Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Finlay Donovan, #1)

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (2021) is a novel by Elle Cosimano. The story follows Finlay Donovan, a 31-year-old divorcée and single mother who writes romance suspense novels for a living. Finlay is mistaken for a contract killer when someone overhears a conversation between Finlay and her agent, and Finlay is unwillingly and unwittingly drawn into a dangerous but extremely profitable life. The book explores themes of single motherhood, power and money, and women’s vengeance.

Elle Cosimano is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who writes mysteries, thrillers, and speculative fiction for adults and young adults. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, the first in the Finlay Donovan series, is also Cosimano’s debut adult novel.

This guide is based on the 2021 Headline Kindle Edition.

Content Warning: This book contains mentions and descriptions of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Plot Summary

Finlay “Finn” Donovan is a 31-year-old divorcée with two children. She divorced her ex, Steven Donovan, because he was sleeping with their real estate agent, Theresa Hall, to whom he is now engaged. Finn writes romance suspense novels; she barely scrapes together a living and is overdue on a number of bills, including the “rent” that she pays Steven. Finn meets her agent, Sylvia, for brunch to discuss her current book project, which is behind schedule. Patricia Mickler, the woman at the neighboring table, overhears their conversation and mistakenly assumes Finn is a contract killer. Patricia slips Finn a note requesting a hit on her husband, Harris Mickler, for a sum of $50,000.

Intrigued by the sum as well as Patricia’s assertion that Harris is not a nice man, Finn visits a bar Harris frequents that evening, disguised in a blonde wig-scarf and a dress she stole from Theresa. Finn tells the handsome bartender, Julian Baker, that her name is Theresa and she is a real-estate agent; Julian flirts with her and gives her his number. Finn finds Harris spiking the drink of the woman he is with; she distracts the other woman and switches the glasses, causing Harris to drug himself. After dumping an unconscious Harris in her car, Finn looks through his phone and finds pictures of women Harris has drugged and raped.

Finn heads home to clean up and change, intending to turn Harris over to her sister, Georgia, who is a cop. She leaves Harris in her minivan in the garage but comes back to find the garage door shut and Harris dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. Finn is discovered in the garage by Veronica “Vero” Ruiz, Finn’s ex-nanny whom Finn believes Steven fired. When Vero hears the whole story, she offers to help Finn with Harris’s body for a 40% cut, and decides to move in with Finn, revealing that she quit because Steven refused to pay her unless she slept with him.

Finn and Vero bury Harris’s body on Steven’s sod farm. Patricia gives Finn the promised sum, along with a referral for another hit. A friend of hers from Pilates, Irina Borovkov, will pay $75,000 to have her husband, Andrei Borovkov, killed. Vero takes over organizing the house and uses Patricia’s money to clear all their debts. She also finds Irina’s note and meets with her, accepting the hit and half the sum in advance, on Finn’s behalf.

Finn suddenly remembers that she didn’t shut the garage door and realizes someone else killed Harris. She begins to write about everything that has transpired so far to figure out what happened. Patricia doesn’t respond to her calls, and when Finn goes to her place, the door remains unanswered; however, Finn witnesses two men arrive and leave a threatening note. She also discovers an account statement, possibly Harris’s, where regular deposits were being made on the first of every month, with all the money cleaned out the week before his death. Finn wonders whether Harris’s killer had a personal agenda; she remembers the women on Harris’s phone and connects it to the money, realizing Harris had been extorting them.

Finn looks up Patricia on the internet to try and locate her and finds pictures of her volunteering at various charities and shelters. She also discovers that Andrei has connections to the Russian mafia; his boss, Feliks Zhirov, is powerful enough to have had Andrei acquitted on multiple murder charges. From pictures of the two men, she recognizes them as the ones who visited Patricia’s home and left the warning note.

Finn and Vero try to give Irina the money back, but Irina refuses, doubling the sum instead; she also threatens to send Andrei after them if he is not dead in two weeks. Meanwhile, Patricia’s and Harris’s disappearances become news, and the police suspect foul play. Finn’s agent calls her and demands to see Finn’s progress, and a desperate Finn sends over the draft of the Harris case she has written, with the names changed. It is so good that the agent negotiates a new contract for Finn: a two-book deal with a $75,000 advance for each.

The Micklers’ case heats up and Theresa becomes a person of interest because Finn used her name at the bar from which Harris disappeared. Upon Georgia’s suggestion, Nick Anthony, the detective on the case and a friend of Georgia’s, asks Finn for help to find out where Theresa was the night of the disappearance. Finn snoops around and discovers that not only is Feliks one of Theresa’s clients, but she may also be sleeping with him. She also discovers that one of Theresa’s best friends, Aimee, is one of the women Harris had been blackmailing. However, when Vero chats up Aimee at her workplace and attempts to dig more, she discovers that Aimee has an alibi for the night of Harris’s death.

Finn tells Nick about Theresa’s potential affair, and he takes her along on a stakeout. Nick kisses Finn, confessing that spending time with her was not entirely Georgia’s idea. Later, when Finn goes to pick up her minivan that was being repaired by Vero’s cousin, she is ambushed at the workshop by Andrei and Feliks, who had spotted her following them with Nick. She tells them she was only following Theresa, whose fiancé is Finn’s ex-husband, and thinks Theresa is having an affair; Finn claims her relationship with Nick his purely personal. The men don’t believe her but are forced to leave as Nick arrives. Worried and guilty, Nick apologies to Finn for endangering her and posts a cop outside her house. He also takes her along to the forensics lab where he is testing a sample of grass from underneath Feliks’s car.

Results reveal the grass is from Steven’s sod farm, and Nick rushes to get a warrant to dig it up, convinced Feliks is hiding something there. Finn discovers that her neighbor, Mrs. Haggerty, saw a tall man peer into Finn’s car the night she returned from the bar. Subsequently, Vero tells her that Delia, Finn’s daughter, is upset because the dog she wanted from the shelter has already been adopted by Aaron, another volunteer at the shelter, who has also gone missing. Finn connects the dots and realizes Aaron was Patricia’s lover and killed Harris because Harris was an abusive husband.

News about Finn’s book deal is published in the paper. Noting the similarities between the proposed story and the Mickler case, a furious Nick is suspended by his commander for involving Finn in the investigation. The search warrant is expedited, and Steven’s farm is to be dug up the next day. Finn and Vero head to the plot that night to dig up the body and discover more bodies buried there. Andrei ambushes them and almost shoots them; however, Finn manages to throw dirt into his eyes, and blinded and in pain, Andrei accidentally shoots himself dead. Finn and Vero bury him atop the other bodies.

Upon finding the buried bodies, the police assume Feliks is responsible for them all and bring him and Theresa in for questioning. Theresa accepts a plea bargain that will keep her out of jail in return for information on Feliks; she had illegally leased the land to him and was indeed sleeping with him, but she didn’t know he was using the land to dump bodies. Patricia reappears, telling the police she had gone into hiding because she had been threatened by the mob; she and Irina offer their full cooperation in return for immunity. Finn finds a note in the mail, asking her to meet the next day. That night, Finn meets Julian at the bar and tells him the whole story; she spends the night at his apartment and goes to meet Patricia in the morning, only to find Irina. Irina hands over the remainder of her payment, along with a referral from Patricia, and a promise to be in touch if Finn’s services are required again.

Finn resolves not to open the sealed envelope, glad to have the events of the past few weeks finally wrapped up. In the epilogue, however, she is stuck for inspiration for her second book after submitting her first, and she peeks at the name. She is shocked to find Steven’s name on it, for a sum of $100,000.