Finlay Donovan is not your ordinary hitwoman. In fact, she never meant to be a hitwoman at all. She really is a single mother of two and an author with a looming deadline. She is broke after her divorce has a stack of unpaid bills, her mini-van needs repairs, and her electricity gets turned off. She is also in a custody battle with her ex-husband and his fiancee. A desperate wife misconstrues an overheard conversation between Finlay and her book agent and offers Finlay $50,000.00 to get rid of her husband. Never intending to kill anyone, Finlay’s decision to investigate the husband leads to “grave” consequences.

If you enjoy light-hearted entertainment and a good chuckle with your mystery, then Finlay and her nanny/accountant Vero, are the hitwomen for you! They manage to get paid for two jobs without actually committing the hits. They also outwit the Russian mob and resolve the custody battle with the ex-husband at the same time. Plus, Finlay manages to attract two interesting love prospects, a law student and a cop. Best of all, Finlay uses this real-life scenario as the script for her book that is past due.

Finlay Donovan is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. If you are looking for serious characters, a well-developed plot, with lots of twists and turns, then you might not like the comedic style of this novel. Elle Cosimano is best known as a Young Adult author. While this is adult fiction, the humor will not be for everyone.

“It’s a widely known fact that most moms are ready to kill someone by eight-thirty A.M. on any given morning. On the particular morning of Tuesday, October eighth, I was ready by seven forty-five. If you’ve never had to wrestle a two-year-old slathered in maple syrup into a diaper while your four-year-old decides to give herself a haircut in time for preschool, all while trying to track down the whereabouts of your missing nanny as you sop up coffee grounds from an overflowing pot because in your sleep-deprived fog you forgot to put in the filter, let me spell it out for you. I was ready to kill someone. I didn’t really care who.”

4-Stars. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It was published on February 2, 2021. It ends with a cliff-hanger in anticipation of the second book Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead which is expected to be published in February 2022. The hardcover is 355 pages. I listened to the audiobook which was 10 hours long.