Book ~ "Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun" (2023) Elle Cosimano

From Goodreads ~ 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.

Finlay is an author and divorced mother of two. She and Vero, her friend and nanny, have been involved in a couple murders ... people think they did the killing but they didn't. They have gotten themselves involved with a Russian mob boss who wants them to find out who EasyClean, a contract killer, is. Finlay and Vero suspect it's a police officer so when Nick, a hot cop who likes Finlay, conveniently is starting a weeklong citizen's police academy, they sign up so they can figure out if EasyClean is there. The situations they got themselves into while at the academy were ridiculous.

This is the third in the Finlay Donovan series ... I recently read the first two. Though it does work as a stand alone, it's really helpful if you read the first two books first to get the background on what's going on and the relationship dynamics. It's written in first person perspective in Finlay's voice. I thought there were a lot of characters and at times I had a hard time remembering who they were and what they were about. As a head's up, there is swearing. 

At the end of this book, there is a cliffhanger (the first two books did too) ... and I hate cliffhangers! I like stories to be wrapped up by the time I get to the end of a book rather than an author leaving us hanging so they can make us buy the next book.

Book ~ "Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead" (2022) Elle Cosimano

From Goodreads ~ 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.

Finlay is a newly divorced mother of two. Steven, her ex-husband, had left her for another woman who he has since broken up because she got arrested for being involved with the Russian mob. Finlay is an author who is being harassed by her agent to finish her next novel but this is nothing new.

Finlay receives info there's an "ad" on a women's chat forum that someone wants Steven dead and is willing to pay $100,000 to have it done. Finlay's not crazy about him these days but she doesn't want the father of her children dead so she and Vero, her live-in nanny and partner in crime, set out to find out who put the hit out on Steven.

This is the second in the Finlay Donovan series and I liked it (I read the first one a couple weeks ago). Though it does work as a stand alone, it's helpful if you read the first book in the series to get the background on what's going on and the relationship dynamics. It's written in first person perspective in Finlay's voice. I liked the writing style ... there is a mystery but it's also amusing. I enjoyed the characters and liked the interaction between Finlay and Vero. It's revealed at the end who put the put ad on the forum and it was an interesting surprise.

Book ~ "Finlay Donovan Is Killing It" (2021) Elle Cosimano

From Goodreads ~ Finlay Donovan is killing it ... except, she’s really not. 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. She soon 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.

Finlay is a newly divorced mother of two. Steven, her ex-husband, left her for a real estate agent and is suing her for custody of their two young children. She is also an author who is having trouble financially, a fact Steven constantly reminds her about. 

When Finlay's agent forces her to meet at a restaurant to discuss her long overdue book, she gives her a high level description of it. Unbeknownst to her, a woman named Patricia is listening and doesn't realize it's the plot of a book ... she thinks Finlay is a contract killer and hires her to kill her husband for $50,000. Finlay could use the money and knows she could never kill anyone but decides to check the husband out anyway. The husband ends up dead and concerned she will be blamed for it, Finlay starts trying to figure out who actually killed him.

This is the first in the Finlay Donovan series and I liked it (so will read the others). It's written in first person perspective in Finlay's voice. I liked the writing style ... there is a mystery but it's also amusing. I enjoyed the characters and liked the interaction between Finlay and Vero, her live-in nanny and now partner in crime. I wasn't expecting the whodunnit and was okay with it.