Paralegal Finley Tanner is annoyed when she's rudely wakened in the wee hours of the morning by obnoxious pounding on her front door. But when she finds her good friend Jane covered in blood and in obvious shock, Finley is willing to forgive and forget. The police, however, aren't so generous. They arrest Jane for murdering her dating service escort of that night and for Lorena Bobbitting him as well. Unfortunately for Finley, the police think she's hiding something from them and she's arrested too.

After getting over her shock at being hauled into jail in her jammies, Finley's concern is clearing Jane of wrongdoing. With the help of other good friends, she begins to raise the money needed to post Jane's bail, arrange for a defense lawyer and uncover the real killer. Finely can't help much on the financial front—her shopaholic habits and maxed-out credit cards have her living paycheck to paycheck—but with her prior amateur detective efforts fresh in her mind, she aims to help any way she can. No matter what her conservative estate lawyer employers think.

In addition to balancing her real work with her investigative inquiries, Finley finds herself torn between two men. Boring pilot boyfriend Patrick and hunky PI Liam each have their pluses and minuses. Will Finley be able to decide which relationship to pursue? Will her bosses finally fire her for poking her nose where it doesn't belong? Will the killer decide to silence her before she exposes secrets best left unrevealed?

Chick lit meets mystery is this charming novel from Ms. Pollero. KNOCK 'EM DEAD is sure to win over fans from both genres. Although Finley does act rashly at times, she doesn't go too far into the too-stupid-too-live category. I didn't have any trouble picking up the series with the second book, though I'm sure readers will get more out of it if they read the first Finley Anderson Tanner mystery before this one. A pleasant way to while away a few hours.