12. FInlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano

#1 Finlay Donovan 

listened on Libby

2021
355 pgs.
Adult Funny Tongue-in-cheek mystery
Finished 2/5/23
Goodreads rating: 4.05
My rating: 5
Setting: contemporary suburban Virginia

My comments: I kept thinking, at many points, that there's no way she can get herself out of this.  I was proven wrong over and over again.  This book is funny and lighthearted as well as eye-rollingly nutty in places....and I loved it.  Reminded me a bit of Stephanie Plum, but much better, right down to the sidekick.

Goodreads synopsis:  Finlay Donovan is killing it...except, she’s really not. A stressed-out single mom of two and struggling novelist, Finlay’s life is in chaos: The new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written; her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her; and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors.

When Finlay is overheard discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet. She soon discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart, as she becomes tangled in a real-life murder investigation.

Fast-paced, deliciously witty, and wholeheartedly authentic in depicting the frustrations and triumphs of motherhood in all its messiness, hilarity, and heartfelt moments, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first in a brilliant new series from award-winning Elle Cosimano.