watching the neighborhood watch

Finlay Donovan and her live-in nanny/accountant/ride-or-die Vero are back home at last. They’ve been to the citizen’s police academy. They spent time in Atlantic City, getting themselves out of trouble with a dangerous loan shark. They helped take down a Russian crime gang. And now they’re back home for what may be their biggest challenge yet: potty training Finlay’s son.

Finlay is surprised when Mrs. Haggerty and her grandson show up on her doorstep. Mrs. Haggerty was known to everyone in the neighborhood as the woman with her eyes on everything. She watches everything that happens and writes it all down in her notebooks, along with dates, times, and license plate numbers. However, a man’s body had recently been found in her yard, and she was briefly in jail while the police investigated. Now she’s been released, and she’s on Finlay’s porch with luggage.

Her grandson explains that her water and heat are not on, and she needs a place to stay. She wants to stay close to her house, so she can keep an eye on it. Finlay takes pity on the older woman and tells them that Mrs. Haggerty can stay the night. But the next day, Mrs. Haggerty’s grandson has disappeared, and Mrs. Haggerty has made herself at home in Finlay’s bedroom, insisting that Finlay drive her to her book club but not come herself. Finlay’s patience is stretched by the woman, but when Finlay’s ex-husband is charged with the murder of the body from Mrs. Haggerty’s yard, Finlay knows she has to figure out who really killed the man.

With break-ins and pot brownies, a teenaged hacker who can be bought with a home-cooked meal, a young daughter who not is afraid to kick her bully in the tentacles and a naked toddler on the run, secret mailbox notes and an oversized eggplant, a producer who wants to make a television series of her book and an agent pushy enough not to take no for an answer, and the cop who knows she’s been lying to him but she’s falling for anyway, Finlay has a lot going on. But nothing is going to stop her from proving her ex-husband isn’t a killer. He’s made a lot of mistakes, but as far as Finlay knows (and she knows a lot), he’s never killed anyone.

So who did? And can Finlay and Vero find out before a killer turns on them?

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave is another engaging mystery in Elle Cosimano’s amazing series about a divorced writer who is trying to start a new life for herself, but finds herself tripping over dead bodies. These novels are whip-smart and cleverly fun. Finlay handles it all with a level of grace, kindness, and quick thinking that I can only aspire to. There is action, there is romance, and there is a lot of genuine belly laughs. I did feel like this one was maybe a tiny bit milder than some of the other books, but then Finlay was back home, and I thought it was the perfect time in the series to take a breath at Finlay’s house before the next emergency.

I listened to the audio book for Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grace, narrated by Angela Dawe. Dawe understands Finlay’s voice, and brings the right amount of calm intelligence to her. The voice she uses for Vero is perfection, and I don’t think anyone else could possibly do Vero justice the way Dawe can. Her choices for all the characters, from the kids to Mrs. Haggerty, brings these stories to life. I love to read these books, but Dawe makes listening to them such a phenomenal experience that I hope all audio book lovers choose to listen to this one. It is perfection.

Egalleys for Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave were provided by Minotaur Books, and an early copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks.