Finley Donovan is a struggling single mother of two. Her jerk of an ex-husband is busy building the perfect life with his fiancee (and affair partner) and judging every mistake Finlay makes. Money is tight, he’s just fired the nanny, and Finlay is months behind on her overdue novel – and she’s already spent the advance. Finlay is overheard discussing the book – a murder mystery featuring an assassin – with her agent, and is mistaken for a contract killer herself. A desperate wife offers to pay Finlay to kill her husband, and gives her half the money up front. Finlay quickly gets in over her heard and becomes embroiled in a real-life murder investigation. Meanwhile, the satisfied wife has given Finlay’s name to her friend, who would also like her husband “taken care of”. Turns out being a contract killer is harder than it looks.
So it’s a fun concept, but everything about this book irritated me. The ex husband is awful, as is the new fiancee. Finlay makes terrible money decisions and somehow can’t manage to get a job despite having both kids in daycare. She takes exceptionally stupid risks that somehow work despite being surrounded by so-called professional law enforcement officers. And despite constantly being described as harried, frazzled, frumpy, a mess, somehow every man she meets falls head over heels in lust with her. Must be nice! The only highlight of the book for me was the friendship between Finlay and the previously-fired nanny-turned-business-partner Vero. They were fun together.
I know people love this series, but to me it was just dumb. Which is a shame, because I love a good caper. But for me, this was not it.