Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Categories
True crime

THE CARPOOL DETECTIVES CLUB

Chuck Hogan

A True Story of Four Moms, Two Bodies, and One Mysterious Cold Case

The incredible true story of a group of moms who, united by their love of true crime, attempt to solve a fifteen-year-old cold case.

A lot of us like to think we could solve a murder mystery. Could these stay-at-home moms actually do it?

In 2020, four women found themselves at a crossroads: Each of them had transitioned from full-time jobs to full-time parenting, and each was pushing against the new boundaries of her life as the pandemic looms. At a bowling night fundraiser for their kids' school, they discover they all share a passion for true crime that crystalizes around a mysterious double homicide that took place a decade earlier. A married couple in their 60s vanished overnight from their home. A few days later, the family business was shuttered, and the bank financing it sued the missing couple for one million dollars. They were rumored to have absconded with the money until their bodies were discovered inside their car at the bottom of a steep ravine. And then the case went cold.

But what if, the moms think, they could solve it?

The women have no prior connection to the case and no law-enforcement background, but each brings a special set of skills to the investigation: Marissa's background as a former forensic accountant; Jeannie's passion for journalism; Samira's ambition and drive; and Nicole's nose for research. With the world now on pause due to the pandemic, the moms have unique access to witnesses and crime experts who are stuck at home. They make connections, draw conclusions, and experience breakthroughs in the case wilder than anything they could have imagined. When an awe-struck Assistant District Attorney reopens the case, enlisting the four women in the official investigation, they not only get further than anyone ever expected, but end up in real danger themselves.

Marissa, Jeannie, Samira, and Nicole's story is the ultimate wish fulfillment for any true crime fanatic. An emotional and often terrifying odyssey through a DIY criminal investigation, The Carpool Detectives is an absolutely thrilling read for armchair sleuths and mystery fans alike.

Chuck Hogan is the author of several acclaimed New York Times bestsellers, including Prince of Thieves, which was awarded the Hammett Prize and adapted into the hit feature film The Town starring Ben Affleck. His most recent novel, Gangland, was selected as one of The New York Times's Ten Best Crime Novels of the year and nominated for an Edgar Award. The Carpool Detectives is his first work of nonfiction.

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Book Published 2025-07-08 by Random House

Comments

I'll never look at the carpool lane the same way again. Hogan ingeniously unravels the lives of four women who transformed themselves into a crack team of amateur sleuths in a tale of true crime that's as unbelievable as it is relatable.

[A] riveting read about real-life Nancy Drews that seems destined for the big or small screen . . . Hogan has crafted a page-turning true-crime thriller about this unlikely band of investigators.

A true crime mystery that reads like a novel . . . Reading along, it can be easy to forget that the underlying case is based on real, not fictional, murder.

A gripping read . . . Chuck Hogan concocts a wacky but intriguing tale about a group of intelligent and resourceful moms who band together to tackle a cold case. Chaos ensues and tension builds as their surprising discoveries about an unsolved double murder quite literally put them on dangerous paths.

In his acclaimed bestsellers, Chuck Hogan has demonstrated the skill of a master crime novelist. Now, in The Carpool Detectives, Hogan shows readers how much stranger fact can be than fiction. This page-turner tells the true story of four suburban California moms who become amateur sleuths, driven to solve a high-profile double homicide during the pandemic. Often at personal risk, they doggedly chase down the forensics of the fifteen-year-old cold case. The book is riveting, full of jaw-dropping twists, meticulously researched, and rendered in spare yet eloquent prose. Hogan reminds me of a confident prizefighter with his tricky slips and feints - and, yes, he scores a knockout. The Carpool Detectives is an instant true-crime classic.

Impossible to put down - this unbelievable true story is as riveting as any thriller. Each twist in the investigation pulled me in deeper, but it was the unbreakable bond between these four women, united by their relentless quest for the truth, that stayed with me long after the final page.