ELLE COSIMANO'S PAGE: Finlay Donovan series 1 through 3

FINLAY DONOVAN IS KILLING IT (Finlay Donovan #1)
ELLE COSIMANO
Minotaur Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$9.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: "Getting the job done" for one single mom takes on a whole new meaning in Finlay Donovan is Killing It.

Finlay Donovan is killing it . . . except, she’s really not. She’s 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 . . . Soon, Finlay 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 moment, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first in a brilliant new series from YA Edgar Award nominee Elle Cosimano.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: As part of a relaunch of the series, or so I've assumed, I got the entire series to date from Minotaur Books. I binged them. It's not far from the truth to say I mainlined them. I badly needed to laugh, and feel as though the shreds of my happy mind could indeed be brought back into contact with each other. That is what reading Finlay Donovan's absurd, impossible antics did for me. Please, dear Thalia, Muse of Comedy that you are, conspire with Calliope of the eloquence brief to get these stories onto a small screen near me!

The pleasures of absurd, impossible situations like a mystery writer on deadline becoming a contract killer are many. Subversion of the rational order of things, the permanent disposal of rotten-souled people who badly need killin', the sheer red-in-tooth-and-claw joy of imposing your own will on an otherwise uncooperative and indifferent cosmos...all are present.

That the perpetratrix is also a mom, a caregiver, an ex-wife with a grudge, means we have before us an exemplar of (pardon my Freud) someone in control of her id in a time where that is not on public display. It is good to be reminded this is, in fact, a desirable thing. So my happy gauge is pegged out after this read. Even better is knowing enough of y'all agree about the happy-making qualities of the read to turn it into an ongoing series! I mean, starting off with a Jane Austen-inspired sentence like: "It is a widely known fact that most moms are ready to kill someone by eight thirty A.M. on any given morning" is gutsy and clever and a gauntlet thrown for your readerly attention.

The alchemy of a cozy series mystery is not, ironically, mysterious: the sleuth must be an amateur; must be within suspension of disbelief as one who knows about crime, usually murder; must have some scoobygroup of supporters and another pride of predatory enemies, usually exes and/or officious bureaucrats; should have a complicated love life or be starting over, falling for a cop or other law-adjacent source; have some figleaf profession that makes this outsider believably (if you squint) able to ask people questions. From there it's a free-for-all. Probably the most consistent downfall of a series is the sidekick, either not interesting or absent entirely or something else that makes one bored with the relationship. No danger of that in Vero! As sidekicks go, she's perfect: Finlay's awful ex-husband hates her, she's great with Finlay's kids (as a nanny I should hope so), and cracks wise with the best screwball-comedy heroines. Vero also asks questions that make sense for her character to ask as well as move the plot forward. That, my olds, is a whole lot harder to do, and rarer to see as a result, than you realize. Vero is the secret sauce on this double-meat, double-cheese, burger of a read.

The ending, while definitely supported by the story, didn't wow me. I had to dock a half-star in spite of the pain it caused me.

I know a lot of us need distraction from *gestures* everything. Here is a solid, enjoyable, engaging distraction that won't leave you sour or unsatisfied.

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FINLAY DONOVAN KNOCKS 'EM DEAD (Finlay Donovan #2)
ELLE COSIMANO
Minotaur Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$9.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: From Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead―the hilarious and heart-pounding follow-up to Finlay Donovan is Killing It.

Finlay Donovan is―once again―struggling to finish her next novel and keep her head above water as a single mother of two. On the bright side, she has her live-in nanny and confidant Vero to rely on, and the only dead body she's dealt with lately is that of her daughter's pet goldfish.

On the not-so-bright side, someone out there wants her ex-husband, Steven, out of the picture. Permanently. Whatever else Steven may be, he's a good father, but saving him will send her down a rabbit hole of hit-women disguised as soccer moms, and a little bit more involvement with the Russian mob than she'd like.

Meanwhile, Vero's keeping secrets, and Detective Nick Anthony seems determined to get back into her life. He may be a hot cop, but Finlay's first priority is preventing her family from sleeping with the fishes... and if that means bending a few laws then so be it.

With her next book's deadline looming and an ex-husband to keep alive, Finlay is quickly coming to the end of her rope. She can only hope there isn't a noose at the end of it...

