Motherland meets Midsomer Murders in this fresh and funny mystery about a group of mums who turn detective

'COSY CRIME AT ITS FINEST!' JANICE HALLETT

**AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW**

Alice has made the most of her maternity leave, becoming simultaneously a proud mum (well, a mum, at least) and accidental amateur sleuth. With her son, Jack, fast approaching his first birthday, she is keen to continue to keep him alive and maybe finally catch up on some sleep ... if she's lucky. When an opportunity presents itself in the unexpected form of a sit-in protest, Alice and her friends willingly chain themselves to trees and settle in for some overdue rest - not the most comfortable arrangement ever, but at this point they'll take what they can get.

But the next morning one of their fellow protestors is found strangled and any hope of a blissful interlude is suddenly swept away on a tide of adult hysteria involving rogue artists, an enigmatic local entrepreneur and nude protesting (optional) - a surprising, but not necessarily unwelcome, break from changing nappies and cleaning Weetabix off the dog. For Alice, whose success rate in solving countryside murder is at an all-time high (one out of one), she cannot resist the chance to demonstrate her detectoring skills once more and assembles her gang of young mums to investigate this latest countryside mystery.

'AILES ONCE AGAIN MARRIES QUICK WIT, SURPRISING REVEALS, AND CHARMING ANTICS' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"Ailes once again marries quick wit, surprising reveals, and charming antics from Alice's dog, Helen. This series has all the ingredients for a long and satisfying run" - Publishers Weekly

"Cosy crime at its finest" - Janice Hallett on The Expectant Detectives

"Sharply witty" - Simon Brett on The Expectant Detectives

"Gloriously smart ... this is really funny with edge" - Helen Lederer on The Expectant Detectives

"The epitome of fun and witty cosy crime" - iPaper on The Expectant Detectives