Killers of a certain age

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English

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AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!“This Golden Girls meets James Bond thriller is a journey you want to be part of.” -BuzzfeedOlder 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.

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ISBN
9780593200681
9780593200698
9780593626283
9798885785006

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Also in this Series

  • Killers of a certain age (Killers (Deanna Raybourn) Volume 1) Cover
  • Kills well with others (Killers (Deanna Raybourn) Volume 2) Cover

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Similar Series From Novelist

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for series you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These darkly humorous thrillers star a former spy (Martini Club) or a group of retired assassins (Killers) who are pulled back into their danger-filled careers. -- CJ Connor
These series have the appeal factors intricately plotted, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "women assassins," "female friendship," and "vigilantes."
These series have the appeal factors intricately plotted, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "women assassins," "espionage," and "betrayal."
These series have the appeal factors intricately plotted, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "secrets," "espionage," and "undercover operations."
These series have the appeal factors offbeat, witty, and intricately plotted, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "women assassins" and "assassins."
These series have the appeal factors intricately plotted, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "women assassins," "secrets," and "undercover operations."
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These series have the appeal factors intricately plotted, and they have the genre "thrillers and suspense"; and the subjects "women assassins," "secrets," and "espionage."

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These books have the appeal factors sardonic, witty, and intricately plotted, and they have the subject "secrets."
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In these humorous and suspenseful thrillers, a former spy (Spy Coast) or group of retired assassins (Certain Age) must embark on one last mission after they suspect that someone is trying to kill them. -- CJ Connor
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Employee-employer relations turn out to be exactly what every worker has always suspected in these witty mysteries about murderous organizations: either kill your boss (Murder Your Employer) or your boss is going to kill you (Killers of a Certain Age). -- Michael Shumate
Readers looking for thrilling reads about dangerous older women will enjoy these suspenseful books. Elderly Lady is an offbeat collection of short stories about a morally gray octogenarian, while Killers is about a quartet of sixty-something retired assassins. -- Tirzah Price
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Assassins in their 60s (Certain Age) and septuagenarian denizens of a retirement community (Last Devil) try to catch a killer or avoid being killed themselves in these witty, intricately plotted novels. -- Basia Wilson
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Savvy senior citizens are on the run from shadowy organizations in these intricately plotted and witty thrillers about a group of retiring female assassins (Killers of a Certain Age) and a right-to-die group volunteer tangled up in a murder (Exit). -- Laura Cohen

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These authors' works have the genres "historical mysteries" and "victorian mysteries"; and the subjects "women amateur detectives," "english history," and "murder suspects."
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Published Reviews

Booklist Review

Imagine if the Golden Girls were trained as elite assassins and you'll have some idea of the delights and thrills filling the pages of Raybourn's latest. In 1979, rebellious Billie, proper Helen, practical Mary Alice, and flirtatious Natalie are the first women recruited to join a top-secret, nongovernmental organization known as the Museum, which specializes in hunting down Nazis, sex traffickers, arms dealers, and other bad guys. Now in their sixties, the women are enjoying a retirement cruise. When Billie ducks into a fridge to cool off during a hot flash, she spots a young colleague in disguise, and the women soon uncover a bomb in his room, realizing that their retirement gift is actually a death sentence. But why, after 40 years of loyally serving the Museum, are they now targets? Raybourn has crafted a brilliant crime novel, with wit, intrigue, and heart, in which these bold, aging agents travel through catacombs and luxury spas and keep in contact via menopause apps. Her descriptions about aging are both funny (comparing saggy boobs to melted ice cream) and bitter, as the women recognize that some skills don't come as readily as they once did. But, most of all, this is a fun, exciting romp that celebrates the everlasting bonds of sisterhood.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

Edgar finalist Raybourn (the Speedwell series) makes a dazzling excursion out of the Victorian era with this uproarious contemporary thriller. Billie, Mary Alice, Natalie, and Helen have been a cozy quartet of "avenging goddesses" for more than 40 years, one of the "most elite assassin squads on earth," recruited in late 1978 by an "extra governmental" organization called the Museum. Soon after they're forced to go on an all-expenses-paid retirement cruise in the Caribbean, they discover they've apparently been targeted for death by the Museum board. They immediately go into investigative overdrive, relying on their expert training and experiences to uncover the means and motives behind their potential demise. Flashbacks to several of their high-profile cases, including a Zanzibar hit on an aging baroness that comes back to haunt Billie, keep the reader guessing. Colorful regional details and vividly portrayed secondary characters flesh out this rollicking tale. Fans of Helen Tursten and Richard Osman will relish watching these badass women in their 60s ("no one notices you unless you want them to," Billie observes) swing into action. Raybourn has outdone herself. Agent: Pamela Hopkins, Hopkins Literary Assoc. (Sept.)

