Finlay Donovan jumps the gun

Cosimano's zany third Finlay Donovan caper (after 2022's Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead) finds Finlay--budding romantic suspense novelist, harried divorced mother of two young children, and reluctant criminal--trying valiantly to keep her new year's resolutions: no more junk food, no more men, and no more bodies in her minivan. This won't be easy, as she's being pressured by Russian mob boss Feliks Zhirov to locate and possibly dispose of a mysterious contract killer known as EasyClean, who's been cultivating hit jobs through one of Zhirov's websites, "a popular women's forum that had doubled as a front for the Russian mob." Finlay believes that EasyClean may be a local Virginia police officer, so she jumps at the chance to participate in a citizens' police academy course organized by the Fairfax County PD. It doesn't hurt that the coordinator of the event is charming Det. Nicholas Anthony. While trying to ferret out a killer, she must contend with a pushy ex-husband and a literary agent who demands a sexier ending for her new novel. Finlay's strong narrative voice carries the reader through the colossal silliness. This is good, fast fun. Agent: Stephanie Rostan, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary. (Jan.)

Single mom and romance-suspense novelist Finlay Donovan is back, accompanied by her nanny and assistant, Vero, in another adventure that picks up where Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead left off. Finlay discovers that Vero owes a hefty amount of money to a loan shark in New Jersey, who sends a hit man to take care of the situation. At the same time, Finlay is directed by Russian mobster Feliks Zhirov to discover the identity of EasyClean, a poster on a message board run by Feliks. Feliks tells Finlay he'll take care of the hit man from New Jersey if she can provide the identity of EasyClean. Suspecting that EasyClean may be a cop, Finlay and Vero attend a civilian police training camp to dig up clues while a romance strikes up again between Finlay and Nick Anthony, the cop running the camp. VERDICT The plot moves fast, with lots of action and moments where readers will wonder how a situation will end. This book is the third in a series and relies a lot on the events of previous books. Readers who love fast-paced, action-packed mysteries should pick this up.--Lisa Wieczorek

Fasten your seat belts. Suspense novelist Finlay Donovan, who wants all the world to know she's not a killer for hire, is headed for a third round of murder most madcap. Finn is already under a certain amount of pressure. Feliks Zhirov, the Russian mobster arrested because of what she told the police, demands that she identify EasyClean, the online contract killer he's been mistaken for, before Zhirov's trial begins in two weeks. And he isn't kidding, Finn realizes when she sees evidence that one of Zhirov's people is stalking her nanny, Veronica Ruiz, and her two kids. Vero has problems of her own, since she's borrowed $200,000 from Marco, a loan shark with teeth, to pay off her other creditors, and the only way she has to raise that kind of money is to liquidate a slightly bullet-ridden Aston Martin she and Finn acquired less than legally in Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead (2022). How could things possibly get worse? For starters, Finn and Vero could respond to the pressure Marco's enforcer Ike Grindley puts on them by, um, dumping a pile of cars on top of him, eliminating the threat from him personally but accelerating it from every other direction. The rumor that EasyClean is a member of the Fairfax County Police Department leads Finn and Vero to accept an invitation to the citizens' police academy, where they hope to get a closer look at the most likely suspects in the case while exposing themselves to the gaze of the academy's coordinator, Finn's maybe-sweetie Det. Nicholas Anthony. Chaos ensues, and the cliffhanger ending eliminates any point to peeking at the last few pages for enlightenment. More purely manic than the heroine's first two adventures, which at least held out the hope of resolution. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In Amidon's Locust Lane, a young woman is found dead in the more fashionable section of a New England suburb, and the three teenagers who were with her that night are now suspects in her murder (100,000-copy first printing). From Carlsson, youngest winner of the Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, the internationally best-selling Blaze Me a Sun features a serial killer in a small Swedish town who commits his first murder the same night in 1986 when Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated. In a continuation of Cosimano's USA Today best-selling and Edgar—nominated series starring author and single mom Finlay Donovan, readers will find that Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun; unexpectedly owing Russian mobsters a favor, she must help them identify a contract killer before the cops do, especially crucial because the killer might actually be a cop. In The Motion Picture Teller, a stand-alone from CWA Dagger winner Cotterill set in 1996 Bangkok, postman Supot and his best friend, video store owner Ali, discover a mysterious film titled Bangkok 2010 that no one seems to know anything about—and that might be cursed. In Jane Harper's Exiles, Australian federal investigator Aaron Falk—whom readers know from the New York Times best-selling Dry—senses fault lines among the close group of attendees at a party in South Australian wine country, owing to the disappearance of a friend whose baby was found abandoned at a busy festival. From the Edgar Award—winning Jordan Harper, Everybody Knows features publicist Mae Pruett, who makes sure that everybody doesn't know about the shady dealings of the lawyers and private security firms for which she works, now trying to discover the secret her boss took to his death. In You Must Remember This, from Edgar-nominated YA author Rosenfield, Miriam Gardiner's fall through thin ice one Christmas Eve in the spot where decades ago she used to meet a lover might be an accident or suicide, but motives for murder emerge when daughter Delphine starts looking into the entire family. In the New York Times best-selling Tracy's The Devil You Know, LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan faces a tough case with the suspicious death of popular actor Evan Hobbes in a Malibu rockslide just 24 hours after a fake video smashes up his career; the subsequent murder of his agent's brother-in-law suggests evil intent.

Single mom and romance-suspense novelist Finlay Donovan is back, accompanied by her nanny and assistant, Vero, in another adventure that picks up where Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead left off. Finlay discovers that Vero owes a hefty amount of money to a loan shark in New Jersey, who sends a hit man to take care of the situation. At the same time, Finlay is directed by Russian mobster Feliks Zhirov to discover the identity of EasyClean, a poster on a message board run by Feliks. Feliks tells Finlay he'll take care of the hit man from New Jersey if she can provide the identity of EasyClean. Suspecting that EasyClean may be a cop, Finlay and Vero attend a civilian police training camp to dig up clues while a romance strikes up again between Finlay and Nick Anthony, the cop running the camp. VERDICT The plot moves fast, with lots of action and moments where readers will wonder how a situation will end. This book is the third in a series and relies a lot on the events of previous books. Readers who love fast-paced, action-packed mysteries should pick this up.—Lisa Wieczorek

Cosimano's zany third Finlay Donovan caper (after 2022's Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead) finds Finlay—budding romantic suspense novelist, harried divorced mother of two young children, and reluctant criminal—trying valiantly to keep her new year's resolutions: no more junk food, no more men, and no more bodies in her minivan. This won't be easy, as she's being pressured by Russian mob boss Feliks Zhirov to locate and possibly dispose of a mysterious contract killer known as EasyClean, who's been cultivating hit jobs through one of Zhirov's websites, "a popular women's forum that had doubled as a front for the Russian mob." Finlay believes that EasyClean may be a local Virginia police officer, so she jumps at the chance to participate in a citizens' police academy course organized by the Fairfax County PD. It doesn't hurt that the coordinator of the event is charming Det. Nicholas Anthony. While trying to ferret out a killer, she must contend with a pushy ex-husband and a literary agent who demands a sexier ending for her new novel. Finlay's strong narrative voice carries the reader through the colossal silliness. This is good, fast fun. Agent: Stephanie Rostan, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary. (Jan.)