Tag: #womenscrimefiction

Feature Post and Book Review: Kills Well with Others by Deanna Rayburn

Book Description

After more than a year of laying low, Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie are called back into action. They have enjoyed their time off, but the lack of excitement is starting to chafe: a professional killer can only take so many watercolor classes and yoga sessions without itching to strangle someone…literally. When they receive a summons from the head of the elite assassin organization known as the Museum, they are ready tackle the greatest challenge of their careers.

Someone on the inside has compiled a list of important kills committed by Museum agents, connected to a single, shadowy figure, an Eastern European gangster with an iron fist, some serious criminal ambition, and a tendency to kill first and ask questions later. This new nemesis is murdering agents who got in the way of their power hungry plans and the aging quartet of killers is next.

Together the foursome embark on a wild ride across the globe on the double mission of rooting out the Museum’s mole and hunting down the gangster who seems to know their next move before they make it. Their enemy is unlike any they’ve faced before, and it will take all their killer experience to get out of this mission alive.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214537816-kills-well-with-others?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=F7VtTHyVkV&rank=1

***

My Book Review

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

KILLS WELL WITH OTHERS (Killers of a Certain Age Book #2) by Deanna Raybourn is another thrilling assignment with the four senior female assassins introduced in Killers of a Certain Age. These books are fast paced, twisted crime thrillers/mysteries with a memorable group of assassins, but keep in mind, the books are in no way cozy.

Since their last adventure to save their own lives, a year has passed. Now, Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie “Nat” are called back into action by Naomi, who is the head of the Museum to go after a dangerous European gangster. This hit is off the books though because the Museum has a mole who has traded the ladies’ identities and those, they hold dear up for a trade.

The ladies discover there is more to the threat than they initially believed, and they are now chasing a gangster from Venice to Eastern Europe bent on revenge as well as trying to uncover the identity of the Museum’s mole. It will take their combined years of experience and a whole lot of luck to survive this mission.

I was very excited to read this second book in the series. It is as fast paced, exciting, and twisted as the first. Once again, the story is told from Billie’s point of view. Even though these friends are lethal, they care about each other deeply and their dialogue is sharp and witty. The descriptions of kills are very graphic and not for the squeamish. (I will never look at a wine opener the same way again.) The crime thriller/mystery plotline is well paced and plotted with many twists, fights, and action scenes threaded throughout. The reason I did not give this review five stars like the first book was that the flashback chapters, while giving information, took me out of the story flow. Otherwise, everything else was entertaining, scary, gripping, and edge-of-your-seat thrilling.

I highly recommend this second outing with the ladies and cannot wait for more.

***

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 the Edgar, two RT Reviewers’ Choice awards, the Agatha, two Dilys Winns, and a Last Laugh. 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’s second adventure is A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING (January 2017), and book three, A TREACHEROUS CURSE, was published in 2018 and nominated for the Edgar Award. A DANGEROUS COLLABORATION was released in 2019, and A MURDEROUS RELATION appeared in 2020 and AN UNEXPECTED PERIL published in March 2021. The latest Veronica Speedwell adventure, AN IMPOSSIBLE IMPOSTOR, will be published in February, 2022. Deanna’s first contemporary novel featuring four female assassins who must band together to take out their nemesis as they prepare for retirement, KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE, will be published in September of 2022.

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Deann.raybourn

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deannaraybourn/#

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/deannaraybourn.bsky.social

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/kills-well-with-others-by-deanna-raybourn

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Talking to Strangers by Fiona Barton

Book Description

When Karen Simmons is murdered on Valentine’s Day, Detective Elise King wonders if she was killed by a man she met online. Karen was all over the dating apps, leading some townspeople to blame her for her own death, while others band together to protest society’s violence against women. Into the divide comes Kiki Nunn, whose aggressive newsgathering once again antagonizes Elise. 

A single mother of a young daughter, Kiki is struggling to make a living in the diminished news landscape. Getting a scoop in the Simmons murder would do a lot for her career, and she’s willing to go up against not just Elise but the killer himself to do it.

***

Elise’s Thoughts

Talking to Strangers by Fiona Barton is the second book in the series. This one involves three women out for the truth, all will be narrators in the story.

Police detective Elise King is assigned to investigate the murder of local hairdresser Karen Simmons.  Before her death, Simmons ran a singles group called the Free Spirits, and King immediately sets her sights on the men Simmons was dating. The author humanizes the detective by showing how she is trying to cope and recover from a mastectomy and chemotherapy.

Stepping on King’s toes, almost competing with her is Kiki Nunn, a journalist striving to find the big scoop. Considering she interviewed Karen about her online dating she decides to investigate the online dating angle.

Then there is Annie Curtis, who lost her young son Archie sixteen years ago in the same woods that Karen died. Though the police swiftly arrested Nicky Donovan for Archie’s murder, a pedophile who killed himself in custody. Annie is agonized both to feel the old wound being ripped open and to be racked by the unbearable suspicion that Nicky was innocent, and Archie’s killer is still at large.

It is fascinating to see how Barton has all three women come together in the end to help find the murderer.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Fiona Barton:  This is the second book in the series with my detective Elise King. I had a conversation with a friend who was talking about on-line dating when it started out.  She had a date with someone and sent a map of coordinates.  She was very excited.  I was dubious because I wondered if she was putting herself at risk.  I then spoke to other friends. This is now the new normal of dating. I know of women who met lovely men and got married.

EC: What about the victim, Karen?

FB: She was being judged. There are people who were negative about her dating strangers and thought, ‘what was she thinking. Did she ask for it in a way.’ I hoped to explore this judgement in the book. There is a book quote, from Elise she “hated the fact she was just a number.”  People do not realize there is a person behind that number. It is so dehumanizing.

EC:  What about social media?

FB: It is here and will not be rid of. I wanted to show the effects of social media and how it can be used. The ‘friends’ on social media are usually people that the person does not know and have just popped up.  Communication is more and more on-line.

EC:  How would you describe Elise?

FB:  She is an incredibly ambitious woman.  She is driven.  In book 1, Local Gone Missing, readers see that Elise thought her life was sorted out until her boyfriend dumped her for a younger woman and she discovered she had breast cancer.  Her whole world turned upside down. Elise feels vulnerable and has a fear the cancer will come back. She started to question and is doubting herself. She is battling the physical and emotional side of the disease, which she tries not to acknowledge. Elise is on her own but is lonely.  I think she is a woman in conflict.

EC: How would you describe the journalist Kiki?

FB: She is a single mom.  Because she has a child to raise, she is no longer in mainstream journalism. She is pushy, takes risks, and is always looking for a scoop. Like Elise she is lonely. Kiki cares about Karen and does not see her as a number.

EC:  What role does Annie play in the story?

FB: She is a victim who had her child murdered. Annie tries to put one foot in front of the other, but having Karen die in the same woods as her son has reopened all the wounds. Like Kiki and Elise, she is also lonely even though she is married.  Annie feels she is not heard in her marriage.

EC: Of the three women characters which pushed the case along?

FB: I think they all had a hand in it.  Elise helped it along through her investigation, finding out the information. Kiki took a deep dive into the online dating world.  I think they thought they were stepping on each other’s toes, but they complimented each other. I think they could be friends.  In this book when they were together both saw crisis but could be friends.

EC: Next book?

FB: No title, but Kiki will be featured.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.