“Finlay Donovan Is Killing It” For Elle Cosimano

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano is proof of why you should not judge books by their covers. The cover on this one left me disinterested, despite it having a pretty solid buzz on bookstagram. I was wandering the library for physical books to take on a trip, and spotted it on the shelf. I read the back and knew I’d probably love this story.

Publishers: this is why you put a synopsis on the back cover instead of famous people’s reactions.

In case you aren’t familiar, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is about a freshly divorced mom of two who is struggling to write her next book. As in, she’s already a couple months late on her deadline and her agent is furious. While discussing plot concepts for her romantic suspense stories, a woman overhears Finlay and mistakes her as a someone who does murder-for-hire… and leaves a note with an offer.

Finlay is broke AF and calls the woman, just to see what’s up. $50,000 is a lot of money to not check up on it. The woman insists Finlay take care of the problem husband, and Finlay decided to look into how bad this guy really is.

But…. nothing is ever that simple in a mystery novel, right? Dude ends up dead and Finlay disposes of the body at her ex-husband’s sod farm in a panic. Finlay then realizes something is off and doesn’t believe she’s the one responsible for the man’s death. To help her see the situation better, she decides to write everything that’s happening into a novel form, just with different names… because a written guide to a man’s death and your role in it is a really smart idea if you want to avoid jail time.

There are a lot of twists and turns along this ride, and, while some are so unrealistic it’s almost distracting, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s funny. It’s mysterious. Finlay is a mess and it’s relatable. There is some mob stuff involved. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is just a dang good time and I’m thoroughly excited to get to the sequel, Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead, because that last page is quite the setup!