This story gave me chills and had me holding my breath!
The story was full of suspense and drama. The characters were detailed and the entire book was constructed perfectly.
A thrilling, fast paced thriller.

If in an idle moment you'd ever wondered what could have been if Rosemary and Thyme had met whilst on maternity leave, this book could answer your questions. A cozy murder mystery with the added depth of coping with loss of identity after childbirth, I read this in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. Don't take it too seriously though. The civilian access to police matters is highly unrealistic and I had trouble believing any newly (planned) pregnant woman doesn't buy up and devour every pregnancy magazine and book or that she could subsequently fail to notice the need to change a nappy over a period close to 12 hours. I was beginning to doubt the author was actually a mum until the very powerful PND conversations later in the story. The parallel to The ABC Murders was heavily signposted and minimised the final twist but didn't spoil the final reveal. I look forward to read more of Emily's adventures and can easily picture them as an afternoon drama series.

This was a really pleasant read and I love the premise of maternity leave being used to solve crimes. The book is easy to get through and I loved the addition of the twist towards the end, definitely elevated the book from being okay to being enjoyable. Emily and Tabetha make an odd duo solving crimes and I would have liked for us to know more about the characters, they felt extremely surface level. I know this is part of a series of books (or at least they'll be a second one) so perhaps they'll be more character development then, that's the only way I can possibly be okay with such 2D characters. I found the book to be quite heavy-handed at times with telling the reader rather than showing and a lot of the mum lessons were trite and heavy-handed too, weirdly though I feel it fits in with exactly who Emily is. Which isn't a bad thing, just to say that she is also quite 'trite' herself and is even described by Tabetha as a people pleaser. Regardless this was a pleasant read and it did have been wanting to read just a little bit more to uncover the mystery, it took good twists and turns and the ending very much reminded me of Poirot. In that it was pretty much a 'bring those involved to one room and tell them the great tale' and it worked really well and felt like a nice homage to Poirot. (I may be biased though because I do love Poirot). I'll definitely pick up the next book when it's published.

This was an interesting, engaging but bizarre book. We have Tabertha, a Police Detective and Emily,who she meets at an NCT meeting when they are both pregnant. One of the first things I found quite strange was that they lived in a town where there was a river, somewhere on the outskirts of London, but small enough that everywhere was within walking distance or a short bus ride away. Yet this very same town has a police station manned by homicide detectives waiting for a big case to come along. These days you'd be lucky to find a police station open in any town in the UK never mind with a stable of eager officers including Detective Tabertha.. She and Emily, seemingly with police knowledge, start investigating a local murder and during their sleuthing manage to interview several witnesses, family members of the deceased, shop keepers, et al who are all connected in some way. They either walk everywhere or hop on and off buses with two babies and a buggy in tow. Further on we find, Toby, Tabertha's Maternity replacement, who goes to the two women for advice as he's not getting anywhere with the case, can you iimagine this happening in real life? Further down the line the Chief Inspector gathers all the NCT new mums to help him discover who is next on the murder list during a large festival in the town. Then we have the finale, in true Agatha Christie style with all the suspects assembled together, including members of the police force. The murderer is announced in such a way that it was almost as though the author thought, who can it be, and came up with a name drawn out of a hat. Finally whoever heard of a married detective with an almost pregnant wife going to a summer camp on his own. As I said bizarre.

A great detective story. Emily meets Tabatha, a detective, when they join an NCT class. Emily is a lover of detective programmes and they develop a friendship once their babies are born. When Tabatha receives a letter, warning her of an impending murder, which turns out to be a woman from the health centre, Emily gets involved in trying to solve the case, especially when two more people associated with the NCT group die. This book also deals with how hard having a new born baby can be, and I felt myself empathising with Emily and her anxieties. Highly recommended.

New mum Emily meets murder squad detective Tabetha at her NCT classes, and they soon get involved in a case, when a letter is sent giving details of a death. Juggling babies’ needs with investigations soon takes its toll and Emily finds herself turning to handsome detective Toby for support. Can she get her life back on track and solve the murders before it’s too late?

Murder on Maternity is a little like an Agatha Christie novel - the plot is slightly far fetched (would any police really allow a civilian, with a tiny baby, to join The investigation?), but an enjoyable read nonetheless. I had several theories as the story progressed, most of which proved to be completely wrong. The struggles of a new mother, trying to meet the demands of a small baby, and keeping up with the other parents, were well written and easily identifiable to any parent.

I did feel that the ending let down the book in a way, being a little rushed and the manner of the denouncement rather unlikely, but overall a good book worth reading,

A good written story for new mothers with an unexpected twist to it! Not all is actually you need some imagination when reading. Overall a good read

I really enjoyed this book. However, I usually read fiction books in the belief that they are true stories or rather in that I can imagine them being true. I couldn't do that in this case because of my real life job and my knowledge that this would NEVER happen. Civilians would not be shown evidence/be allowed to be on a crime scene/have anything spoken about police investigations in front of them. Police detectives cannot work 'off the record' and drag civilians around with them, speaking to witnesses and potentially tainting evidence. Unrealistic and implausible,
So I ignored all that truth, pretended I didn't know, and read the book for what it was. And I really enjoyed it.
Good little twist at the end and I didn't guess the killer!

Thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A good story that is very real to a lot of people as well as a little of the absurd. Great twist in it that I certainly didn't see coming.

I really enjoyed this book. I love a cosy crime novel and this one really hit the spot. Although I am not a mother, I enjoyed the more honest representation of new motherhood as I know several women who have had similar experiences to the ladies in the book - so I found that aspect refreshing. However, I also just really enjoyed the mystery in this book. It mostly kept you guessing (although I did ultimately guess the ‘big reveal’ but that didn’t really matter). I see this is going to be part of a series and I definitely want to keep reading this series. I look forward to book 2!

I don’t suppose Emily Elliott, crime lover and imminent mum-to-be could anticipate what is in store for her and her NCT group in what I would describe as this cozy type mystery. Fast forward a few weeks and Emily is the proud but anxious mother to Nellie. Keen to alleviate the boredom and loneliness Emily is experiencing with her newborn ,she immediately strikes up an unlikely friendship with Tabetha Tate, another new mum on leave from her job as a detective inspector with CID. When an anonymous letter from a Mr Naughty is sent to Tabetha, Emily has the opportunity to turn amateur sleuth and combine breastfeeding and dirty nappies whilst hotly pursuing the trail of a potential serial killer.

What could be more innocuous than a couple of buggy wielding mothers seeking vital clues in the hunt for a killer whose first victim is Mama Nolan, receptionist at the local community centre and home to the NCT group. Who can resist a couple of newborns to coo and aah over whilst maybe inadvertently divulging crucial information pertaining to the case? This duo have the perfect cover as they try to stay one step ahead of the killer, interfering where they shouldn’t but they do make a great team. Please suspend all notion of reality when embarking on this read as the way Emily inserts herself into the current police investigation is highly implausible but it makes for enjoyable, undemanding reading. Thanks to Tabetha who is far from keen to leave the investigative work up to her temporary replacement Toby, Emily can satisfy her curiosity for a real life murder and help her friend prove her worth as a detective, even if she is on maternity leave. Just as long as she or Tabetha aren’t putting themselves in danger. Or are they?

I definitely have eclectic tastes when it comes to choosing genres, happy to explore most avenues and a cozy type mystery like this one is right up my street. I love the innocence and gentle nature of this style of writing, with no graphic descriptions of violence. It’s simply a sanitised version of murder with a couple of likeable characters, perfect reading for an afternoon, with maybe a cup of tea and slice of cake to hand!

With plenty of motives to explore and potential suspects to grill I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel. Although the plot is at times a bit far fetched, with Detective Toby being somewhat unprofessional in his behaviour towards Emily, I could not guess at the identity of the culprit. I was happy to be surprised!
The narrative does veer off on a tangent halfway through, exploring Emily’s reactions to motherhood and her likely post partum depression which made me feel the author had infiltrated my mind nineteen plus years ago when I became a mum. All those feelings of inadequacy, loss of control over your own life, the sheer boredom of filling lonely hours whilst surviving on little sleep brought back such vivid memories for me. I couldn’t help but think this has been written from personal experience (minus the murders of course!!) In discussing Emily’s struggles with motherhood, the author gives more depth to Emily as a character so she is very relatable.

As the trail goes hot and cold, time is of the essence in the hunt for the killer who may strike again. There are red herrings aplenty, with practically everyone coming under suspicion and all in all it was jolly good fun.
Towards the end I had the feeling Emily Elliott and her amateur sleuthing would make for a great series so I’m pleased to discover this is actually the case, with a new mystery set to be published sometime next year. I am definitely interested in what mystery Emily can find herself embroiled in next. Miss Marple look out, there’s a new kid in town!! If you are a fan of Clare Chase’s cozy Eve Mallow detective series, then Murder on Maternity may also appeal. My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read.

Many thanks to Holly Greenland and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What drew me into Murder on Maternity was its premise – two new mums investigating local murders while on maternity leave. As a crime-loving mum myself, this stood out as something I hadn’t really seen in a book before. Not to mention that I could barely finish a book while my son was a newborn let alone actually go out and solve a slew of murders. So here was a book that had huge appeal and potential relatability to me as a reader and while I can say that I did genuinely enjoy reading Murder on Maternity, this wasn’t always the case.

In my opinion, the first few chapters are a bit too overly explanatory about certain parenting things that I believe the target reader would already be pretty familiar with. I understand that these were important chapters for building characters and context but they were a little bit flat in comparison to the rest of the book – which is action packed and engaging.

When the story picks up, it becomes this compelling cozy mystery full of shocks and twists. I found myself second guessing everything and everyone. I thought I had it figured out – but I didn’t! And of course, the biggest marker of an engaging read: I let my dinner go cold because I couldn’t put it down until I’d devoured the final pages. Honestly, can’t wait for the next book in the series.

I also want to add that the representation of postpartum depression is done exceptionally well. There was no vilifying the characters for their struggles, just a lot of support, patience and understanding which was wonderful to see.

Content/trigger warnings: Murder, cheating, postpartum depression*, pregnancy, birth*, breastfeeding*, skin-to-skin contact after birth*, references to alcohol

*These are triggers for me personally due to my own experiences.