Vaguely remiinscent of early Stephanie Plum novels, Finlay Donovan is a fresh new, hilarious lead. Her wit and charm make up for a lack of cohesive storyline.

Ok ok ok…I’m obsessed with the Finlay Donovan series and the third book did NOT disappoint!

A struggling author failing to provide an adequate plot/storyline for her agent finds herself tangled with the mob as she kind of dates a cop and deep dives into HANDS ON research (with her nanny…*ahem…accountant) for her murder mystery book. It’s everything you want with a Desperate Housewives meets Agatha Christie vibe. *chefs kiss*

The twists and turns, the laugh out loud circumstances (turn super intense), the confusion between who’s an ally or an enemy…not to mention the slow burn romance?!? 🔥 It DEF left room for a fourth book which I *fingers crossed* hope it’s already being written!!!

Thank you St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5

Finlay is an absolute gem! Thank you to @minotaur @netgalley and @ellecosimano for the #arc to review.

Once again we're taken on a laugh out loud adventure with Finlay and Vero. Zhirov is becoming impatient with Finlay for not doing the task he's assigned her fast enough, and is threatening to turn over more than enough evidence of prior shenanigans to put her away for a lifetime.

The third installment of Finlay was the most memorable for me. Getting to know Vero on a more personal level, Finlay giving in to a few of her wants (finally!), and her ex husband with a few tricks up his sleeves in the hopes she will return to him. A court room mock trial that made me giggle and gasp, and an ending I didn't see coming!

Finlay is becoming a favorite series for me. I absolutely adore Stephanie Plum and the One For the Money series, so this is a fresh take and a wild new adventure that keeps to the heart of fun, and memorable adventure series!

I have found the three books in this series to be highly entertaining, totally outrageous, funny, absurd, and great escapes. I believe this is just what the author intends for her readers: pure enjoyment. I look forward to the next one!

This is such a fun series. I love the characters of Finlay, a now-divorced mom of two young children and a romantic suspense novelist, and her nanny/accountant Vero. They are both in big trouble. Vero owes money to a bad guy for a mistake/misunderstanding, and Finlay also accidentally got into debt with the mob boss Feliks. What he wants from her, while he’s sitting in jail and his lawyer and other henchmen are free to hurt her and her family, is for her to discover a hitman who uses the moniker EasyClean on the dark web for various jobs. One of the people EasyClean was supposed to kill was Finlay’s ex-husband. While Stephen isn’t the greatest guy in the world, he is the father of her children, and she worked hard to keep him alive, which is what landed her in her current predicament.

When the opportunity to spend a week at a citizen’s police academy arises, Finlay and Vero think that hiding out with a bunch of well-armed cops while they figure a way out of their messes is a good idea. It doesn’t hurt that hot cop Nick, who is still recovering from his injuries, is running the thing.

There is a lot of humor in all of these books, which should be read in sequence. I don’t remember the first two ending with quite such a cliffhanger, but it’s still super fun.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JANUARY 31, 2023.

Might be my favorite book of the series. I thought this was the final installment, but there’s a nice cliffhanger at the end, so there’s hope…. Finlay was at her best, as were Vero and Nick. Fun reprisals of characters from books 1 & 2, and many new faces. I may have especially enjoyed this having read books 1 & 2, but this can be read as a stand alone.

Thank you #MacMillanPublishing and #NetGalley for the ARC e-book!

I like Finlay. I like Vero. I like Georgia and Nick. I even like poor innocent (I think he’s innocent) Javi. But I can’t truly say that I’m in love with the “series” of Finlay Donovan books. Book number one was by far my favorite; number two fell flat; and number three was just mediocre to me. If the trilogy continues into more books in the series, I’d like to suggest an exotic location, perhaps, or something to make it more unique. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the parallelism between the three books is too much for any one book to truly stand out.

3 ⭐️

CW: fire, gun violence, discussion of dismemberment, murder

This is the 3rd book in a series. Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say I was pretty disappointed with this book. I loved the first 2 books.

