🕵‍♀️ DEAD TIRED (Expectant Detectives #2) by Kat Ailes 🕵‍♀️

Release Date: June 4, 2024 (thanks to @netgalley and @minotaur_books for the ARC)

For readers who:
- love the Finley Donovan series
- need a good book about new moms
- like mystery/thriller books with a heft dose of humor
- like to invest in a series

Synopsis: Alice and her mom friends, Poppy, Ailsa and Hen, are not expectant mom detectives anymore. Now they're just moms, without a side of investigation. That is, until they find themselves taking part in a protest (chained to a tree all night long - they're even offered adult diapers 🥴), and they wake up to find one of the protesters has been, well, deleted. Suddenly the monotony of new motherhood is broken up as they start investigating 🔎

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed the first in the series (swipe to see it) and I was excited that this one was being released so soon. This series is right under the Finley Donovan series for me. Funny, a good mystery, and a delightful cast of characters.

Add this one to your summer list ☀️

I love this series., whether it's the antics of Helen the dog or Alice and her friends "dectectoring". Their theory is that dectectoring is all about just stumbling around until you find something, and reading/listening to their stumbles is entirely amusing. The first book in the series, The Expectant Detectives is hilarious, but the new moms as sleuths might be even better. I hope that the group continues to stumble onto dead bodies. because they're my current favorite detectives, the kind I can see myself being friends with.

It’s been a year since four women forged an unlikely friendship amidst giving birth to their first children and solving a murder mystery in their small, English village. Now Alice and her friends have become swept up in another murder case. What begins as a picnic lunch between friends and their toddlers leads to an invitation to join a peaceful protest, which in turn leads to being witnesses in another murder investigation. 
 
Alice had thought maternity leave would be full of nursing and nappies, not more murders to solve. 
 
What a fun cozy mystery! Ailes captures both the humor in the everyday humdrum of raising a small child—from creative methods of unclogging blocked ducts to the absolute mess some children make (and the air of mystery surrounding those children that manage to keep their smocked and monogrammed clothing pristine)—as well as the emotions and feelings of disconnect from an earlier sense of self that can come with those early stages of motherhood. I giggled and grinned my way through this one and saw many familiar moments from my early days with kids—sans the murders of course. 
 
I received an advance copy of the book from Minotaur Books and St. Martin’s Press. All review opinions are my own.

My thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books/St. Martins Publishing for the ARC of "Dead Tired" in exchange for an honest review.
They're back.......and I couldn't be happier. And anyone who likes their cozy mysteries riddled with laugh out loud moments, should welcome the return of the English countryside's most unlikely group of amateur sleuths.
In their debut in "The Expectant Detectives", Alice, Poppy, Hen, and Ailsa, living amidst the bucolic green meadows and forests of the Cotswolds, somehow cracked a murder case while all of them were on the verge of giving birth. (And accomplished this much to the perpetual aggravation of Ailsa's sister Jane, the area's primary police detective.)
One year later, the ladies are coping with the exhausting, chaotic task of baby raising. but still find themselves embroiled in a fresh new murder case. How could they not? After joining an eco-protest group, their chained-to-trees-all-night demonstration ends with one of the one of protesters found strangled while still bound to their tree.
Once again, Alice (the book's narrator), ends up taking the investigative lead, even though her life is a riotous, whirlwind of diaper mishaps, breast feeding calamities, housekeeping disasters and the never ending, embarrassing misadventures of her out-of-control dog, Helen. Along the way, Alice also has to cope with Poppy's renewed detecting enthusiasm, Hen's nervous unease (since she's employed by the company targeted by the protests) and the always eye-rolling, suffer-no-fools disdain of fierce activist Ailsa,, whose twin babies only slightly softened her. just a bit.
A plentiful collection of suspects, twists and reveals round out this mystery which I found, as I did the first of this series, so much fun to read, a book that keeps you smiling throughout and at times delivers genuine LOL scenes. And personally, I can never get enough of those, so I didn't have to think twice about rating this 5 funny stars. Here's hoping the ladies are solving cases till their babies are ready to enter college....

Kat Ailes has done it again. I loved the first book, “The Expectant Detectives” and I love the second book, “Dead Tired” equally. You could read it as a standalone, but you will have a better idea of the characters and their relationships if you read it after “The Expectant Detectives”. There is a little bit of mention to what happened in the first book in this one but I do recommend reading the first one to make the story more enjoyable. Kat Ailes writes very realistic characters and situations which makes it even more so entertaining. The mystery is cleverly crafted, keeping the reader guessing until the very end. Between the antics of Alice and her friends, also nursing moms, and her dog Helen and son Jack, I was laughing out loud throughout the book! Thank you Kat Ailes, NetGalley, Minotaur Books and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my thoughts. I am looking forward to (hopefully) the next one in the series.

