Killers of a Certain Age is a mystery/thriller following 60-year old assassins and the first book in the eponymous series by Deanna Raybourn (4.25/5 stars)

Killers of a Certain Age is a mystery/thriller following 60-year old assassins and the first book in the eponymous series by Deanna Raybourn.

After working for an elite network of assassins for forty years, Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie receive a letter offering an all-expenses paid vacation to celebrate their retirement. While on the cruise, they notice a few things out of place and realize someone has put a kill order out on them. To survive, they must band together and turn against their own organization.

I borrowed the audiobook from my library and that was absolutely the correct call. Jane Oppenheimer and Christina Delaine really do fabulous jobs narrating! The humor of this book really shines through in the audiobook; I had so much fun reading it!

The main plot follows our four lady assassins as they’re navigating their current crisis, but there are also interstitial chapters that focus on their training and several other jobs from the past forty years. I really enjoyed this, and hope we get more in the second book in the series! I love dual-timelines in books and this was a great way to do it.

The author mentions it in their acknowledgements, but this book showcases feminine rage very well. I also really appreciated that the author noted “anyone who identifies as female” which is great to see. There’s also pretty good queer representation in the book itself, as one of our four main ladies is queer and currently married to a woman.

Billie is a fabulous POV character. I absolutely loved her sense of humor and how she viewed the world. We learned the most about her in this book, but I’d love to dig even deeper into the lives of the other three ladies in the next book. I especially want to see more of Mary Alice and her wife Akiko (and let’s be real, also their cat).

If this book/series doesn’t eventually become a tv show or a movie, we have all been robbed.

CW: violence, murder, abduction, ageism

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The Killers of a Certain Age series includes:

• Killers of a Certain Age
• Kills Well With Others (just came out on March 4th, 2025)