Note: Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and author Elle Cosimano for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

I jumped at the chance to read all of the books in this series when they were available to review. I didn’t know anything about it, but it sounded like a lot of escapist fun. I’m so glad I did because I’ve been enjoying the series so far. Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank is actually a short story in the series. It fills in many of the gaps about the background of author Finlay Donovan’s new best friend, Vero, whom we met in the first book.

Vero is just 21 years old when she drops out in her senior year of college. “Drops out” really doesn’t describe it; she runs away from school after being accused of embezzling money by her sorority. She changes her name a bit and tries to dodge anyone who might be looking for her. Her intention is to sleep on the couch in her cousin Ramon’s body shop, but he catches her and sends her to his apartment instead. Vero’s intention is to reinvent herself and get a job and an apartment.

The bank she applies at offers her a custodial job. Vero knows she’s better than that and sees an opportunity when she overhears the security guard and the bank manager discuss small amounts of money disappearing on a regular basis. Vero figures if she can solve the mystery of who is stealing from the bank, she can get a position as a teller. Being a janitor means she’s around all of the tellers and sees what they throw away on a regular basis. She also manages to engage them in conversation and even goes through their personal items. In one case, she dates the head teller, thinking she can get evidence that way.

If you’ve read the earlier books in the series, you’d know that Vero eventually quits her job as a bank teller and becomes a nanny for Finlay. There’s no real surprise that Vero solves the mystery and then lasts a week as a teller because she has more empathy than anyone else.

Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank is funny but not as wacky as the other books. The humor here is Vero’s missteps and how she’s trying to cover up what happened to her at college. She knows if she tells Ramon, he will tell her mother, which is the last thing she wants. We learn more about Vero, Ramon, and Javier, all of whom have a presence in the Finlay Donovan books. It’s a quick read at just 100 pages, which eliminates some of the more elaborate schemes I’ve read in other books in this series.

I really enjoyed Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank. I liked learning more about the secretive Vero and her family, who we have seen appearing here and there in the stories so far. I’m looking forward to Finlay tackling the problem of what really happened at the sorority in Vero’s college. Someone was obviously setting her up, but Vero hasn’t wanted to go down that path just yet. This short story really sets up that story for the future quite well.

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