Juliet, a former defense attorney, assures Peter he has nothing to worry about in either department, yet things between the two remain tense. Juliet and Al have just accepted a case, pro bono, at the request of their assistant Julio. Julio’s sister is in jail and has a friend, Sandy, who gave birth in jail but had to give the child over to foster care. A group, the Lambs of the Lord, approached Sandy and offered to “keep” her son until she was released from prison, but now the baby has vanished and no one can seem to track down the Lambs of the Lord.  

Juliet locates another mother whose baby was also taken by the Lambs of the Lord and finds the couple who posed as the parents who were going to care for Sandy’s baby, but there is no trace of Sandy’s baby. When Juliet contacts the father’s family, she begins to get bad feelings and wonders just who the Lambs of the Lord are.  

The Cradle Robbers has a dark edge to it, even with Juliet and her lively bunch. Juliet and Peter have just moved into a house that would befit a 1930’s horror movie star and the case involving stolen babies takes an emotional toll on Juliet. Juliet tries hard to balance a second career (after giving up her first because it was too taxing on family life), her life with her children and her life with her husband. Even though Peter is frustrated and angry, it is easy to tell all will be right in the end.  

While the mystery of Sandy’s baby, and her subsequent murder, are solved satisfactorily, the Lambs of the Lord’s part in other baby’s disappearance is largely left hanging in the air and feels unresolved for the other young mother. Juliet, despite her claim she is exhausted from the new baby, remains energetic in her quest to help her clients. The focus on breast-feeding and breast-pumping is tiresome at times, but doesn’t detract too much from the overall enjoyment of the book.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry