The Shelby McDougall Mysteries, a three-book series, features Shelby McDougall, an amateur sleuth. The character grows throughout the three novels to become a licensed private detective working for Kathleen Bennette, PI. When Kathleen retires, Shelby buys her practice.
The theme for the series revolves around surrogate mothers, biologically altered humans, and human trafficking. In book 1 Shelby is in her early 20s, and by the third book, which takes place during the pandemic, she is a decade older.
The Shelby McDougall Mysteries, a three book series, features amateur sleuth, Shelby McDougall developing into a certified private detective as she uncovers the mastermind behind a baby trafficking syndicate.
Author Nancy Wood does a good job in books 2 and 3 to keep readers abreast of past events, but I strongly suggest readers begin with book 1 and read from there.
Below you’ll find the reviews of each book in the Shelby McDougal Mysteries:
Book 1: Due Date
Shelby McDougall is a surrogate mother. Diane and Jackson Entwistle are paying her big bucks for her twins. When brother Dexter’s wife, Jessica, asks Shelby to leave their home because Jessica feels Shelby’s pregnancy will adversely affect her 3-year-old, Shelby has no choice but to accept Diane’s offer to live in the guest house on their estate.
Once Shelby moves into her new home, author Nancy Wood lets loose in her exciting mystery, Due Date. The author does a marvelous job describing scenic Santa Cruz, California and the surrounding area as well as developing believable characters. Though I thought the plot development was slow at times, the wait for exciting and unexpected revelations during the course of Shelby’s pregnancy kept this reader riveted until the final climax as Shelby barely survived her due date.
Book 2: The Stork
Don’t even think about reading The Stork, book 2 in Nancy Wood’s McDougall mysteries, without reading Due Date. The first book is a gem, the second a sapphire.
The Stork opens up more than five years after Shelby became an unwitting victim of a baby-brokering ring in Northern California. She gave birth to twins Justin and Justine, whom she put up for adoption. (Both children are off the chart geniuses making Einstein look mentally deficient.)
Shelby is now studying to become a private investigator working for Kathleen Bennett, PI. She also has a love interest, Sheriff’s Deputy Cody Wilson. The woman whose life she saved in Due Date, Megan, has grown to become Shelby’s best friend. And Shelby’s now divorced brother, has become Megan’s new boyfriend. Things have changed, but not entirely.
Shelby get’s a late-night call from Ryan and Lisa Boyd, the twins’ adoptive parents. Justin has been kidnapped and the police haven’t yet discovered his whereabouts. Would Shelby help?
Sure she will, and does that get her in trouble. Shelby goes out for a run and is assaulted by a truck. Megan is kidnapped and almost killed. Slowly, Shelby puts the pieces together and decides that the baby-brokering ring has a leader still at large continuing his or her nasty business that Shelby calls “The Stork.”
Nancy Wood writes her novels with clear description causing readers feel as if they are present watching the exciting events unfold. Her characters feel real with each one having a unique voice. Finally, her plot is constantly unfolding, albeit at times a bit slow, with a mind-boggling climax that will keep readers thinking long after they have closed the book.
Pop’s Rating:
Book 3: The Found Child
In the third book of her mystery series, Nancy Wood does a superb job of connecting the threads from her first two novels for a satisfying ending to her trilogy.
In The Found Child Shelby is a married woman who is rejected by her husband, Sheriff Deputy Cody Wilson, after repeated miscarriages. To top things off, she finds out through her brother, Dexter, that an ancestry service turned up her genetic child, definitely the product of Dr. Helen Brannon, Shelby’s arch enemy.
Throughout the book, Shelby helps an old friend find his granddaughter, and through that effort, she uncovers more than she could ever imagine.
Pop’s Rating:
Michael Thal is the author of Goodbye,Tchaikovsky a story about deafness.