’t know anyone, but following Hen’s sudden delivery at the antenatal class, while a murder is going on downstairs (by that I mean the actual floor below, not Hen’s downstairs if you get my drift), she soon becomes friends with Poppy and her wife Lin, Ailsa from the commune (sort of) and of course Hen, plus hitherto unnamed baby.
Together, they try to solve the murder, much to the annoyance of Detective Jane Harris, who thinks they should stay out of it. But they won’t be deterred and Alice’s musings made me laugh out loud at times.
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour
About the Author
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.
