Stakeouts and Strollers

by Rob Phillips

Amateur private investigator and new dad Charlie Shaw gets more than he bargained for when he agrees to track down a young girl’s missing father in Rob Phillips’ award-winning debut.

Charlie Shaw is low on sleep. And cash. Otherwise, life is going pretty well for the ex-crime reporter: He’s happily married to his college sweetheart, he’s a first-time dad to the most adorable baby girl in existence, and he’s making ends meet as a rookie PI. But when Charlie meets Friday Finley, a frightened sixteen-year-old runaway on a stakeout-gone-wrong, his world gets a little more complicated.

Friday is looking for her estranged father Shawn, an unreliable alcoholic who left when she was young—and who also happens to be her only shot at avoiding the foster care system since her mother’s death a few weeks earlier. At first, Charlie believes the man is simply hiding out somewhere, avoiding his responsibilities as usual, but the more he investigates, the more unsettling—and dangerous—Shawn’s disappearance becomes. When his own family is threatened, Charlie realizes he’s in over his head, but can he back out now that he’s begun to care for Friday as his own?

A perfect blend of humor and high stakes, Stakeouts and Strollers is a heartwarming story of fatherhood, family, and what it really means to be a “Girl Dad.”

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Mystery Thriller

336 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication March 17, 2026

About the author

Rob's debut novel, STAKEOUTS AND STROLLERS, won the Minotaur Books/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Award. STAKEOUTS AND STROLLERS is now available for preorder (publication date 3/17/26).

Rob grew up in the Dallas area, where he became an Emmy-winning sportswriter covering the Dallas Cowboys for print, radio and television. Rob and his wife are proud parents to a spunky senior King Charles spaniel and a lively young daughter who’s still waiting for her first stakeout.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robphillips...

Facebook:
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Reviews

[elisa Gabrielle donahue · Rating 3 out of 5]

first Cozy with a male lead but w9nt be my last

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a different type of mystery. It’s a little more hard core than a regular cozy, but not as hard as James Patterson or Michael Connelly. Charlie is a brand new PI (thanks to a little fancy paperwork by his boss) who is obsessed with his new baby daughter, which leads to a dead battery on his phone and missing the money pictures of the cheating woman he’s supposed to be following. But when he meets a young (16 yr old) girl who seems to be in trouble while on his stakeout, he knows he has to help her. Unfortunately, helping her leads to all sorts of other problems, including threats to his own family and he can’t have that. The answer is to solve the problems, even when they become dangerous not just for him, but his boss, his cop friend, the girl…and his family.

I loved Charlie. He’s so incredibly inept when it comes to surveillance, which is a surprise since he used to be an award-winning crime reporter for the paper. He adores his family, and, by extension, the young girl. The settings are well-done and the reasons behind the bad guys being who they are twisted, but believable. And there’s a satisfying ending (with a dangling thread that lets us know there will be more).

Recommended.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the ending of this novel, I can assume that “Stakeouts and Strollers” is going to be the beginning of series starring our sleep deprived new parent protagonist, Charlie.

Charlie isn’t the best detective, but he does love his newborn daughter. And his heart is definitely in the right place when he tries to help out a teen looking for their father.

From the blurb, I had assumed this was going to be in the vein of early Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum novels minus all the relationship drama. It wasn’t that. Parts of it felt like dark noir. But it wasn’t that. And that was part of my problem with this book. It feels like there are a bunch of ideas the author has for how this series should look and it all got thrown into one novel in case the series isn’t allowed to go further.

The author shows a lot of skill in his writing and hopefully will fine tune the tone of the series in future books. This book is good enough to warrant sticking around just to see how the series, writing, and characters develop.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy funny mysteries and was sold by the book's description as a "perfect page-turning blend of humor and high stakes." I mean, what could be funnier than a new dad who brings his baby while he's trailing suspects as a PI? This book delivers - the mystery is solid with a strong plot and a satisfying ending. Plus, the book says a lot about parenthood, including the struggles of sleep training an infant and the bond between fathers and daughters. I would definitely read the next if it were a series.

However, I almost put this book down because of the prologue. The first few pages were dark and ominous and didn't match the tone of the book as described in the blurb. The character in that scene was not the book's protagonist, as I assumed (and I think most readers will as well). Just keep reading (or skip the prologue) and you'll be good.

[Laurel Kristick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This mystery starts with Charlie, a new private detective who is bungling a surveillance mission because he is sleep deprived because his infant daughter never sleeps. It was a little darker than the cover and the first chapter intimated, with some serious bad guys threatening Charlie, his family and friends, and the teenage girl he meets during his surveillance mission. I felt like it was trying to get some of the sardonic humor of classic PI writers like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler but it didn't quite hit the right note for me. It was still a pretty good noir.

[Wendi Flint Rank (WendiReviews) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a breath of fresh air with Charlie
Front and center in what would appear to be
a fairly traditional ‘cozy,’ until things start to
get far too real. The characters are both
lovable, (Friday) and hugely problematic-
Pretty much everyone outside Charlie’s
lovely family - wife Ryan, (and others)
and mysteriously the whole story comes
together very nicely. I’d love to learn there
will be a sequel - perhaps a series is planned?
The core characters are all young enough
and Friday is a great character. There are
LOTS of things that still need to be “fixed”
in the character’s lives !
My thanks to St Martin’s Press
for the download of the book for
review purposes.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kindle Copy for Review from NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

An amateur sleuth and new dad will track down a missing father for a young girl. This will lead to attachments and discovery of secrets. What really happened and why? Things are not as it appears as nothing is black and white; especially, when feelings are involved. It will have you rethink what is truly family.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, except for the use of foul language in the first third or so of the book. I think Charlie better clean up his language before Callie starts talking or the first word out of her mouth will be the f-bomb. But other than that, it was a very entertaining and interesting book. I would definitely read another by this author, especially if the language was cleaned up. Thanks for the entertainment!

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am sorry, but I will not be finishing this book. I could not get past the high number of curse words. I read almost 20% of the book and thought that the plot wasn't moving forward. I am not the type of reader for this book. I did love the title; it was catchy and the cover was cute as well.

I received this arc from NetGalley. I am sorry I couldn't give a more favorable opinion of the book, but is my honest review.

[Belinda Zamora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlie is a newly minted P.I. and currently sleep deprived dad to an infant girl.
He has her with him on a stakeout and incidently misses an important photo as a result.
This leads to him becoming involved with a teenage girl in trouble.
As a result of offering her help, his family and those close to him come under threat from the people after the teen girl.
There's some action, danger, drama and a thread of humor running throughout the entire book.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah the joys of a first born baby and watching the parents figure out how to maintain their lives while a screaming tyrant has moved in with them. Fortunately for our protagonist, he and his wife have the money to hire a part time nurse. Although the new baby takes up a lot of the story, there is still room for a decent mystery with a dash of adventure. This was a fun read.

[Gigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky to get an advance reader copy and had so much fun tagging along with brand new San Francisco private investigator Charlie Shaw, who's in over his head but bringing us along for an entertaining ride. This is a debut novel, and Rob Phillips is a talented new voice in mystery fiction.

[Desig · Rating 1 out of 5]

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[Praveena Power · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, enjoyable read. Nothing particularly new or surprising, but good for a few hours of entertainment. Perfect for the beach.