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💸 Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

👉 Buy on Amazon (affiliate link — caffeine fund! ☕)

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⚠️ Trigger Warnings

Domestic abuse • Sexual assault (mentioned) • Violence • Murder • Organized crime • Blackmail

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😹 My Take (Spoiler-Free)

This might be the funniest book I’ve ever read. It’s slapstick-meets-suspense: a broke single mom/romantic-suspense writer is mistaken for a contract killer after someone overhears her chatting plot points with her agent… and then chaos snowballs until she’s also (oops) an accidental killer who keeps getting… paid. The tone is fizzy, the banter crackles, and the mom-life disasters are painfully relatable. 5/5 — I’m diving into book two.

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🕵️‍♀️ Spoiler Warning

Full, detailed spoilers below. Proceed if you’re here for every wild beat. 😏

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📘 Overview

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (2021) kicks off Elle Cosimano’s bestselling series about Finlay, a 31-year-old divorced mom and struggling novelist whose life implodes (hilariously) when a stranger assumes she’s a hitwoman. Themes: single motherhood, money/power dynamics, and women’s vengeance — wrapped in rom-com energy with criminal complications.

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🩸 Full Plot Summary (Spoilers!)

1) The Mix-Up → The Money

Overheard at brunch discussing her thriller outline, Finlay is mistaken for a contract killer by Patricia Mickler, who slips her a note: $50,000 to take out her husband Harris. Finlay is broke, her deadlines are whooshing by, and her ex Steven (now engaged to realtor Theresa) is charging her “rent.” Curiosity (and cash) pulls her in.

2) The “Oops”

At a bar Harris frequents, Finlay watches him spike a woman’s drink. She swaps glasses; Harris drugs himself. She drags him to her minivan to hand him to her cop sister Georgia later… only to find him dead in her closed garage from carbon monoxide. Enter ex-nanny Vero, who becomes Finlay’s ride-or-die: they bury Harris on Steven’s sod farm and use Patricia’s money to triage the bills.

3) Two Jobs, One Mob

Patricia (before vanishing) has already referred Finlay to Irina Borovkov, who offers $75,000 to kill her husband Andrei, tied to mob boss Feliks Zhirov. Vero (queen of logistics) accepts the advance while Finlay panics.

4) The Investigation Heats Up

News breaks: Harris is missing — and police also realize Patricia is missing. Detective Nick Anthony (Georgia’s friend) looks into it; Finlay’s “fictionalized” pages (based on real events) land her a new two-book deal. Meanwhile, Finlay learns Harris had been drugging and blackmailing women (photos on his phone), which explains motives and the hush money flows.

5) Theresa, Feliks, and the Farm

Finlay snoops: Theresa appears entangled with Feliks (client… and more). Forensics later trace grass from Feliks’s car to Steven’s sod farm — uh oh. While Finlay and Vero try to un-accept Irina’s hit, Irina doubles down: two weeks or else.

6) The Ambushes (Plural)

Feliks and Andrei rough up Finlay after spotting her with Nick. Nick posts a cop by her house; tension simmers with flirt potential. Finlay keeps connecting dots: Aaron, a shelter volunteer and Patricia’s lover, has also gone missing. Finlay realizes Aaron killed Harris (personal motive: abuse) — which means Harris’s garage death wasn’t Finlay’s fault after all… but she’s still knee-deep in bodies.

7) Bodies on the Farm

A warrant is coming. Finlay and Vero dig up Harris to move him — and find other bodies already buried there (Feliks’s handiwork). Andrei ambushes them; in the melee, he accidentally shoots himself. The women rebury him on the pile (it’s that kind of book).

8) The (Temporary) Wrap-Up

Police find the graves and pin them on Feliks; Theresa flips for a deal. Patricia reappears, claiming she hid due to mob threats. Irina pays out the rest for the (not-so-completed) Andrei job and hands Finlay a sealed referral envelope for “future services.”

9) The Hook for Book Two

Finlay vows she’s done… until writer’s block. She peeks at the sealed card. The new “target”? Steven. For $100,000. Curtain.

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😂 Why It Worked for Me

• Finlay + Vero = comedy gold. Their “we’ll fix it live” energy is peak chaos.

• Tone tightrope: dark subject matter handled with buoyant humor and heart.

• Plot propulsion: every chapter ends with “welp, now it’s worse.” Delicious.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hilarious, pacy, and sneakily heartfelt.

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🔎 Mini-FAQ

Is this a mystery or a rom-com? Both! Think cozy-crime with mob mayhem and mom humor.
Do I need to read the series in order? Start here — the last page tees up book two perfectly.
Spicy? Nope. Lots of flirt and fizz, comedy over steam.

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📚 If You Liked This, Try

• Dial A for Aunties — Jesse Q. Sutanto (aunties + accidental corpse = joy)

• Killers of a Certain Age — Deanna Raybourn (retired assassins, razor wit)

• Arsenic and Adobo — Mia P. Manansala (culinary cozy chaos)