by Wendy R.

Created on: August 27, 2010

Knock Off by Rhonda Pollero is the first book in the Finley Anderson Tanner (FAT) mystery series. In this debut, Finley a paralegal is hired by a woman who believes her husband Marcus was murdered.Finley’s boss Dane dumps this case in her lap, so what is she to do? At first Finley believes that the woman is just a distraught widow but she soon finds herself investigating with the help of a hunky private investigator named Liam McGarrity. Finley discovers she likes looking into things and really gets into it.

Finley risks life and limb to put together the pieces of this mystery as she learns that three of twelve jurors in the case from a few years back have died of what appear to be natural causes, but Finley is none-the-less suspicious. It seems that Marcus served on the jury of a malpractice suit against a transplant doctor named Kent Hall. She believes the jurors to have been murdered and she works hard to put all the pieces of the case together.

As she digs deeper into the case, Finley is threatened, poisoned and nearly killed by a deranged killer. She is able to get help from her friends, including those in high places who can help her find information about the case she is working on, including her medically inclined sister and her good friend Becky. On the more mundane side, Finley has to deal with backstabbing co-workers and a job which normally bores her to tears.

Finley is a plucky heroine who has a penchant for shoes and expensive purses. She justifies her spending ways because she is a “discount” shopper. She is fun loving and has a tendency to take long lunches at work when nobody is looking. Like many other heroines (think Stephanie Plum), Finley vacillates between the “hot” investigator and her boring boyfriend Peter. This book is well written with interesting characters and an appealing plot. Finley is a fun protagonist who will appeal to most. He issues with her job and shopping can probably ring true with a lot of female readers, me included. The book keeps you guessing in the mystery and romance department and it is difficult to figure out who the killer is. My only complaint is that the mystery is tied up a little too quickly in only a few pages at the end. I am looking forward to reading Knock ‘em Dead.

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