Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

Cozy murder mysteries are my favorite genre, yet somehow I missed the buzz on Finlay Donovan is Killing It when it came out in 2021. So, late to the party, I finally checked out the ebook from Libby. Well! I flew through this book in four days–even though I didn’t read for two days in-between starting and finishing it. I was hooked from the first page. I mean…really…if you look up “having a bad day, I mean week, I mean month” in the dictionary, I’m pretty sure you will see a picture of Finlay Donovan next to it.

What else could go wrong? Well, let’s say you are late for an emergency meeting with your literary agent and your nanny does not show up to take over caring for your two small children. Then let’s say you find out your ex fired her. And you are terrified if you miss this meeting, your agent will drop you like the holy mess you are. If you don’t get that next novel turned in, you will violate your contract and have to pay back the advance WHICH YOU ALREADY SPENT. The opening pages of this book truly depict a woman an inch away from a nervous breakdown, just barely clinging to reality.

Finlay eventually makes it to her meeting, late and bedraggled. What ensues is the set up for this crazy handbook for how to survive in crisis mode. Finlay is trying to explain the concept of her yet unwritten novel that is due IN MERE DAYS to her editor, which is part romance and part murder mystery. It’s Panera, where the tables are too close together. The woman at the next table listens intently to the completely incoherent pitch Finlay is making to her agent, and….she completely misreads the entire situation.

Anything more would be considered a spoiler so I will stop there and just say read it. If you have been reading some heavy, dramatic, literary books and feel a wee bit burned out, grab this rollercoaster and hang on.

PROS: I loved how action packed it was. I loved how two women with very different goals and very specific needs bond together to create a winning, albeit insane, team. I love how Finlay is never taken seriously for her career as a writer but in the end surprises everyone with her successes. I loved how Elle Cosimano wrote strong women in tenuous and dangerous conditions who through their own wits (and a healthy dose of old-fashioned good luck) made it through it all. I also loved how Cosimano wrote the male characters, some strong, some weak, some misguided, and some just plain evil.

CONS: I understood this to be a “cozy mystery.” I don’t think it is all that cozy in a few spots. Am I a timid reader? Yes. Did I survive reading those scenes? Yes. Were some of the plot points unbelievable? Yes. But, I still loved this quick read.

I read a review that said the Finlay Donovan series is similar to Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. Well, I’ve read nearly all of the 30 or so Plum novels and loved them, so I would say that is accurate. This book is #1 in a series of four full-length novels (as of now) and one short story. Am I up for getting through them all? I don’t know, but I do know that when I hit my next reading slump, I am heading straight for #2 and hopefully more shenanigans of Finlay and Vero!