Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
Published: Sept. 6, 2022 – Berkley
Book courtesy of the publisher
Description:
Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon.
They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they’re sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire – it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.
Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.
When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death.
Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age. (publisher)
My take: I’m a fan of Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell historical mystery series so I was very interested in reading her new book Killers of a Certain Age (a contemporary). What an entertaining read! It’s about an organization of assassins originating in the post WWII years for the purpose of hunting Nazis and recovering stolen works of art. While celebrating the start of retirement the team discover they apparently have one more case to deal with before moving on to their next chapter in life. I’m glad I didn’t know much about the plot going in because it was a lot of fun learning about this amazing team of women and how they handled things under extreme pressure. The novel is told in a dual timeline and has a good action movie pace which made it a read-in-a-day page turner for this reader of a certain age. Recommended.
About the author:
New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist Deanna Raybourn is a 6th-generation native Texan. She graduated with a double major in English and history from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Married to her college sweetheart and the mother of one, Raybourn makes her home in Virginia. Her novels have been nominated for numerous awards including two RT Reviewers’ Choice awards, the Agatha, two Dilys Winns, a Last Laugh, three du Mauriers, and most recently the 2019 Edgar Award for Best Novel. She launched a new Victorian mystery series with the 2015 release of A CURIOUS BEGINNING, featuring intrepid butterfly-hunter and amateur sleuth, Veronica Speedwell. Veronica has returned in several more adventures, most recently AN IMPOSSIBLE IMPOSTOR, book seven, which released in early 2022. Deanna’s first contemporary novel, KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE, about four female assassins on the cusp of retirement publishes in September 2022.
Praise for Killers of a Certain Age:
“A thriller featuring four skilled, well-trained women is a treat in a male-dominated genre.”—Library Journal, STARRED review, Pick of the Month
“Examines the nuances of the female aging process from a unique angle. The writing is witty and original, and the plot is unpredictable…A unique examination of womanhood as well as a compelling, complex mystery.”—Kirkus Reviews, STARRED Review
“Raybourn has outdone herself.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
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