This one just seemed like a filler book in a series that didn’t really offer too much. The humor and some of the mishap is definitely in the book so that was enjoyable.

Here is my biggest issues:
1. There has never been and will never be a civilian police academy for a week In a form like setting with active police officers teaching civilians things like forensics, shooting, how to handle a murder investigation or Court process and in fact it seems pretty counter intuitive to teach the community how cops function so they can commit crimes and get away with them. How is this even possible or likely?

2. Finlay leaves her kids with 2 cops that she is investigating for the possibility that they are hit men, hello——- nope as a mom that would never happen

So I was just frustrated because this book seemed to fail into lazy writing patterns with the hopes of capitalizing on the other 2 books sucking in readers to read this one.

There will be more books and I’m honestly on the fence if I will continue.

I can't get enough of this series! I was struggling to select something to read and thought, "This will make me laugh," and I couldn't have been more correct. With laugh-out-loud hi-jinks, this series continues in a stellar fashion.

In book number three, with see Finlay and Vero off to the citizen's police academy. Under the guise of research for her next book, Finlay is really on the hunt for a dirty cop she suspects is the contract killer who evaded her in the last book. Finlay and Vero at essentially a sleep away camp for adults with Finlay's hot cop love interest a few rooms away and her ex attempting to watch the kids? What could possibly go wrong?

While the ending had some messiness--likely an unnecessary sacrifice to set up book number four--the rest of the book had me smiling and enthralled. While not as steamy as the Stephanie Plum series, it does give the bestselling books a run for for the money with an original concept that the author has made work for a long run.

Thanks to Minotaur Books for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 9/10

I would love to interview Elle on my podcast! Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun is a hilarious thriller/comedy book. Finlay accidentally stumbles into a mystery when someone else asks her for a deadly favor. This book is charming and fast-paced.

Finlay's got writer's block and Feliks, of the Russian mob, is still keeping a close eye on her and Vero, her friend / live-in nanny / accountant. Nick is still around too; but will Finlay feel ready to take the plunge into what's between them?

This is a fully continuous series - that definitely needs to be read, in order, before beginning this title.

Fun and funny, this third title in the Finlay Donovan series I found to be a little slower paced in parts but still enjoyable.

Looking forward to the next.

In the third book of the Finlay Donovan cozy-mystery series, Finlay and Vero find themselves juggling two huge and dangerous jobs. We also have a week at a police academy training for citizens, a destroyed luxury car sized problem, the discovery of an anonymous contract killer, and Vero’s past catching up to her. I adore Finlay and Vero, but I feel neutral about this book.

I’ll start with what I liked about Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun:

» The strong female characters; Finlay and Vero are, as always, amazing.
» Finlay and Vero’s friendship and partnership; They truly are partners in crime and life.
» Cosimano’s easy and binge-worthy writing style.
» The romance in this third book. While the love triangles in the first two books were the least interesting parts of the story, I found myself caring about who Finlay decides to be with in this one—And I’m happy with the way it played out.
» The additional police characters added to the hilarious situations and gave us more background on Nick.
» Learning more about Vero and her situation, but there’s still so much left unknown which I hope will be in book #4.

Here is what didn’t work that well for me:

» While the first two books were wild and the twists kept me on the edge of my seat, this one felt chaotic.
» There were so many sub-plots that were used to try to tie things up, but they just ended up being a bit burdensome to read.
» I couldn’t wait to read this book because I wanted more background on Vero. While we do get to know her better, I don’t think her parts were given enough attention because of the many sub-plots that felt dragged out.

Elle Cosimano has written a series that’s wild, laugh-out-loud funny, and entertaining. I definitely recommend the series, but the second book is still my favourite. That cliffhanger at the end? Yes, I want to read book #4.

I think this is my favorite of the series so far! I was a little worried that it would feel too similar to the other books but it was such a fresh take on the series. Elle Cosimano is a master of pacing, giving just enough to keep you satisfied but still maintaining enough tension to keep the pages turning. I already can't wait for book 4!

4.5 🌟

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for a gifted copy of Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano. All opinions are my own.

