She is a newly divorced mom of two. Her ex-husband just got engaged. The pile of unpaid bills is getting taller and larger. And she’s already stretched her publishers’ deadline to the max. And she hasn’t even started working on her new novel. It all just felt like one of those dreams where you suddenly find yourself in the middle of something. You’re not exactly sure how you ended up there. You have no idea how to get yourself out. So you may as well just roll with it. Finlay meets her agent at the Panera where she has been banned, but all is well because she's wearing a scarf wig and huge sunglasses. As she discusses the plot of her next book with her agent, a customer overhears Finlay talking and thinks that Finlay is a hired killer. The customer has a job for Finlay and won't take no for an answer. Being the lousy decision maker that she is, Finlay proceeds to dig herself in a deeper hole as she tries to get herself out of this job. But the job pays so well and she already has the huge advance. One bad decision leads to another and Finlay is in way over her head, only to be rescued/enabled in doing more bad deeds, by her nanny, Vero. I probably drive my editors to the brink of insanity, but I’m very critical of my own writing, and at some point, someone will have to forcefully take the manuscript and red pen from my hands and tell me it’s done. My revisions tend to take much longer than my drafts. And I never read my books again once they go to final printing. I’m far too hard on myself for that.”

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It : A Novel - Google Books Finlay Donovan Is Killing It : A Novel - Google Books

I love mysteries!!! This was a refreshing take on a plot for a mystery book!! It wasn’t too dark or suspenseful. I really enjoyed the playful and comedic approach/flavor to a mystery book. I had a hard time putting it down!! It was like Bridget Jones meets Girl on a Train!! Finlay is a newly divorced single mom of two who can't pay her bills. She's also a struggling suspense writer of books no one wants to read. All she wants this morning is for her two children to quietly eat their breakfast...and for their overdue nanny to ARRIVE NOW! I concede that getting drunk and stuffing a wad of Delia’s Play-Doh in the exhaust pipe of Theresa’s BMW may not have been the best way to handle the news when he’d told me they were getting engaged, but letting her walk away with half my advance and my husband felt like salt in the wound. Not to say only SBCMFs will enjoy this romp about a barely-scraping-by newly-divorced writer and mother of two who’s mistaken for a hit woman, but man those MFs are gonna love it. Finlay Donovan is Killing It should have been on my "Like List." It did have a some elements that I did really enjoy. My favorite part of the book was how Vero and Finlay met.The 'Note Writer' won't take no for an answer. This person actually believes Finlay is a 'Murderer-for-Hire'! What is Finlay supposed to do? The money is really tempting and would solve all her problems. She might be able to focus on her writing again, rather than worrying about how to make her life work. I loved the comedy mixed with romance in the mystery! There’s nothing like it! At first I wasn’t sure I was really going to like her, ha! I was like girl, what are you doing?! Then to see she couldn’t go through with it, I was like phew! But her willingness to do ANYTHING to keep her kids, that was also important to note. It balanced out the murder adjacent part, ha!

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It - Macmillan Finlay Donovan Is Killing It - Macmillan

Part screwball comedy, part morality tale… Cosimano infuses her novel with large swaths of humor while adding realistic terror… It’s a solid, thoughtful and funny yet poignant mystery that never once becomes a one-note story.” —South Florida Sun-Sentinel FINLAY DONOVAN IS KILLING IT . . . except, she’s really not. 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 being banned from Panera for bad behavior.. Finlay decided to meet her book agent at...well Panera of course! Certainly she could meet her agent at another restaurant, but in typical Finlay style..Panera it is! This fiasco continues on a downward spiral when she is mistaken for a contract killer while discussing her latest book ideas! Part comedy of errors, part genuine thriller… Deftly balancing genre conventions with sly, tongue-in-cheek comments on motherhood and femininity, Cosimano crafts a deliciously twisted tale.”— BooklistThe book is as much comic novel as crime novel, a touch more Janet Evanovich than Agatha Christie. Elle Cosimano has a deft feel for the risible twist…”— Toronto Star Suddenly, plotting murder didn’t seem so hard. At the very least, it seemed easier than figuring out how not to murder someone in real life. This is a hilarious, fun read with a bounty of laugh-out-loud moments, all the while cheering Finlay on while watching as she digs herself deeper into mischief. If you have been searching for something lighthearted to read, which isn’t a Rom-Com, (though a little bit of romance may be in the cards for Finlay too) look no further! Not understanding they were discussing the plot of Finlay's floundering novel, this woman now mistakenly believes Finlay to be a successful contract killer.