Single mom Finlay Donovan has been finding the life of a romantic suspense novelist to be unexpectedly dicey. "I needed a new career," she concludes. "One that didn't involve police officers, corpses, or the Russian mob." That Finlay keeps her magnet-for-meshugaas job will gratify readers of the third novel in Elle Cosimano's bawdy, resourceful and dependably funny Finlay Donovan mystery series.
Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun picks up where its predecessor, Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead, leaves off: narrator Finlay and her nanny/sidekick Veronica "Vero" Ruiz are desperate to sell a bullet-riddled Aston Martin to raise money to pay off Vero's $200,000 debt to a loan shark (long story). They must also determine the identity of EasyClean, who is blackmailing the Russian mob boss to whom Finlay owes a favor (longer story). Finlay has high hopes of finding EasyClean during her week with Vero at the Fairfax County, Va., citizen's police academy: a teenage hacker for the mob, whom she trusts (sort of), is convinced that EasyClean is a cop.
Cosimano (Seasons of Chaos; The Suffering Tree) is as in control of this material as Finlay is out of control of her life. Finlay may be writing romantic suspense, but Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun often plays like a comic action thriller. This isn't to say that the story doesn't feature romantic escapades. Frets Finlay at one point, fearing the worst: "We'd been involved in the murder and disposal of four men, but we were going to prison because of Vero's thong." --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer