Next month, Undercover Babymoon, the fourth installment of the Unde(a)feated Detective Series, will set sail into retailers! As I have with my past releases, I’m sharing a few character spotlights—in this case, passenger spotlights—to acquaint readers with special characters and highlight the creation of them in my kooky mind.
From Husband in Hiding onward, I’ve always said The Unde(a)feated Detective Series is about family at its heart. Through all of the mysterious plots and upheaval that accompanied them, they’ve banded together with love, honesty, and sometimes cohesive insanity to try to overcome the nefarious schemes at play. Hence, I only deemed it appropriate to kick off this series with one about the whole family.
When I started to formulate the concept of a book about a deaf detective, I wanted to balance her independence out with a tight-knit support system around her. This wasn’t because I figured she needed it to be an accomplished woman. Rather, in my own life, my loved ones have been invaluable in my efforts to lead as successful of a life as I can despite my disability of Cerebral Palsy. Like I shared in Scrambling Up a Series, I never envisioned setting the characters in multiple stories. Twelve years after I first wrote their names, though, I can say sculpting the arcs of the Avery family members has been the highlight of my career thus far.
It’s not much of a spoiler to point out that Undercover Babymoon finds protagonist Minka Avery pregnant with her second child. After experiencing the setbacks with infertility highlighted in last year’s Accidental Allies, she and her husband, Wes, are thrilled to give parenthood another go-around, and their seven-year-old, Caela, can’t wait to be a big sister. Maternity isn’t the only change in Minka’s life, though, with Cael, her and her partner and brother-in-law, being promoted to the homicide department with the Orlando police force. Dead bodies and morning sickness don’t pair too well together, but Minka eventually makes it work.
When they’re tasked with determining what contributed to a cruise ship worker’s death, Minka’s expectant state finally becomes an asset to her career. She coerces Wes, Cael, and his wife, Autumn, into boarding the ship as regular tourists so they can carry out a covert mission to uncover the killer. As in previous installments, their methods end up being tested by personal dilemmas none of them saw coming. Yet, their bond only grows stronger, even between Minka and her polar opposite sister-in-law, Autumn.
One of the matters they agree on is the heartache involved in leaving their young children behind for their week-long mission. In line with that, here’s a postcard they wrote to the kiddos, which does not appear in the story but provides some insight into their travels. While withholding information that’s unsuitable for juvenile ears, they manage to slip in some clues about the case to the babysitters, Wes and Cael’s parents.
Catch up with the Averys some more in “Tethered to Drama”
Pre-order Undercover Babymoon now
streaming August 30 on TGWolff.com!
Also See
Character Spotlight: Griffin & Janine Garrets
KarinaBartow.com 
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