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: I'm sad to do this, but the idea that a cheating, lying sack of shit is a "good father" is too big a leap for me...no way does this story get past four stars. A father is an example of how to be, or what to want in, a man to his children. The example Steven the scumbag sets is terrible, his behavior to Finlay and, not coincidentally, Vero is misogynistic and patronizing, so no way in hell do I think Finlay's Stockholm syndrome-based protection of him from being the subject of a hit is necessarily good. It's morally correct, of course, saving a human life is always that, but...some people just need killin' and he is one.

It stinks to believe human lives should be saved even when they're scumbags. But here we are.

How Finlay and Vero go about this self-appointed task, the people they hate dealing with but who are central to their intended result, and the emergence of Finlay's acerbic, tart-tongued mom, Susan, into the scoobygroup, made this a read I enjoyed...more mutedly...than the first one. Susan is the only possible mother for Finlay, her mode of relating to the world absolutely explains the way her daughter became the woman she is...such a treat to learn, since I like the daughter so much.

Oh, and for the completist readers, y'all's fetishistic "start-with-#1" behavior is completely and utterly the only way to go in this series. A lot would make sense, but not hit the right notes, without the background established in Finlay Donovan is Killing It. Truly this is a series, first and foremost.

There's the required "romance" with, in this book, two unrealistically perfect guys...cop and aspiring lawyer...vying for her attention. Color me unimpressed.

Resolving the threat to Steven, much as I disagree that it's actually truly necessary, does take some turns, deliver some surprisingly unknown dirt, and end in a way that's totally condign. It is, like reality itself, a little less than utterly satisfying...Steven isn't rescued from being eaten by sharks only to fall into a lion's mouth, dammit...but a whole lotta laughs, witty banter, sassy crosstalk, and fun.

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FINLAY DONOVAN JUMPS THE GUN (Finlay Donovan #3)
ELLE COSIMANO
Minotaur Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$11.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: From USA Today bestseller and Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun—the highly anticipated, hilarious, and heart-pounding next installment in the beloved Finlay Donovan series…

Author and single mom Finlay Donovan has been in messes before―after all, she's a pro at removing bloodstains for various unexpected reasons―but none quite like this. When Finlay and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero accidentally destroyed a luxury car that they had "borrowed" in the process of saving the life of Finlay's ex-husband, the Russian mob did her a favor and bought the car for her. And now Finlay owes them.

Mob boss Feliks is still running the show from behind bars, and he has a task for Finlay: find and identify a contract killer before the cops do. The problem is, the killer might be an officer themself.

Luckily, hot cop Nick has just been tasked with starting up a citizen's police academy, and combined pressure from Finlay's looming book deadline and Feliks is enough to convince Finlay and Vero to get involved. Through firearm training and forensic classes (and some hands-on research with a tempting detective), Finlay and Vero use their time in police academy to sleuth out the real contract killer to free themselves from the mob's clutches―all the while dodging spies, confronting Vero's past, and juggling the daily trials of parenthood.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: When the Russian mob does you a favor, you better know the repayment's gonna be steep.

Like "find a hitman we can't find ourselves" steep.

Of course this is silly, like the people in the killing for profit industry...and specific market-segment leaders...couldn't do this in their collective sleep. You shouldn't read these expecting real-life scenarios (or out of order!) and anyone who does: "Welcome to Earth! I am the Leader, will gladly accept bribes for favors."

Off to hot-cop Nick's well-timed, brand new citizen's cop school go Vero and Finlay. As you'd expect, there's a lot of raillery and badinage; there's a lot of hectic running around; and the mystery, when solved, makes sense and makes it clear we'll have still more adventures ahead. Vero's past is coming to light a bit more. Finlay seems to be inching towards making an emotional commitment to Nick, poor Julian the student-lawyer is fading...for now. The kids are, realistically, being handfuls for Vero the nominal nanny (but really co-parent with Finlay by now) and their mom to ride herd on. Steven the nasty ex-husband is nasty. Mrs. Haggerty, the nosy neighbor, is still clueless and curious and pushy.

If you're on the fence about diving in, get the relationship dynamic clear: These women are the Lucy-and-Ethel of the 2020s. They egg each other on. They get each other's jokes. They have each other's backs. They've got men, but none matter as much as each does to the other. It's a series that centers them, centers their wild and woolly ride through a fantasy universe where there's no statistical crime mapping, no Child Protective Services, no hint of any of the real-world crap we all want to escape from.

So do it with Finlay and Vero, and get them to ease some stress off your shoulders as they set the world to rights for you.