ARC Review--Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano

 

From New York Times bestseller and Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave—the hugely anticipated next installment in the fan-favorite Finlay Donovan series.

Finlay Donovan may have skeletons in her closet . . . but at least there's not a body in her backyard.

Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime, Vero, have not always gotten along with Finlay’s elderly neighbor, Mrs. Haggerty, the community busybody and president of the neighborhood watch. But when a dead body is discovered in her backyard, Mrs. Haggerty needs their help. At first a suspect, Mrs. Haggerty is cleared by the police, but her house remains an active crime scene. She has nowhere to go . . . except Finlay’s house, right across the street.

Finlay and Vero have no interest in getting involved in another murder case—or sacrificing either of their bedrooms. After all, they’ve dealt with enough murders over the last four months to last a lifetime and they both would much rather share their beds with someone else.

When the focus of the investigation widens to include Finlay’s ex-husband, Steven, though, Finlay and Vero are left with little choice but to get closer to Mrs. Haggerty and uncover her secrets . . . before the police start digging up theirs. But who will solve the mystery first?

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

Elle Cosimano is back at it with her single mom of two/mystery writer by day and mystery solver by night, Finlay Donovan in Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave. In this one, Finlay's elderly and sometimes cranky neighbor, Mrs. Haggerty is being accused of murder after a dead body was discovered in her backyard and as usual, somehow Finlay gets roped into the chaos and has a mystery to solve.

After Mrs. Haggerty is released from prison, she "elects" to come stay with Finlay as her house is without power or water having been shut off after she was arrested and since it's the weekend, she has nowhere to live. She finds she cannot live with her, grandson, Brendan, as his condo is up on the third floor, so she will "just stay with Finlay" much to Finlay's dismay. And because Finlay is too good a person, she agrees to let Mrs. Haggerty stay for the weekend until Brendan can pick her up and contractors can begin working on the house.

But there's still the matter of the dead body that was found in Mrs. Haggerty's backyard to deal with. He was identified as Gilford Dupree, a business man who went missing about five years ago. Finlay has decided to leave her sleuthing days behind her until she gets unwittingly dragged back into the thick of things when her ex-husband, Steven, becomes the new number one suspect in the murder.

This was yet another entertaining delight to read! This book was just so funny and wild! Mrs. Haggerty has always just been the cankerous neighbor Finlay had to deal with on a semi-regular basis and now she's pretty much taken over Finlay's house! She cracked me up sometimes just with her audacity to basically make Finlay bend over backwards to take care of her during her stay. It was kind of fun getting to know more about this woman who was just a popup character before, but now plays a much larger role in the story.

The mystery itself was also delightful! I once again totally had my guess wrong. I was actually a bit perplexed at one point. Like whodunit?! Who, I ask? My initial suspect didn't really pan out after some digging, but I still feel like they were up to something shady. Perhaps Cosimano is once again laying some ground work for future mysteries! The things that made me suspicious of Steven were once again left in the dark, but I feel like these could come back to haunt him eventually. Unless that shady business Finlay uncovered is well and truly in the past and meant nothing. So who knows!

I also enjoyed seeing more development into Finlay and Nick's relationship! Things get more serious between these two this time around. Finlay is struggling to fully trust Nick with all her baggage of the last four novels, because she's just not sure of his reaction and what it could mean for her and her future. But there's still plenty of heated moments to be had!

And speaking of future, Finlay's professional career is about to take another turn in this one! I can't help but hope this is some sort of reflection of what might be happening or will happen eventually for Cosimano herself! But that's just my wishful thinking!

The ending is once again satisfying and yet we are left with a clue to the next "case" that will be thrust upon Finlay and this one is a doozie! One I've suspected we'd get to eventually and oh boy will that be a long wait! 

If you have yet to start this fun and energizing mystery series, I highly recommend it! This comes from a paranormal/thriller/fantasy reader, so you know that means this series is good! The Finlay Donovan series is a light-hearted, big mystery kind of series with a dash of suspense, full of humor, and a dash of love! It's got everything you need for a GREAT read!

Overall Rating 5/5 stars

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave releases March 4, 2025