Finlay Donovan and her sidekick, Vero, are back for the third book in this hilarious series. Can they get themselves into more trouble? They are attending a citizens police academy while attempting to hide from the Russian mob. How much more trouble could they possibly get into?

These books are a lot of fun to read. Vero is my favorite character. She's a blunt, to the point, and no nonsense character. She doesn't disappoint.

I'm looking forward to many more books in this series.

Mystery & Thrillers
Release Date: January 31, 2023

I absolutely love this series and I love that the author is able to continue this series so well. This book was just as funny as the other two.

OK - real talk.

I am officially over this series.

It's never been a hit for me, but the antics that are the exact same from book 1 that were replicated in book 2 are really played out in book 3.

IF you like this series, you will love this installment.

If you are like me and these aren't your exact cup of tea, this may be a tedious read.

Loved this book. Elle Cosimano does it again. I am a huge fan of Finlay Donavan and I feel that her third book Finlay Donavan Jumps the Gun is just as great as her previous two. There was the right amount of mystery and suspense with a dash of romance. Mind you, it is a dash of romance which I personally love as I'm not a huge romance genre kinda gal. I tip my hat to Ms. Cosimano as this was another wonderful read. Thank you so much for Netgalley and Minotaur publishing for providing me with an advanced copy.

Finlay Donovan, single mother, author, and... mob hitman? The third installment of the Finlay Donovan series takes place immediately following its prequel, Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead. Finlay and her nanny turned partner in crime, Vero, are in between a rock and a hard place, when Mob boss Feliks hired them to identify EasyClean, the contract killer who was hired to murder her ex-husband. It turns out Vero also has some trouble of her own, as she has people hunting her down for a large sum of cash. Seems like an easy decision to accept the job from Feliks, doesn't it? If only they didn't suspect a cop of being the contract killer!

With the help of hot cop Nick, Finlay and Vero are able to immerse themselves in a police academy in order to discover who the contract killer is, and hopefully, help Vero out with her money problems. What could possibly go wrong?

The world of Finlay Donovan is one I simply cannot get enough of! Hot lawyers, even hotter cops, and a whole lot of mystery. The third installment of this charming series is one I thoroughly enjoyed.

Throughout the book, we follow Finlay and Vero as they navigate the police academy, armed with some clues and hunches as to who EasyClean is. With the unwitting help of the various police academy trainers, they slowly unravel the clues as a few possible suspects come to light. By the end of the book, we discover the identity of EasyClean, but some mystery still remains, which I imagine will lead to a fourth installment of the series. Of course, I enjoyed the will-they-won't-they between Finlay and Nick, and we even learn a bit more about Vero's past. I had a lot of fun as these two navigated the world of the police academy.

Some of the scenarios of this book do start to feel a bit unrealistic and somewhat lucky. How do these two keep dodging trouble?! But then I remember that the entire series has been less than 2 months of their lives, and it all seems more reasonable to me. I didn't enjoy the police academy setting quite as much as the previous books, but it was a clever way to introduce us to a number of new characters.

Overall I would highly recommend this book! I rate it a 4.5/5, happily rounded up to a 5.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book!

I was SO excited for a 3rd installment of the Finlay Donovan series. "Mom detective" Finlay is one of my favorite characters. I just can't help but root for her! I flew through this one in an afternoon, I just didn't want to put it down.
I am curious to see where it goes next...it's feeling messy and I'm getting stressed for Finlay and Vero! If you're into the Finlay world, I think you should definitely read this one.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!!

LOL. I love this book. I was laughing so hard. I am a new mom and OMG, I was dying when Finlay was dealing with her two-year-old. I saw a glimpse of what I can look forward to and I truly laughed out loud. Finlay and Vero have to find a contract killer, who may or may not be a cop. So when a handsome hottie cop, Nick, assembles a citizens-type police academy, Finlay and Vero sign up with an ulterior motive to investigate the cops. Can you imagine the shenanigans they went through to infiltrate the cops and their activities all day long? I loved it.

Thank you, NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.