With the same dynamic of landlord/tenant and best friends/partners in crime, these two manage to find trouble wherever they go, and their shenanigans could not be more FUN! I concede that getting drunk and stuffing a wad of Delia’s Play-Doh in the exhaust pipe of Theresa’s BMW may not have been the best way to handle the news when he’d told me they were getting engaged, but letting her walk away with half my advance and my husband felt like salt in the wound.

Three months.” His patience sounded as thin as the hair on the crown of his head, but I kept that to myself because I needed a babysitter more than the satisfaction of whittling away at his fragile male ego. “You’re three months late on the mortgage, Finn.” Unsurprisingly, I found this second book to be just as fun as the first. I also feel even more attached to Finlay and Vero now. We've been through so much together.This book was so much fun to read. At the same time, there are some really serious undertones in it. One of the ones that stood out to me was the issue of childcare. Is that something that you wove in consciously? Learn all about the Finlay Donovan Is Killing It series of books in this guide to the fast-paced and funny romantic comedy/murder mystery books by Elle Cosimano, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, International Thriller Award winner, Bram Stoker Award finalist, and Edgar Award nominee. @theliterarylifestyle Finlay Donovan is Killing It Aesthetic 🔪 #finlaydonovaniskillingit #finlaydonovan #ellecosimano #bookaesthetic #bookaesthetics #booktok ♬ Kill Bill – SZA Every day she would wait at the bottom of the steps with my children and she’d hold out her hand and she say, show me your chapter. And after eight weeks I had the rough draft of my first novel. It was very different. It was so out of my wheelhouse. For 10 years I’ve been writing dark, angsty, very intense thrillers. I’ve never attempted comedy before and Finlay’s a very lighthearted, rompy story. I’d never written about adults or for adults before.

Y’all the Nanny WAS MY FAVORITE. I couldn’t get over her!!! I loved their supportive and sweet relationship… even if it was a little twisted, ha!!As early as chapter 5, the Russian mafia is mentioned. When did you put the pieces together that Finlay’s accidental hit/well-planned murder by others was connected to organized crime? How does their involvement affect the story? I don’t know that I necessarily consciously set out to infuse any specific messages within the book. My goal was to be as honest with Finlay’s voice as I could be. I wanted her experience as a mother and a woman to read as authentically as possible—those frustrations and trials and raw moments of motherhood, both the beautiful and the not so beautiful. A lot of those came from my own experience as a mom. It’s been a long time—my oldest is getting ready to go off to college and my youngest is 16, but those experiences still are very fresh. That fatigue. That feeling of needing to be all things to all people all the time. And for the book itself, some people are saying that it's unrealistic. And of course it is. How many stories have you heard of single moms accidentally becoming contract killers? However, the reason I read this book is because of how funny everyone said that it was. I mean, she's really just a mom who's trying to do her best, and the punches just keep on coming. But she really had a sense of humor about all of it. To be honest, there were a couple of parts that I didn't even see coming. I thought the writing was fantastic to the very end, and the characters' personalities were very well thought out and thoughtfully written.

That being said, I still look forward to the next in the series and hope we get the signature hot mess, but loveable Finlay involved in a more appealing crime adventure. Finlay and Vero are still a pair I'm invested in and look forward to seeing what direction they take next! A lot of our book club members have said, “Oh my god, I am Finlay Donovan, except for the murder stuff.” She reads so true. How do you get to that authentic level with your character? And how much of Finlay is you?Honestly, my workday is not unlike Finlay’s workday. And that’s purely a function of motherhood and the demands of the working mom.