Finlay Donovan is back up against it. Her agent made a killing with her last book, and now she wants more. She has a meeting with the publisher, and they are desperate for another book proposal like the last one Finlay had come up with. The good news is that proposal turned her from a middling romance writer to a potential best-selling thriller author, and they are hungry for more. The bad news? That last book came from an unfortunate misunderstanding that because a series of incidents and accidents that could put Finlay into jail for a long time.

And now her agent is going to kill her if she can’t do it again.

So Finlay is trying to come up with a second book, even though she still hasn’t finished writing the first one, and this while dealing with the law student she’s not quite dating, the hot cop who wants to date her, her family, her two kids, her ex-husband Steven, and the online post buried deep in a forum for soccer moms that reads very much like someone is putting out a contract to have Steven killed.

Finlay and her nanny/accountant/partner-in-crime Vero have been coming up with excuses for why Steven couldn’t have the kids at his new house, not wanting to let on that someone out there wants him dead. Finlay finally agrees to let him take them out one night to go shopping for a Christmas tree, but she and Vero follow them, with new binoculars in their hands and the baby monitor hidden in Delia’s backpack. And when they see the kids wander off and Steven go after them, they get nervous. Then they just hear the kids, 2-year-old Zach and preschooler Delia, and they go flying across the Christmas tree lot to get to them. Vero grabs Zach, and Finlay finds Delia, and Steven shows up with a big knot on the back of his head from where someone hit him.

Finlay knows that it wasn’t just someone trying to grab his wallet. Someone online saw the post on the forum and is trying to fulfill the contract. Someone really is trying to kill her ex-husband.

Because of her own foray into contract killing, Finlay can’t just tell Steven or her sister the cop about the contract killing, because their investigation could lead to very messy discoveries about Finlay and Vero. So Finlay knows that she will have to keep her ex-husband alive herself. But when she and Vero are in his work trailer when someone throws a firebomb in the window, Finlay wonders just how far she’ll go for Steven. Even if cleaning out the contents of a deep freezer the next state over or dressing up as the attorney of a powerful Russian mob boss to meet with him in prison will make for amazing chapters in her new book. But is she a good enough writer to craft a happy ending in real life, or is she fooling herself?

Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead is the continuation of author Elle Cosimano’s last Finlay book. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It introduced these characters, from the novelist mother or two who became an incidental hitwoman to her nanny/accountant, her ex-husband, the two men she’s dating now, and several members of the Russian mob. Cosimano is juggling a lot with these novels, and she does it in a way that’s smart, funny, sassy, and compelling. You don’t have to read the first one to understand the second one, but I do recommend it, just because it’s a really good book.

I loved Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead. I think Finlay is such a fun character to spend time with, and her endless creativity in solving life’s problems is an inspiration. No matter what life throws at her, she is game to give it a shot, and while she certainly dances on the lines of legality, she does try to be as moral as she can given her circumstances. And she does it all with wit and confidence and a little attitude. I am absolutely loving this series, and I can’t wait to find out what Finlay will stir up next (please tell me that there will be a next!).

Egalleys for Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead were provided by Minotaur Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.