Finlay Donovan sits down for a Q&A with dru’s book musings responding to twenty or more questions so that we can learn more about her. Are you ready? Let’s get to know Finlay.

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What is your full name?
Finlay Donovan

How old are you?
I can pass for 29. That’s all you need to know.

What is your profession?
I’m a romantic suspense novelist. I don’t get paid nearly enough. I am good at suspense, as evidenced by my answer above. The romance part, however, is often questionable, as evidenced by answer below.

Do you have a significant other?
It’s . . . complicated.

What is their name and profession?
Well, there’s Julian. He’s a part-time bartender and full-time graduate student, studying to become a public defender. Which means, he’s a great listener and he gives good advice. He also gives good other things I probably shouldn’t talk about. Then there’s Nick, a detective investigating organized crime—and occasionally me. I wouldn’t call my relationship with either of them “significant”, but definitely “other”.

Do you have any children?
Delia just turned five. She has a lot of opinions and attitude. Zach is two. He has a lot of energy and shitty diapers.

Do you have any siblings?
My older sister, Georgia, lives nearby. We’re close. Except she’s a cop, which makes our relationship difficult since I’m frequently involved in things she probably shouldn’t ever find out about.

Are your parents nearby?
Too near. They’re great. But they can be a little overbearing at times. They have strong opinions on my career (that it’s not one), on my single status (that I should find a husband), and on my cooking (but I can’t really argue that).

Who is your best friend?
If you’d asked me a few months ago, I probably would have said my sister. But once you’ve buried a body with someone, that sort of changes everything, so now I’d have to say my children’s nanny, my housemate, and my pseudo-accountant, Vero. She might be the only person in my life who has never once doubted me. As it turns out, that level of trust is pretty essential when you’re committing multiple felonies together.

Do you have any pets?
My children have a goldfish named Christopher. He was a gift from their father. Probably to test me. Definitely to torture me. Because if there’s one thing I cannot seem to do right now is to keep anything alive.

What town do you live in?
I live in South Riding, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC. We have too much traffic, too many stores, and too many rich politicians. Also (apparently) too many spurned wives and mafia crime lords. But I didn’t tell you that.

Type of dwelling and do you own or rent?
The children and I live in the two-story Colonial-style home my ex-husband, Steven, and I bought through the realtor he later left me for. Now, Steven owns the house and rents it to me. Which means my philandering ex-husband is now my landlord. No amount of wine (or murder) could make this situation tolerable.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
Anywhere I can find five minutes alone. I would say my bathroom, but there is no safe or sacred place once you’ve become a mother.

Favorite meal and dessert?
Any meal I don’t have to make. I’ll never turn down a take-out menu, and Vero and I never met a dessert we didn’t like.

Do you have any hobbies?
Hobbies are for people who don’t have toddlers. But I’ve recently dabbled in B&Es, covert stakeouts with a very attractive cop, and some cosplay involving a wig-scarf. Do those count?

What is your favorite vacation spot?
5 minutes alone in the bathroom.

What music do you listen to?
Usually, I’ll settle for anything that’s not a theme song to a Disney movie or Dora the Explorer. I have a playlist for the car. You can listen to it here: Finlay’s playlist.

Do you have a favorite book or author?
Preferably one I’ve written that pays all of my overdue bills. When I grow up, I want to have as much real estate inside Barnes & Noble as Nora Roberts.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
Take-out and a glass of wine with Vero after the kids have gone to bed. Definitely not digging graves in the middle of the night while the kids are asleep in the back of the car. Because that would be illegal. And very, very wrong.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
I did. Sort of. It’s called The Hit by Fiona Donohue. (That’s my pen name). The manuscript was supposed to be a work of fiction, but somehow, it ended up skating a little too close to the truth. And then my agent sold it. So yeah, memoir or book of evidence against me . . . take your pick.

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
Definitely amateur. My partner in crime is Veronica (Vero) Ruiz, my children’s nanny, my pseudo-accountant, and now apparently also my ride-or-die. I’ve also been known to team up with Detective Nicholas Anthony with the Fairfax PD from time to time, though our stakeouts (and other side projects) are strictly off the record.

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
As a single mother, I mom hard. Lots of diapers, lots of taxiing to and from pre-school, and lots of goldfish crackers and tater tots. And then there’s the other stuff—writing novels on deadlines (for which I’m usually way behind), putting up with my ex and fiancée’s attempts to take custody of our children, trying to keep my BFF/nanny from roping us into breaking any more laws, and juggling a contract to murder a woman’s problem-husband while hiding from some very unsavory criminal characters. What can I say? I’m a Mom. I multi-task.

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Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, Finlay Donovan Mystery #1
Genre: Traditional
Release: February 2021
Purchase Link

FINLAY DONOVAN IS KILLING IT . . . except, she’s really not. The new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head.

When Finlay’s overheard discussing the plot of her new novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet . . . and she soon discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart.

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Meet the author
Elle Cosimano is an award-winning author. Her YA debut, Nearly Gone, was an Edgar Award finalist and winner of the International Thriller Award. Her novel Holding Smoke was a finalist for the International Thriller Award and the Bram Stoker Award. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post and Time. Elle lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with her husband, two sons, and her dog. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is her adult debut.

All comments are welcomed.