A chance encounter in a Cotswolds meadow with Leila and Raven, a nude but body painted couple sends the gang off into the world of eco-advocacy and murder. And what a clever murder it is. Alice narrates this second in the series which will be fine as a standalone as she, Poppy, Ailsa, and Hen find themselves caught up not only in motherhood to their now year old babies (and their dogs) but also in investigating. When Leila is murdered while everyone is sleeping chained to trees, well, that's sort of taunting, especially when it turns out that Leila had a lot of secrets. What was her deal with Sam, Raven's brother, a photographer? And where did she really come from? Who is Richard? So many questions, so many babies! And dogs! I enjoyed this for the highly humorous and honest look at life as well as for the mystery. If there's less about the group's relationships with their partners this time, that's ok because their focus is now on, well, babies. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's funny, it's clever, and it's got me eagerly awaiting more from Ailes.

I was pleasantly surprised by this series! There were a few cringey parts, but for the most part this story was super engrossing. I love Alice and the rest of the Expectant Detectives. I am really hoping that there will be more books coming to this series. Their quirky way of solving mysteries cracks me up. Definitely recommend for fans of Finally Donovan!!

I love the characters in this story. I really enjoyed the first book in this series and found this one just as fun. Alice is hysterical and pretty much says what most of us are thinking. I do love her. The story picks up about a year after the first book. The book can be enjoyed on it's own, but I think it's better if you know the backstory. I found myself laughing a lot throughout the book. I like the author's style of writing and definitely will watch for more from her. I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Alice and her mom friends are back in the Cotswolds, this time with their 1 year olds in tow. When the group decides to join a protest to save a meadow from destruction, they knew they would spend the night chained to some trees. What they didn’t know is they would wake up to one of the protestors dead. The moms spring into action, contaminating crime scenes, snooping around, and doing their best to solve the crime in their small town before the detective can.

Dead Tired didn’t have as many crazy antics as The Expectant Detectives, but it was still an enjoyable cozy mystery! Check this one out next Tuesday, June 4!

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press, & Minotaur Books, for the opportunity to read Dead Tired by Kat Ailes in exchange for my honest review.

Dead Tired is the second book in The Expectant Detectives series, which falls into the cozy mystery genre, as it follows a group of new moms who find themselves unexpectedly solving crimes during their maternity leave.

In the first book Alice, the MC, and her friends turn into amateur sleuths and solve a crime while preparing for motherhood. Now that her son, Jack, is a year old, Alice is eager to get some rest. When the opportunity arises during an eco-protest, Alice and her friends take the chance to chain themselves to trees, hoping for a break from their hectic lives. However, their plans are disrupted when a fellow protester is found strangled, pulling them into another murder investigation.

Despite the charm and cozy mystery premise, I struggled to connect with the characters. I found it difficult to stay engaged. The story starts off slow, and there are no major twists or surprises along the way, making it somewhat predictable. While it has its moments of humor and intrigue, it ultimately didn't hold my interest as much as I had hoped. Dead Tired may be more enjoyable for moms who can relate to the main characters' experiences.

Dead Tired is the second book in the expectant detective series by cat ales. And book two the ladies have given birth in their five babies are all around one year old while out at a picnic they meet a nude couple named Lily in Raven. They are protesting the removal of the cobs a section of forestry in their village. They’re protesting a company called Ether, they’re supposed to be environmentally friendly but are tearing down trees and rare plants to do it. Hen is abnormally quiet while they talk to the ladies and Alice knows why she has recently gotten a job as the PA to the head of Ether. So when Alice Ailsa and Poppy join the protest Hen understandably does not, but when someone is murdered at the protest she finds it hard not wanting to help solve the crime. Alice however is it first reluctant to investigate yet another dead body in her new village and tries to be the voice of reason but… It’s a Alice so needless to say she joins her friends in sluething. I want to say Alice is my favorite character she has no shame in her game she is not a perfectionist doesn’t need the latest $10,000 purse give her a happy meal or a big Mac especially chicken nuggets and she is fine. Also because she dips her fries in milkshakes my girl! She is who she is and doesn’t make excuses for it. I also love her and boyfriend Joe’s relationship and think they’re wonderful together. All the characters in the book a really great characters although I really don’t like the way Ailsa sometimes almost comes off as being mean to Alice, I totally get what the author is trying to do it just sometimes comes off as cruel. I also love the way Alice is the one they expect the lease from, yet she’s always the one to solve the crime. I just love these books and can’t wait for the next one! I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Tired and totally recommended it to any cozy mystery fan especially those who like a little crime with baby hi-jinks involved. I want to thank Saint Martin’s press for my free art copy via NetGalley please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

The sophomore novel in the series was a cozy and enjoyable bit of reading. I would have so much fun being friends with Alice and getting into shenanigans. Books like this make me think that country life in England would be just absolutely fantastic. One thing I have trouble wrapping my head around though is the timeline, maternity leave is supposed to be a year but at some point there's 6 weeks left but Jack has already turned 14 months old and there was the month before giving birth?! Maybe the US really does screw us all over. Otherwise, can't wait to see what Alice and crew get up to next.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins publishing for the ARC.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Mystery
Language: Some swearing

I adore cozy mysteries, and this one has funny moments—if you're a parent. I'm not sure if people without kids will get some of the side commentary about parenting and kids. Everyone can relate to the misbehaving dog.

