Perils of a Pregnant Sleuth is the second southern cozy(ish) mystery featuring biology-professor-on-pregnancy-and-maternity-leave Callahan Banks written by Dershie McDevitt. Released 22nd Sept 2022, it's 280 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a well written murder mystery series set in coastal North Carolina. The titular pregnant protagonist is on leave from a tenure-track position in the biology department at UNC, spending time where she grew up, having returned to Timicau Island to settle the estate of her late mother. The plot is mostly character driven and the author has a solid grasp of characterization and setting. Callahan does have a propensity for emotional indecision, but it rings true given the circumstances; being pressured to marry due to her pregnancy in the face of her natural tendency to independence and unwillingness to tie herself to the father of her baby just because she's pregnant.
The book is populated by a collection of oddball eccentrics and delightfully peculiar small town characters, including a trio of precocious nine year old triplets who inadvertently wind up helping her solve several crimes in the course of the book. There's quite a lot of biology and conservation adjacent content in the book, and the author writes passionately and knowledgeably about local wildlife and the fragile ecosystem of the area.
The main plot elements are developed to completion in this volume. Despite being the second book in the series, it works fine as a standalone. It's a satisfying cozy(ish) mystery with a closed circle of suspects and limited setting. Readers picking this one up first won't have any trouble following the story.
Four stars. Promising second volume to (hopefully) a continuing series.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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