A cleverly crafted mystery and I loved the humor. I am looking forward to the next installment.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

What an awesome follow up to the first book! I loved how Kat handled the aspects of a new mom and their needs to have something separate from being a mom. The group's kids were such a fun addition to the story as well. To see their chaos and know how much they are like their moms in their own ways. I love Ailsa's character more and more as I read this series. Also Helen is fantastic. I love the idea of a chaotic household because it not only feels realistic but also relatable. I cannot wait for the third book!

Alice and her group of new moms are just barely recovered from solving a murder at their birthing class and, well, giving birth when they stumble upon yet another murder. With Poppy struggling in her new parenthood, Alice reluctantly agrees to look into the crime to cheer her up. But when the murder seems tied to Hen's new employer, things get messier and messier.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, and may have liked the second even better. It's also a great advertisement for birth control because, man, does taking care of infant sound horrific! But one of my favorite aspects of this series is how real Alice feels--sometimes she's using reusable diapers, others she's driving through McDonalds; she's throwing duvets over sofas to avoid cleaning them and eating mini ice cream bars in the middle of the night. She's truly a hilarious, relatable character. But also, the mystery is quite intriguing in this one. I didn't predict the outcome at all but truly enjoyed getting there and it didn't feel extreme once all was revealed. I'm not sure what the hook will be for book three (the terrible two's??) but I'll read it!

Thanks to Minotaur for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 9/10

I loved the first book in this series, but this tops it for me. Alice and the gang are back, now with babies in tow. It starts innocently with trying to save the meadow from development, but quickly turns into murder and mayhem. Alice's honest and funny portrayal of motherhood is laugh out loud funny. While Alice is the main character, all of the characters are just as important. With quirky crime solving techniques and baby strollers in hand, they are determined to solve the case.

I would recommend reading the first book for background, plus you don't want to miss what happened in it.

I received this advance review copy from NetGalley & the publisher for my honest review.

I enjoyed this one. I read the first book so I was familiar with the main characters and I liked seeing them in motherhood. I loved Helen the dog and her antics made me laugh out loud. The mystery was solid. I do wish we had more of the detective from book one..

Thanks Minotaur Books for an advanced copy of Dead Tired by Kat Ailes which came out Tuesday!

This is the second book in The Expectant Detective series and we start right where we left off in the first book. Alice and her prenatal group bonded when they solved a murder but now that their babies are born. Their babies are almost a year old and when they decide to join a local eco-protest they don't expect to find one of their fellow protesters murdered. They soon find themselves trying to solve the mystery, this time with their babies in tow.

These books are fun and I really enjoy listening to the audiobook. The narrator is the same for both books and really brings the books to life! These are the perfect cozy mystery with little bit of added fun.

If you like the Finlay Donovan series you'll enjoy Dead Tired too!

The babies are all here, everyone is on maternity leave, bodies are still piling up…this one is even better than the first. I enjoyed the mystery in this one more than the first, it makes me think this series is going to just get better with every book. A few questions have been set up in this book that are unanswered, as in who is the father of Ailsa’s twins. I must say, I’m pretty impressed with Alice’s deductions in the end, we were getting close to the end of the book and I still had no idea where it was going!

Thanks again to Kat Ailes, Minotaur Books/St Martins Press and NetGalley for the advance copy. They are available now so go pick up them both!

✨ 𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨 ✨

Dead Tired
Kat Ailes

This was another entertaining read by Kat! I knew it would be based off of the first book - Expectant Detectives.

This story follows a group of women who met at an antenatal class when they were pregnant with their first babies. Even though each of these four women are so different they bonded over a murder investigation. They always find a way to insert themselves into the thick of it.

This book is the perfect cozy mystery. The amateur sleuthing will constantly keep you entertained. It was fun to see each of the characters and how they adapted to motherhood. The silly Helen stories are still some of my favorite parts of these books!

Dollycas's Thoughts

Alice is almost to the end of her year-long maternity leave and she is tired, taking care of a baby that first year is hard. Truthfully parenting is hard no matter what age the child is. She spends most days with the friends she met at her prenatal class. Well except for Hen, perfect Hen, because her husband left her she is now working for a local green energy company. Ailsa has her hands full with her TWINS! Poppy is pretty lackadaisical, something is definitely off with her. The young women are usually joined by Poppy's dog Sultan and Alice's dog Helen.

