While the Baby Sleeps: Four mothers. One body. Many secrets a Thriller by Stephanie Hazeltine ➱ Pre Order Book Tour with Rafflecopter
While the Baby Sleeps
by Stephanie Hazeltine
Genre: Thriller
Four
mothers.
One body.
Many secrets.
Marnie
is a first-time mum in a new town, paralysed by anxiety and pushing
away her police-officer husband.
Peyton is a teen mum, living
with her parents and longing to behave like other teenagers her
age.
Fleur looks like the perfect picture of a mum who is
coping and loving motherhood, but no one knows that under her
beautiful dress, her body is covered in bruises caused by her
husband.
Amalia, a single mum, lost her parents in tragic
circumstances and will do anything to honour her mother’s dying
wish and protect the family she has.
When these women meet at
mothers’ group, they bond over feeding schedules and baby products,
but when a local is found murdered, they discover it’s not their
babies who will tie them to one another forever.
Each woman
has a motive to kill and secrets to hide, but do they know who the
real enemy is?
Four mothers.
One body.
Many secrets.
Marnie is a first-time mum in a new town, paralysed by anxiety and pushing away her police-officer husband.
Peyton is a teen mum, living with her parents and longing to behave like other teenagers her age.
Fleur looks like the perfect picture of a mum who is coping and loving motherhood, but no one knows that under her beautiful dress, her body is covered in bruises caused by her husband.
Amalia, a single mum, lost her parents in tragic circumstances and will do anything to honour her mother’s dying wish and protect the family she has.
When these women meet at mothers’ group, they bond over feeding schedules and baby products, but when a local is found murdered, they discover it’s not their babies who will tie them to one another forever.
Each woman has a motive to kill and secrets to hide, but do they know who the real enemy is?
Excerpts:
I’d only spent a short time learning his routine. I wasn’t even sure what I was hoping to achieve by following him. Maybe just confront him and tell him to leave, but I’d become more desperate. It was a chilly night. A cool change moved in late in the evening and brought with it a downpour of summer rain. I was rugged up from head to toe—black puffer jacket, black beanie and gloves. I blended into the night landscape.
He never saw me coming.
I hadn’t meant for this to happen though. It wasn’t premeditated, as they’d say on the cop shows. But as I followed him, images from my past flashed before me. A calmness took over. I knew what I had to do.
The blow was fast.
He was jogging, like he didn’t have a care in the world. As though he had no idea how many lives he was destroying. So, when he stopped for a moment to check his phone, something in me snapped.
He tapped away at his screen. He couldn’t hear me with those headphones on. Then I lifted the cricket bat and knocked him for six. He fell instantly.
Now, I look down at my gloved, shaking hands, splattered with blood. Lying at my feet is a cricket bat, a fitting weapon. Not planned as such. But the bat was lying on the backseat of the car, and I didn’t feel safe going into the parklands at this hour with nothing at all.
Next to the bat, his unblinking eyes stare up at me. A pool of crimson spreads out from underneath his head and mixes with the puddles of muddy water.
I take a deep breath to calm my shaking body. I look around. It’s hard to see far at this time of night. Only a few distant lampposts cast light on the parklands. I’d be surprised to find anyone else out here at this time or in this weather. There aren’t many people like him who mess with the normality of day and night.
I pick up the bat and leave. There is nothing else that ties me to this incident and the bat will be easy to chop up and add to the Coonara. I take one last look back at the body and then break into a jog.
It’ll be okay, I keep telling myself.
I don’t regret having Lucas. But I can’t help but feel sorry for myself some days when I see pictures on social media of old friends partying, moving away for uni and travelling the world.
Mum brings Lucas inside and I take him from her and sit on the couch. I stare at him as he guzzles from the bottle eagerly. His green eyes are bright, like the father he’ll never know, but the rest of him is me. He has my red hair, lots of it already, and pale skin. Mum keeps showing me photos of me at Lucas’ age and the resemblance is incredible.
‘Are you having anymore?’ Mum holds up my wine glass.
I look back down at Lucas and my insides feel warm in a way that alcohol can’t make me feel. ‘No, thanks.’
I stay on the couch for the next two hours as Lucas finishes his bottle, and he sleeps in my arms. I watch his adorable, pouty, little lips move as he breathes in and out. It’s not summer in Ibiza, but it’s pretty damn satisfying.
Then, two years ago, he forgot my birthday. He got home from work in the afternoon and saw some flowers on the bench from a friend and a card wishing me a happy birthday and he lost it. Apparently, I should’ve reminded him my birthday was coming up. That was the first night he hit me. Happy birthday, Fleur.
‘Where are my bloody keys?’ I say aloud to no one. Well, not no one. My eight-week-old son looks up at me from his capsule on the living room floor, totally useless when it comes to key recovery.
I rummage through the nappy bag—a recent addition to my life that I don’t love. It’s like a bottomless pit of junk. So many items for ‘just in case’. Nappies and wipes I can understand. But then there are backup bottles, dummies, booties, spare bibs, spare clothes, toys, teethers (do they even get teeth this early?). But it’s all packed. Every time I leave the house, it’s as though I’m headed for the desolate wilderness and will be stranded with a naked, starving, teething baby.
What are your top 10 favorite books/authors?
Some of my favourite authors are Sally Hepworth, Freida McFadden, Jane Harper and Lee Child.
How long have you been writing?
2.5 years
Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why?
I have to write in silence. I can’t focus with any kind of noise or music.
Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time?
I currently have three books at different stages.
Tell us about a favorite character from a book.
One of my favourite book characters is Fern from ‘The Good Sister’ by Sally Hepworth. You just want to wrap your arms around her and protect her from the world. She’s so innocent and honest, and I loved hearing her view on everything around her.
Describe your writing style.
Contemporary, fast paced and character focused.
What is your writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first?
I am a pantser and just write. It means I have to go back and redraft many times but when I have an idea, I’m impatient and want to get started.
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from other genders?
Understanding what they would observe around them. Comparing my husband and I, I would be able to recall the bride’s wedding dress from a recent wedding and describe it in detail. His response would be ‘it was white’. There are situations where I am more observant and prioritise things and vice versa.
Stephanie Hazeltine is a contemporary fiction author who writes about fearless females as they fall in love, navigate motherhood or tackle mysteries.
She lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband, two kids and two cavoodles.
Website * Instagram * Amazon * Goodreads
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