Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead & Cookies and Cream Hot Chocolate

 

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead
By: Elle Cosimano
"Finlay Donovan is―once again―struggling to finish her next novel and keep her head above water as a single mother of two. On the bright side, she has her live-in nanny and confidant Vero to rely on, and the only dead body she's dealt with lately is that of her daughter's pet goldfish.
On the not-so-bright side, someone out there wants her ex-husband, Steven, out of the picture. Permanently. Whatever else Steven may be, he's a good father, but saving him will send her down a rabbit hole of hit-women disguised as soccer moms, and a little bit more involvement with the Russian mob than she'd like.
Meanwhile, Vero's keeping secrets, and Detective Nick Anthony seems determined to get back into her life. He may be a hot cop, but Finlay's first priority is preventing her family from sleeping with the fishes... and if that means bending a few laws then so be it.
With her next book's deadline looming and an ex-husband to keep alive, Finlay is quickly coming to the end of her rope. She can only hope there isn't a noose at the end of it..."

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead is the sequel to Finlay Donovan is Killing It and as of early 2023 another book in the series, Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun, will be hitting a bookshelf near you.  These books are light and funny mysteries meant to be enjoyed and definitely not overanalyzed.  We'll kick off our Books+Bites+Beverages portion of this review with a warm drink to enjoy while reading this cozy mystery.

Vero isn't just the nanny. She is such a good and supportive friend to Finlay.  So naturally when Finlay was feeling down and retreated to the comfort of her bed, Vera showed up at her room bearing this sweet treat.

"She pulled a half-pint of bourbon from the pocket of her robe and poured another finger of it into my hot chocolate before putting another splash in her own."

You are more than welcome to make traditional hot chocolate and spike it with bourbon; however, another option is what I have shown here which is Cookies and Cream Hot Chocolate from The Recipe Critic.  Similar to how the first book mentioned goldfish quite a few times, this book mentions Oreos so I was happy to include them in my hot chocolate!

 

I was worried that the addition of Oreos would make the hot chocolate gritty, but it didn't!  You know how they pretty much disintegrate when you dunk them in milk?  Well, the same thing happens here and it makes for a thick extra chocolaty concoction that you should definitely try.

Does the addition of Oreos to hot chocolate qualify it as both a beverage and a snack?  Either way I'm throwing in an extra snack.

"I lay on my bed under the dim glow of the lamp on my nightstand, the open tub of ice cream resting on my chest. I sucked mint chocolate chunk off the spoon, torn between working on my pitch for Sylvia and grabbing a rare full night of sleep while I could."

I'm going with mint chocolate chip because it was mentioned in this particular section of Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead, but any variety will do especially since Ben & Jerry's was given several shout-outs throughout the book.

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead: ★★★☆☆

Similar to the first book in this series, Finlay Donovan is Killing It, this book is a bit silly and over the top.  Bad things and misunderstandings continue to follow our hapless heroine and she continues to blunder her way through.  It's quite entertaining if you don't try to overanalyze it.  

Finlay's parenting was an issue for me in the first book, which I won't rehash here, but she didn't rub me the wrong way quite as much during this book.  I'm pleased that her claims to "be doing it all for her kids" are backed by more action in this book.  I, however, am not pleased with the Vero side story. First, there was already so much going on that I don't feel like a random side plot was necessary.  Second, Vero was so smart and a great juxtaposition to Finlay in the first book and I would have liked to have seen that continue. Of course, everyone makes mistakes but I really felt like Vero was dumbed down and done a disservice in this book.

This series still very much reminds me of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich and if you enjoy these lighthearted, fun mystery books then you might also enjoy the Miss Fortune Mysteries by Jana DeLeon or the Body Movers series by Stepanie Bond.

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