ELLE COSIMANO'S PAGE: Finlay Donovan series 3.5 through 5

VERONICA RUIZ BREAKS THE BANK(Finlay Donovan #3.5)
ELLE COSIMANO
Minotaur Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$1.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 3* of five

The Publisher Says: Offering the insight that listeners have been craving into fan-favorite Vero's past and a closer look at the moment Finlay and Vero first meet, Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank is a can't-miss addition to the Finlay Donovan series.

A hilarious short story diving into Finlay Donovan's partner-in-crime Vero's past.

Anyone can spot a window of opportunity, but not everyone can manage to fall straight through one.

Veronica Ruiz is on the run for the first time in her life—though certainly not the last. After being falsely accused of stealing money from her college sorority, she packs up and heads to her cousin Ramón's apartment, planning to change her name and rebuild start over away from backstabbing girls and university drama (and far, far away from her arrest warrant in Maryland).

At the local bank on the first morning of her new life, it occurs to Vero that she'd be a better bank teller than most of the current employees: she may not have much money, but what little she does have, she knows how to manage. Unfortunately, the only available position is a cleaning job and so, desperate for a fresh start, she takes the bank manager’s offer.

But nothing in Vero's world has ever been simple, so of course shortly after she begins work, she overhears a conversation between her new boss and a security guard: someone who works there has been stealing. Seeing a window of opportunity, Vero sets out to find the identity of the thief, present the evidence, and then push for the perfect job. All of which would be easier if her irresistibly infuriating childhood crush Javi wasn’t living in the same damn town.

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

My Review: A short story, to be pedantic, needs to be self-contained to work well. The story here is short, but if you didn't already know who Vero was, you might wonder why we should care about her. I'm not convinced it's really necessary to know any of the information in here, not because it isn't funny, but because it doesn't add any emotional resonance to her in-series life and behavior.

If I'd learned something new...if I'd found out some extra dimension of her concupiscence...if I'd been introduced to Javi for the first time *with* her not just more longing for her lost childhood crush, requited or not....

You get my point. As a read for a series-lover already besotted, it's satisfying enough. As a way to enhance my extant affection for Vero, it's a bit wanting. As a short story, it's just not good.

Like it okay but not much, then.

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FINLAY DONOVAN ROLLS THE DICE(Finlay Donovan #4)
ELLE COSIMANO
Minotaur Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$11.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4.25* of five

The Publisher Says: Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero are in sore need of a girls’ weekend away. They plan a trip to Atlantic City, but odds are―seeing as it’s actually a cover story to negotiate a deal with a dangerous loan shark, save Vero’s childhood crush Javi, and hunt down a stolen car―it won’t be all fun and games. When Finlay’s ex-husband Steven and her mother insist on tagging along too, Finlay and Vero suddenly have a few too many meddlesome passengers along for the ride.

Within hours of arriving in their seedy casino hotel, it becomes clear their rescue mission is going to be a bust. Javi’s kidnapper, Marco, refuses to negotiate, demanding payment in full in exchange for Javi’s life. But that’s not all―he insists on knowing the whereabouts of his missing nephew, Ike, who mysteriously disappeared. Unable to confess what really happened to Ike, Finlay and Vero are forced to come up with a new plan: sleuth out the location of Javi and the Aston Martin, then steal them both back.

But when they sneak into the loan shark’s suite to search for clues, they find more than they bargained for―Marco's already dead. They don’t have a clue who murdered him, only that they themselves have a very convincing motive. Then four members of the police department unexpectedly show up in town, also looking for Ike―and after Finlay's night with hot cop Nick at the police academy, he’s a little too eager to keep her close to his side.

If Finlay can juggle a jealous ex-husband, two precocious kids, her mother’s marital issues, a decomposing loan shark, and find Vero’s missing boyfriend, she might get out of Atlantic City in one piece. But will she fold under the pressure and come clean about the things she’s done, or be forced to double down?

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

My Review: This entry in the series starts so soon after Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun that anything I tell you is a spoiler. Be aware of that fact.

The way I see it, you only have two choices: you can fold—and probably go to jail—or you can go all in and take a gamble on yourself. You want my advice? Stop worrying about the cards you've been dealt. As long as you don't give anything away, no one else can see your shitty cards but you. Fake it 'til you make it, Finn.

There you have it. Gambling metaphor, inner monologue, character trying to overcome her deeply instilled self-doubt, like so many women who hook up with a controlling man spend the rest of a lifetime attempting...it's a summation of the overarching affect of the book, and the series.