The story opens with everyone on a picnic in a nearby meadow. They are joined by some unexpected visitors who invite them to a protest against a wind farm set to be built in the meadow where they are having their picnic. They sans Hen soon find themselves chained to trees thinking they may finally get a little albeit uncomfortable sleep. When they are awakened by screams they find one of the protesters strangled. It isn't long before they convince themselves they need to investigate the murder. Can they do it again? Can these new moms find the killer? Or will they wish they had just enjoyed what remains of their time off?

____

I think my problem with Alice is that I had four children over seven years and worked full-time with a leave of 6 weeks for each child. I maintained my house for the most part too, but it was never how Alice leaves hers daily. A year off per child would have been bliss. But I set that aside because I knew I was going to laugh and laugh often reading this book. These new moms, especially Alice find themselves in hilarious situations. Seriously, nude protestors! And oh my gosh, what Alice dressed her son Jack in when she took him with her to a funeral. I had tears in my eyes laughing. Plus, Alice's dog Helen is such a lovable naughty dog who gets into all kinds of mischief.

The mystery was very well done. With one solved murder under their belts, these ladies have no trouble diving into this one, often bringing the dogs and children right along with them.  They have several suspects and they come up with ways to question them or set up diversions to enable them to snoop in interesting places. They uncover some important clues but they just don't fit together until Alice's a-ha moment. I really enjoyed all the twists and turns and was surprised by the ending.

Dead Tired blends motherhood and mystery together in a very entertaining way. The mystery will make you think and the young mother's and Helen's hijinks will make you laugh out loud. I hope there will be a book three because toddlers will drive these mothers crazy and I would love to see what happens if they have another murder to solve.

I read Kat Ailes' debut novel, The Expectant Detectives, during my third trimester. So I was very excited to read her newest addition to this series while my son is a newborn. In this novel the hodgepodge group of women participate in a protest and are shocked to wakeup and see one the protestors in dead! The thing I love about this series is the authors quippy writing style. It makes it easy to relate to the woman and feel like you're hanging out with friends. This is a fun, easy read if you're looking to get out of a reading slump.

Thanks to the author and publisher for this ARC.

I loved Kat Ailes' debut novel, The Expectant Detectives, so was really looking forward to the second installment in the series--Dead Tired. It did not disappoint! We catch up with Alice and her fellow new moms about a year later, when they somehow end up involved with a local eco-protest. When a fellow protester ends up mysteriously murdered, Alice can't help but get involved.

While I very much enjoyed the mystery at the heart of the book, my favorite parts are the laugh-out-loud descriptions of Alice's (mis)adventures. There is something absolutely hilarious on every page. Remarkably though, the humor is deftly combined with insights into the struggles faced by new moms everywhere, and these new moms in particular.

While I would characterize The Expectant Detectives series as cozy mysteries, they are so much more than that. I can't wait to see what they investigate next!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dead Tired is an English cozy mystery with a fun set of characters including Helen, the rogue dog. It's book two in The Expectant Detectives series. In this installment the author takes on new parenthood with humor. Alice and her three friends have 1-year-old babies and find themselves caught up in an eco protest where a protester is murdered.

The returning characters are a great mix and when they get together you can bet shenanigans will ensue. While Alice can sometimes seems like a hot mess, she's smart in uncovering secrets and figuring out the pieces of the mystery.

Give this book a try if you like a cozy mystery with an English village setting, humor or a quirky cast of people and dogs.

Thank you to the publisher for my e-copy of this book.

I just love this series! Alice and her dog Helen are hilarious and I love following along with these new moms as they solve a crime. This is a fun cozy mystery full of humor.

Dead Tired was a great follow-up to The Expectant Detectives. It was just as outrageous but also so much fun. Kat Ailes continues to delight with this cozy mystery series, and I will continue to read any that she publishes.

I honestly think Kat Ailes is one of the funniest authors writing today. It's just something about her delivery-- I find it completely hilarious. This was a fantastic followup to The Expectant Detectives... still just as preposterous and funny with the best characters. I absolutely love Alice and everything about her personality and her life. She just can't leave well enough alone can she?!

I am so excited for more books to come out in this series-- I can't get enough!

Thank you so much for the advance copy. Loved every page!

Alice and her friends are enjoying the last parts of their maternity leave with Jack now being one. During a picnic, Alice and her friends meet some interesting and naked members of a local environmental group and soon find themselves being chained to a tree in one of their protests. However, in the morning one of the members is dead. After the events that occurred during their last investigation, Alice is hesitant to start looking into this murder but soon Alice and her friends are right in the middle of it and possible suspects again.