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Library Journal Review

Fans of Raybourn's historical mystery series featuring the feisty Veronica Speedwell (An Impossible Impostor) will relish this contemporary thriller about an all-woman assassination squad confronting an unexpected mission as they near retirement. The Museum, a global covert organization, recruited Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie in the late 1970s to dispose of any remaining Nazis, and, later, other evildoers (e.g., arms dealers, drug lords, dictators). The Museum honors their service with an all-expenses-paid cruise on which they quickly learn they've been double-crossed and are now assassination targets themselves. The majority of the narrative comes from Billie's perspective, which Jane Oppenheimer delivers with spot-on emotion and energy. She suspensefully relays the team's furious quest for answers and empathetically conveys the joys and regrets shared by these resourceful women who, as elite global assassins, understandably struggled with work-life balance and now feel cast aside in a youth-obsessed society. With her beautiful, deep voice, Christina Delaine reads the non-Billie chapters with verve. Each narrator also shows perfect timing, presenting the story's many laugh-out-loud moments. VERDICT Featuring two great performances, Raybourn's latest is recommended for mystery lovers of all ages, as well as anyone (assassin or not) trying to balance their professional and personal lives.--Beth Farrell

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Kirkus Book Review

Four female assassins on the brink of retirement are brought back into the game by a surprising assassination attempt--on them. Since they were recruited in their 20s, Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have been working as secret assassins for a clandestine international organization originally created to hunt Nazis. Now they're in their mid-60s, and the Museum--as its denizens call the elite group--has sent them on an all-expenses-paid cruise to celebrate their retirement. Several hours into the trip, though, Billie discovers another of the Museum's assassins onboard the ship. It turns out that she and her colleagues have uncovered a plot to end their own lives. They're forced to flee while simultaneously solving the mystery of why their employers have put targets on their backs. The story jumps back and forth between the late 1970s and early '80s, when the women were first recruited, to the present day, when the female assassins have all lived long, full lives and worry about menopause and lost spouses more than whom they might kill next. Juxtaposing the two timelines creates an interesting dichotomy that examines the nuances of the female aging process from a unique angle. The writing is witty and original, and the plot is unpredictable; Billie is a complex and likable character, but the other three women, while easy to root for, tend to blend together. As the women race around the world trying to stay alive, Raybourn vividly evokes a number of far-flung locations while keeping readers on their toes trying to figure out what's going to happen next. A unique examination of womanhood as well as a compelling, complex mystery. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Imagine if the Golden Girls were trained as elite assassins and you'll have some idea of the delights and thrills filling the pages of Raybourn's latest. In 1979, rebellious Billie, proper Helen, practical Mary Alice, and flirtatious Natalie are the first women recruited to join a top-secret, nongovernmental organization known as the Museum, which specializes in hunting down Nazis, sex traffickers, arms dealers, and other bad guys. Now in their sixties, the women are enjoying a retirement cruise. When Billie ducks into a fridge to cool off during a hot flash, she spots a young colleague in disguise, and the women soon uncover a bomb in his room, realizing that their retirement gift is actually a death sentence. But why, after 40 years of loyally serving the Museum, are they now targets? Raybourn has crafted a brilliant crime novel, with wit, intrigue, and heart, in which these bold, aging agents travel through catacombs and luxury spas and keep in contact via menopause apps. Her descriptions about aging are both funny (comparing saggy boobs to melted ice cream) and bitter, as the women recognize that some skills don't come as readily as they once did. But, most of all, this is a fun, exciting romp that celebrates the everlasting bonds of sisterhood. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

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Library Journal Reviews

Having long worked for an exclusive network of assassins called the Museum, Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie are hitting 60 and being sent to pasture with an all-expenses-paid vacation, their well-honed people skills no longer needed in an age of technology. It's soon evident that high-ups at the Museum have marked them for assassination, and they must figure out how to survive. From the New York Times best-selling ("Lady Julia Grey series"), Edgar Award-nominated ("Veronica Speedwell Mysteries") Raybourn.

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Library Journal Reviews

Billie Webster was a college student when she was recruited by The Museum. She, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie were the first all-women team of assassins trained to kill Nazis. Eventually, they moved from Nazis to dictators, arms dealers, drug smugglers, and sex traffickers. It was an excellent job with full benefits, including retirement now, 40 years later. When they go on a cruise, though, Billie recognizes a fellow assassin who hasn't made contact with them. Her team reunites for work when they realize they are the targets, now expendable as retirees. Before they blow up the ship to give themselves time to gather information, they make sure all the passengers are off safely. It becomes a fast-paced gamble to see if they can save themselves before skilled assassins take them out. Although they were trained by a mentor at The Museum, even the present board underestimates women, and killers, of a certain age. VERDICT Fans of Raybourn's "Veronica Speedwell" historical mysteries will enjoy this well-plotted story, and a thriller featuring four skilled, well-trained women is a treat in a male-dominated genre. A fast-paced, explosive, fun novel, reminiscent of the 2010 movie RED.—Lesa Holstine

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PW Annex Reviews

Edgar finalist Raybourn (the Speedwell series) makes a dazzling excursion out of the Victorian era with this uproarious contemporary thriller. Billie, Mary Alice, Natalie, and Helen have been a cozy quartet of "avenging goddesses" for more than 40 years, one of the "most elite assassin squads on earth," recruited in late 1978 by an "extra governmental" organization called the Museum. Soon after they're forced to go on an all-expenses-paid retirement cruise in the Caribbean, they discover they've apparently been targeted for death by the Museum board. They immediately go into investigative overdrive, relying on their expert training and experiences to uncover the means and motives behind their potential demise. Flashbacks to several of their high-profile cases, including a Zanzibar hit on an aging baroness that comes back to haunt Billie, keep the reader guessing. Colorful regional details and vividly portrayed secondary characters flesh out this rollicking tale. Fans of Helen Tursten and Richard Osman will relish watching these badass women in their 60s ("no one notices you unless you want them to," Billie observes) swing into action. Raybourn has outdone herself. Agent: Pamela Hopkins, Hopkins Literary Assoc. (Sept.)

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