Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

Pregnancy can be an exciting time in a person’s life (and no, before I go any further, I don’t have family news to share!). It can also be a difficult time, what with the physical and emotional changes that happen. Still, for a lot of people, it’s a joyful time. One of the challenges expectant parents face is balancing everything. How do you take care of your health and that of the baby, while at the same time doing your job and navigating life? It’s not always easy, but a look at crime fiction shows how some sleuths manage it.

Åsa Larsson’s Rebecka Martinsson is an attorney who lives and works in Kiruna, Sweden. Because of her legal experience, she knows that it’s best to work with the police when it comes to detection, so she often cooperates with local police detective Anna Maria Mella. In SunStorm, the first novel in the series, Anna Maria is heavily pregnant. But that doesn’t stop her investigating when the body of Viktor Strandgård is found in a local church. For Rebecka, the murder is personal, as she is originally from Kiruna, and knows several of the people involved in the case. For Anna Maria, it means finding ways to interview suspects and witnesses, go through the inevitable paperwork, and manage the rest of her life during the last few weeks of her pregnancy. It’s a challenge, but when the two women work together, they find out the truth.

Elly Griffith’s Ruth Galloway is a forensic anthropologist who works at fictional North Norfolk University. In The Crossing Places, Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Harry Nelson asks for her expertise when the body of a young girl is discovered. It may be that of a girl who was reported missing, and it will be up to Ruth to see if that’s possible. In the course of the investigation, Harry and Ruth begin a relationship, although Harry is married. Then, Ruth discovers that she’s pregnant. Now, she’ll have to decide whether to have the baby, and she and Harry will have to decide what their relationship will be. It’s not an easy place for either of them, and Ruth had never really been interested in parenthood, so it’s a lot for her to take in at first.

In Vanda Symon’s Expectant, Dunedin Detective Sam Shepherd is pregnant and, although she’s nervous about it, everything seems to be going well, and her midwife says that she and the baby are healthy. Then, the body of a young woman, Aleisha Newman, is discovered in an alley. As if her death was not enough, the baby she was about to give birth to has gone missing. Now, the detective team has to find that infant and prevent another death, as well as solve Aleisha’s murder. Sam is taken off the case, given she’s very soon to go on maternity leave. But that doesn’t stop her asking questions and working to find out who the killer is and where the baby is before anyone else is killed. It’s not at all easy, and it’s not helped by the fact that Sam herself is soon to give birth, so she can’t be as active in some ways as her teammates can.

Meeti Shroff-Shah’s A Mumbai Murder Mystery introduces readers to successful novelist Radhika Zaveri, who’s just returned from New York to her Mumbai hometown. As you can imagine, she renews ties with old friends and the members of her family. One of her close ties is to her best friend Sanjana, who is now married and expecting her first child. One afternoon, Sanjana’s father, Kirti Kadakia, is found dead. At first, it looks like a suicide, but on the surface, there seems no reason why he would want to kill himself. But Sanjana insists that her father would not have committed suicide. She asks Radhika to find out what really happened, and Radhika agrees. Throughout the novel, Radhika works with Sanjana to get to the truth. It’s not easy, especially for Sanjana. Not only does she face the challenge of a family that does not want her to ‘poke her nose in where it’s not wanted,’ but also, she is pregnant. She’s healthy enough, but her pregnancy does limit her, and her family wants her to rest. What’s more, some family members believe that she’s overly emotional and not being logical about her father’s death because of her pregnancy. It’s definitely difficult for her.

There’s also Jeramy Gates’ He Said, she said, ‘Murder.’ In that novel, we are introduced to Joe and Tanja Shepherd, who have recently opened a PI agency called Autumn’s Hope. They haven’t gotten very far with their business, and money is tight. It’s a real concern, too, because Tanja is pregnant, and due to give birth soon. So, when friend and mentor Sheriff Bill Diekmann offers them a case, they’re glad to accept. Five years ago, seventeen-year-old Becky Sweet was murdered, and her body was found at a local creamery. The case went cold, and the police don’t have the resources to follow up. So, Diekmann proposes that the Shepherds look into the matter, and they do. It turns out that Becky’s death has everything to do with the past and with secrets that some people have been keeping. Tanja is determined to put all of her energy into the case despite her pregnancy, but she does face challenges as she balances her own needs with getting the case solved.

Pregnancy can be a very exciting part of life. It can be difficult, though, and there can be any number of complications. Still, plenty of parents-to-be don’t let that stop them. They don’t in real life and they don’t in crime fiction.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina’s Danny’s Song.