I love these books and listened to Dead Tired in a couple of days. I couldn't put it down! Alice is the perfect main character for The Expectant Detective series, and I enjoy the chaos that surrounds her with Helen and now Jack while dealing with the realistic events of motherhood. I found myself enjoying this book more than the first. I am hoping that this is not the end of Alice and her friends.

Dead Tired is out now!

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books and MacMillan Audio for the opportunity to review Dead Tired. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a good mystery. Alice and her friends are amateur sleuths, and it is a wonder that they could solve a mystery. They are nosy enough to ask a lot of questions, but they seem to blunder on to clues. The friends are having a picnic in a field when a naked man and woman show up. They are protesting the company that wants to build a wind farm in the field. When the couple invites them to be part of the protest, Hen knows she can't be involved with the protests because she works for the company. When a young woman is found dead after she and others, chained themselves to a tree for the night, The women know they have to find answers. So, the other three set about investigating with their crazy children and dogs.

This was another good book by Kat Ailes. This was just as funny as the first book. I had a lot of laugh out loud moments through out because these woman have some interesting mom moments with their kiddos and of course Helen the dog!! I felt like the characters were well written and enjoyable. I didn't guess who did it so that was a nice twist at the end. This book leads us to believe there will be another book, so I'm excited about that. This was a fun mystery to read and I would definitely recommend this book and this series.

Thank you NetGallery and St. Martins Press Minotaur Press for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest opinion.

Another fun adventure with Alice and her friends. I love the characters and their witty (read: snarky) take on life in the country and childcare. The mystery in this one was creative and had me guessing the whole time. And while the mystery takes center stage, there are plenty of laughs. Highly recommend the series but start with the first one to really get to know the characters.

When Alice moved to the Cotswolds from London with her partner Joe to start a family, she wasn’t sure what to expect. She certainly didn’t expect to solve a murder with her prenatal group. And now that their babies are all a little over a year old, Alice didn’t expect to find herself chained to a tree in the middle of the night, but there she is.

While the new moms, babies, and dogs were on a picnic in the beautiful countryside, a naked couple walked past. They were painted and clearly ready to protest, so the new moms asked them about the protest. There was a local energy company that was planning on setting up a wind farm in the field where they were picnicking, despite it being a copse of 500-year-old chestnut trees. Raven and Leila, the protestors, explained that they were going to a photo shoot to try to raise awareness and invited the new moms to a meeting of their group, Earth Force.

While Alice loves the time she gets to spend with her baby Jack, she is also looking forward to an evening with grown-ups. She’s expecting a meeting where she can eat some cookies and maybe help paint a sign or two. And that’s what she finds. But somehow she also gets roped into participating in the protest, where the group is chaining themselves to trees to get their point across.

The company that they are protesting against is Aether, and it’s run by tech guru Owen Myers, who wants to create avenues for renewable energy. But the fact that he’s choosing to destroy this valuable green space makes Alice wonder if he really is dedicated to saving the planet. It’s clear that she’s not the only one questioning him when someone firebombs his house.

But it’s not until Alice finds herself chained to a tree, noticing as the sun comes up in the morning, that she’s sitting across from a woman slumped against her tree that she realized just how dark this fight had gotten. Because that woman was Leila, and she was clearly no longer alive. The protest ends suddenly as the police show up to start investigating, and Alice can’t seem to stop herself from doing a little investigating herself.

Alice and her new mom friends use their resourcefulness and their contacts to find out that Leila wasn’t who she presented to Earth Force. She had worked for Owen previously, and she had kept her family and their secrets to herself. But she wasn’t the only one in the group with secrets, and the new moms keep poking around until they uncover them all and unearth a killer.

With an adorable baby, exhaustion, Baywatch reruns, junk food, and a goofball dog named Helen, Alice takes on a second murder investigation in her sleepy Cotswold community in Dead Tired. Author Kat Ailes brings back together this group of new moms and all the challenges of the first year of motherhood along with the challenges of trying to solve a murder in this charming, sleepy murder mystery.

I loved Dead Tired, and not just because I resonate with that title. (No kids, just really tired.) But these books are filled with a big cast of interesting and diverse characters (some are dogs) and much talk of tasty snacks, which I am all for. While I have read the first book and had been introduced to the new moms already, it made for a especially large number of characters to keep track of, especially once you add in all the Earth Force members. I did struggle to keep everyone straight, but aside from that, I just had so much fun with this book. I can’t wait to see what kind of trouble the Expectant Detectives run into next.

Egalleys for Dead Tired were provided by Minotaur Books through NetGalley, with many things.