The moms dealing with a pack of feral one-year-olds getting caught up in solving a mystery is bound to be fun. I was so pleased with this book for the way it made me chuckle.

I was 80% through and still didn't know whodunit. That's always a good sign when I'm in a mystery.

I can't spoil anything, but take note now of "the funeral scene" and see if you can find what I laughed aloud about.

DEAD TIRED goes in my book pile of authors I would read again. It's light and breezy, lots of fun, and British.

Happy reading!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this book. all opinions are my own.

I will post my full review once SMP address the insensitive comments of their employee.

💫eARC REVIEW💫
•Dead Tired
*Book 2 of The Expectant Detective Series.
•Kat Ailes

🗓️ 6/4/2024

Detectoring is hard work with a bunch of 1 year olds in toe but Alice, Ailesa, Poppy, and (don’t tell anyone) Hen are somehow balancing it all.

This time a tree hugger (literally the person was changed to a tree) is found dead following a protest and wouldn’t you know it, Alice, Poppy, and Ailesa are chained to the very same trees.

The mom experience is all the way on display, and Ailes highlights (with impeccable precision) just how exhausting mothering can be while trying to retain your own life and personality. Her prose is witty, relatable, and at times had me laughing out loud (again).

Check it out if you love a cozy mystery, Scooby Doo style antics, and/or

No one does a cozy mystery like Minotaur 👏🏼Thank you for allowing me an early read via NetGalley !

Much thanks to Kat Ailes, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me use of free ARCs in exchange for an honest review.

I think I liked this book better than the first, and I liked the first a lot. Alice is so down-to-earth and relatable I can't not love her. Ailes' writing is hilarious, from the recalcitrant Helen to the puking babies to the fumbling detective work. More, please!

I was a little confused as to how Ailes was going to continue the whole idea of pregnant detectives, but this sequel worked out pretty well. Helen definitely still helps move the plot forward. While it could be a standalone, I would read the first book since it explains a lot of the backstory.

Of course, the group gets into a weird situation thanks to their different personalities and find some of the more unique individuals in their community.

Will be interesting to see how the next book shapes up.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review, opinions are my own.

I'm really enjoying this series so far. The first book was a lot of fun and this one lives up to it, more or less. I didn't find the mystery part of the story as compelling this time, but that didn't really matter.

These books are more about the characters and humor and coziness of it all than the mystery element.

That said, I liked the characters just as much this time around. And Helen, of course. That dog is rapidly becoming one of my favorite literary animals.

I'm already looking forward to the third book in the series - I'm assuming there will be one!

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

4 stars

I just love this series and you will, too, Prospective Reader, if you can get down with a cozy purely based on bonkers characters.

While this series is not complex and one *could* read this second installment as a standalone, I cannot recommend that approach at all. For maximum enjoyment, get to know the characters and their backstories in the first book before jumping into this one.

Alice, the m.c., through whose perspective this series occurs, is dead tired, as the title suggests, because that baby she was working on when readers last saw her is now out and free (and making a mess!), along with all of his peers. That doesn't stop her from getting into the requisite trouble, which seems to be as much a gift to her as it is to readers. This woman is truly wild in the best way. She seems to be at least as messy as her infant and dog (more on this one shortly), but she's also still strangely skilled at finding herself in the midst of crimes and their solutions (and, yes, their barriers to solutions, at times).

While Alice is a worthy and engaging protagonist, the reason I couldn't wait to devour this is the same reason I loved the first book: Helen. This dog is outrageous. She brings joy to every scene in which she exists, or in which someone even thinks of her. I'd be furious if she were my dog, but I'm thrilled she's still galivanting with Alice, and I hope that continues for many books to come.

Folks who enjoyed the first book, who love a good cozy, and especially who can appreciate an absolutely wacky protagonist AND HER AT LEAST AS WACKY AND FANTASTIC DOG should queue this ball of hijinks. I'm already eagerly anticipating the next book.

This seemed like the perfect title to pick up for an overnight flight :). Alice and her group of friends are about a year into motherhood, with all of the work that entails. When they come close to a murder, they decide to investigate - it's a nice break from diapers and baby messes.

The story was often funny, and the mystery was also pretty twisty. I liked how the sheer exhaustion of being a new mom was portrayed - with lots of love for the babies, and lots of parenting woes and sheer endurance.