The Pregnant Sleuth

LUCY BURDETTE: At the end of my 15th Key West food critic mystery, THE MANGO MURDERS, my food critic sleuth Hayley Snow turns up pregnant. I hadn’t planned this, and to be fair, neither had she. But I had the sneaking suspicion that this book would be the end of the series. If it was, what better way to go out with a flourish than with the happy news of an upcoming baby? Except, it turned out, the series didn’t end and now I was weighted down by a pregnant sleuth. Oof.

As I began writing the 16th book, A DELICIOUS DECEPTION, Hayley is struggling through the ninth month of her pregnancy. She feels the loss of her autonomy, her usual spunk, and her privacy. Everybody has an opinion about what a very pregnant sleuth should be doing, beginning very emphatically with her protective police officer husband, Nathan. Hayley is known for being hot-headed and independent, but that only goes so far as a reasonable explanation in this situation. I had to work hard to give her a case that pulled so hard on her sense of justice that it would overcome her physical and psychological worries. I hope I did her justice!

Reds, it’s a sticky wicket;  it’s a natural progression for a young woman to want a family, but this makes it hard on the author. What have you learned by writing your pregnant sleuths, or why did you decide to skip this milestone?

RHYS BOWEN: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked myself ‘what was I thinking’ when I got my heroines pregnant? The problem is that writing about young women in the past, when they fell in love and got married there was no birth control or at least they didn’t know about it. So pregnancies were inevitable. I remember the book in which Molly Murphy has to flee to Paris with her new baby and then has a horrible mystery to solve concerning her two friends there and every four hours she has to rush home to nurse that baby.

The problem with having a female sleuth who is also a new mother is that I have to ask myself all the time, would I put myself into danger if I was responsible for someone else’s life? And so most of Molly‘s cases since she had her first child have been ones that concerned her, her family or close friends, and which  she had a moral obligation to help solve.

At least Lady Georgie has it slightly easier as she has a nanny. Not that that was always a good thing but now she can relax a little knowing her child is in good hands.

So my advice would be if you consider giving your heroin either a baby or a dog – don’t. Readers will write and tell you if you haven’t fed the dog for 10 pages. I will certainly notice if you’ve left the baby lying in a crib for three chapters.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I decided my co-sleuth, Clare Fergusson, would get pregnant because I wanted to explore the dynamics between her and her brand-new husband, who had agreed with her they WOULDN'T have any children. It added interesting layers to her character - she was always reckless, and had to deal with the fact anything that might happen to her would also affect her unborn child. There are, of course, the physical challenges of going after bad guys when your center of gravity has shifted and it's hard to bend over! The biggest and most dynamic change was the way others saw her - a visible pregnancy makes some observers more protective, and some willing to take advantage of her supposed vulnerability. 

At the end, the real challenge of having a pregnant sleuth, as in real life, comes AFTER the baby is born and you have to deal with it!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yeah, my heroines are not pregnant. They often have children, though, their own kids but young, or a child-adjacent character like a niece. As you say, Julia, after the child is born brings its own set of challenges (like they keep needing to EAT, for gosh sake, and they can’t even DRIVE) but that’s for another blog.

HALLIE EPHRON: There’s a reason Raymond Chandler quipped: “A really good detective never gets married.” Oy, the complications of child care. Pregnancy complicates things even further. But what fun, giving your sleuth problems!!

I did it with my first standalone, NEVER TELL A LIE. Domestic suspense, of course, my sweet spot. And Ivy Rose is 9-months pregnant when a woman from her past drops in on her yard sale (Ivy is nesting!) and turns her world upside down. (Pregnant Ivy muses “A fullly pregnant belly was pretty astonishing. Right up there with a prizewinning Hubbard squash.”)

The stakes are as enormous as the sleuth’s belly.

JENN McKINLAY: LOL, Hallie! Personally, I couldn’t write about a pregnant amateur sleuth and thus opted out of doing so. I couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to accept that a pregnant woman or the people who love her would be okay if she and the baby were put in harm’s way because she’s nosy. It's different if she's a cop/detective where it's her job, baby or not. That being said, If anyone can pull it off, Lucy, you can! Can’t wait to read it. I did end the cupcake series with a pregnant main character but my plan if I’d written another one was to have her staff take over the sleuthy part–rather like Archie Goodwin helps Nero Wolfe (leaving him to tend his orchid babies).

DEBORAH CROMBIE: When I first started my series I gave Gemma, then a single mum, a two-year-old. I knew I wanted to write about women in the job (policing) dealing with the things real women deal with, like juggling work and child care. Then a few books later, Gemma gets pregnant and it really upsets her new-found stability. Unfortunately, she loses that baby six months into the pregnancy, possibly due to a violent encounter with a villain, and it’s very difficult for her to regroup.

But I still think a pregnant sleuth, amateur or professional, makes for great plot opportunities, and I think Rhys and Julia and Hallie have handled it really well. Lucy, I can’t wait to see how Hailey manages!

RED READERS, please weigh in with your thoughts on the pregnant sleuth. Do you enjoy this life twist in your mysteries? Why or why not?

You’ll be able to read about Hayley’s adventures in this delicate condition beginning July 14. Please pre-order here! 

Or join me at RJ Julia booksellers on July 14 at 6:30 in Madison CT. You can also order a signed copy at the store. 203-245-3959