As series fans already know, these books must be read in order or you'll end up puzzled by some of the interplay and where certain characters come from (unlike Steve the ex-husband who came directly from hell). Mama Susan is back this time, callooh! callay!, so you know some extra snark and wit will be forthcoming. Taking Vero to Atlantic City is...well...maybe not the greatest idea, but the choices are not great no matter what given the scoobygroup's going there to meet with a loan shark, Marco. Who is (in)conveniently dead when they arrive.

The best thing about the daffiness, for old gearhead me, was Javi and the Aston Martin. Author Elle, you chose your props with the greatest precision. Most would've gone for a Ferrari, but the Aston Martin is very much the choice that kind of character would make. Kudos, or should I say, props to you!

I'll see myself out.

In general, manic energy and West Wing-level repartee are all shining in the carefully calibrated glow of the casino lights. I'll give Finlay the last word, if you chuckle at this you're going to like the series:

"My schedule? Besides playing Weekend at Bernie's with two corpses while concealing the murders from the cops, hiding an irreverent teenager from people who wanted to kill him, and tracking down a stolen sports car so I could take down the leader of the Russian mob before he got to me first?"

Et voilà.

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FINLAY DONOVAN DIGS HER OWN GRAVE(Finlay Donovan #5)
ELLE COSIMANO
Minotaur Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$14.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Finlay Donovan may have skeletons in her closet . . . but at least there's not a body in her backyard.

Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime, Vero, have not always gotten along with Finlay’s elderly neighbor, Mrs. Haggerty, the community busybody and president of the neighborhood watch. But when a dead body is discovered in her backyard, Mrs. Haggerty needs their help. At first a suspect, Mrs. Haggerty is cleared by the police, but her house remains an active crime scene. She has nowhere to go . . . except Finlay’s house, right across the street.

Finlay and Vero have no interest in getting involved in another murder case—or sacrificing either of their bedrooms. After all, they’ve dealt with enough murders over the last four months to last a lifetime and they both would much rather share their beds with someone else.

When the focus of the investigation widens to include Finlay’s ex-husband, Steven, though, Finlay and Vero are left with little choice but to get closer to Mrs. Haggerty and uncover her secrets . . . before the police start digging up theirs. But who will solve the mystery first?

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

My Review: Honestly, Finn, what were you thinking? Steven's a suspect in a murder that also inconveniences Mrs. Haggerty? Pop some popcorn, pull up a chair to the picture window, and watch the shenanigans across the street. You and Vero can not lose if you stay out, the kids'll get over the blow, and inconveniencing Mrs. Haggerty? *chef's kiss* That's the bonus schadenfreude. Sit back, watch, and send the kids to counseling about their utterly unjustifiable affection for that creep of a father you picked for them.

Vero, commonsensical soul that she is, urges this course on Finlay...does the dope listen? Why no, she does not. Of course she lets the quite-clearly innocent Mrs. Haggerty pollute the atmosphere chez Donovan. Of course she sets out to prove her children's father is innocent. Of course Vero provides my thoughts on the subject in far wittier words than I could manage.

Forevermore, Peacock/NBC, what are your development people even doing all day if not working this up for a wheel?

The series shifted into overdrive in this entry. We're familiar with the offerings. We know the kids'll be irritating. We know Steven's a cheating louse without an ethic in his body. We know Nick's hot for Finlay and Vero pines for Javi and Mrs. Haggerty...well now, there's development there, and it was not something I'd've picked out of the trope bag. Good on ya, Author Elle! The point being that, with the puzzle pieces familiar to us and agreeable in their lineaments, there's room and time to go after subtleties.

Happily, that is what Author Elle has chosen to do. I think we're now at the moment in a mystery series' development that casual, surface-gloss admirers are going to lose interest, while we who remain will delve deeper with Author Elle. I'm very much in for the duration. I love the way Author Elle pulls back the curtain just a bit in every iteration of Finlay and Vero's looking at a new murder to solve:

“Maybe you need to stop thinking about this as a case and start thinking about it like a story. Maybe it’ll make more sense to you that way.”
“What do you mean?”
She turned sideways on the bench seat to face me. “You’ve got all these little random plot threads, right? All you have to do is figure out how those plot threads connect. Ask yourself, what do Mrs. Haggerty and Penny Dupree have in common with that book? Figure it out, and that’s the solution to your mystery. Anything else is just a red herring.”

An author who trusts you enough to say outright, "this is how you read this story," while still keeping her powder dry to blow you away with ending, is a treasure.

You're a treasure, Author Elle.