This book is a hoot!

Fun and fearless and very darkly funny

Never underestimate anyone of a certain age again and certainly not a woman!

hahahhaaha

An action-packed story about four women who are newly retired and enjoying a celebratory cruise; A flashback to their first mission shows how the team of assassins works, something that will be important even in retirement. It's a medley of espionage thriller, cosy mystery and international adventure fiction that is humorous and reflective.

The story explores misogyny and ageism through its characters and offers a unique perspective. I like this story's main protagonists, setting and adventure.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

This is a “cosy” thriller, if you can call a book about 4 female assassins anything like this.

I’ve not read anything by this author before, but thank you to her, the publishers and Netgalley for this opportunity. I really enjoyed the ride.

Our protagonists have just retired after 40 years working for The Museum, a clandestine organisation originally set up to be Nazi hunters. Their retirement cruise just doesn’t go as planned. Murder, mayhem and international travel fill the pages and the plot moves on at a sprightly pace.

As with all cosies, this is slightly overdone, but that did not detract from my enjoyment. Excellent escapist fiction. (less)

When four women in their sixties are underestimated by the men in their organisation a great story unfolds. The women are trained assassins who, when on a retirement cruise, realise they are one of the ‘firms’ targets. It comes down to kill or be killed and as the women work together to get their lives back there is humour, excitement and many twists and turns.

An enjoyable read

An organisation that is committed to ridding the world of those on the wrong side of life.

A group of four women who are part of the organisation planning and carrying out assassinations.

And then, as they are finally winding down, coming to the end of their careers and looking towards retirement, they become targets of their own organisation – can they prove themselves innocent of the accusations – they must, to save their own lives.

I never knew there were so many ways to carry out assassinations and murders, but from my point of view it is done with humour and a little tongue in cheek.

The one downside for me - is there a guide to writing books that says the words “dust motes” must be included as per Agatha Christie and likewise, does the same guide insist that an animal of some sort, that doesn’t move the story along at all have to be included? If there is, then this book met those criteria.

That said, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

Billie, Natalie, Helen and Mary Alice are looking forward to their retirement with a fancy cruise where things start to go wrong and they are facing the fight of their lives! As four assassins who is trying to take out these ladies and why?
This was such an engaging funny dark read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters were brilliant and the now and then pov set it up perfectly. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was a really exciting read right from the start. Great characters and lots of suspense and action.
The main outline of the story isn't very original, it follows a well used formula but one that is so popular because it works. A group of assassins who are then betrayed by the organisation they work for, they have to be one step ahead as they try to work out who double crossed them. But it is very well written and I love the different angle of them all being retirement aged lady assassins. They weren't portrayed as anything other than super professional, strong and tough, which was really refreshing.

It was a super fun read and I would absolutely love for there to be a whole series based on the missions they went on during their career.

I enjoyed this book as it was fun, moved at a good pace and had some originality about it. My only criticism was the development of the characters, apart from the main lady I would get each of the other three ladies confused and I think that was a shame as they were all interesting in their own right. I'd like to think if this was to be a book series the other ladies would get more storylines.

Thanks to NetGalley and and the publisher for the arc in return for an honest review.

I liked this book very much. The main characters are quite different and it is interesting to see their interactions and to follow their development. This is possible through the scenes which look back to different times in their careers. While the book is written from one point of you, you learn a lot about them and the organisation their words for.
The scenes which describe the killings are precise but not unnaturally cruel so the book belongs to acceptable range of thrillers everybody can read.
I highly recommend this book.

This great read spirals towards its dark conclusion, wrong footing the increasingly uneasy reader at every turn. This twisty thriller is jam-packed with tense moments and a growing sense of unease…..

love love love ! Since The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman I am very much into "old people gang" I find them very funy. This book didn't disapoint ! I would be very interested to read another book from this author.

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen and Natalie were recruited to be an elite group of female assassins for a shadowy organisation called The Museum back in the 1970s. Originally set up by ex-OSS and other military acronyms staff to track down and kill Nazis, in recent years as the number of living Nazis has dwindled they have branched out into killing dictators, drug lords, paedophiles, and other 'bad people'. But all good things come to an end and after forty years the women have officially retired and been given an all-expenses paid cruise.

They might have retired and be slightly less agile than they were forty years ago, but they are still as sharp as tacks and notice that another Museum employee is posing as a waiter on board. The only conclusion is that he has been sent to assassinate them ... but why?

This reminds me very much of that great film Red starring Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren (among others), it has the same vibe. These four women have forgotten more than most of their younger colleagues have learned, and they won't go down without a fight. If the Board of the Museum has ordered their deaths then the Board must die.

It took me ages to start reading this, mainly because I had tried and heartily disliked A Curious Beginning, but I liked the sound of this so I requested an ARC .. and then left it on my TBR pile for nearly two months!

Anyway, if you want to read about four independent women killing their enemies in creative fashion, then look no further. A clever romp that will keep you enthralled all the way through. Dare I hope there might be a sequel?

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

An action packed, amusing tale of retired women spies. Always interesting to have older female main characters. This book is well plotted and moves at a fast pace.

This book was a hoot! I kept reading well past my bedtime to find out what happened.

Four elite assassins - all part of the all-female team Project Sphinx - are on a cruise to celebrate their retirement, when they realise they are now the target of the same company they used to work for. They can run and hide, for a while, but there's only one way to really get the target off their backs. Kill or be killed.

I love how the four women are so different to each other. They are all super competent at what they do, despite their bodies being slower than they were when they were young. The men consistently underestimate them - which they often use to their advantage.

I am a woman of a certain age and I loved this book. The key players are female James bonds with a certain skill set. The book is pacy and I loved it. If you want a great read that is well written and really enjoyable. This is the book for you!

The success of Richard Osman has led to a glut of murder mysteries being solved by old people with patchy degrees of success Deanna Raybourn offers us something a little bit different. In Killers of a Certain Age we find a group of ladies reuniting on a retirement cruise but all is not as it seems as these Sixty somethings are really an elite group of assassins that work for a non government agency that takes out evil doers all over the world. Things take a nasty turn as they discover someone is out to get them and they have to band together to do the getting first.
I’d read anything Deanna Raybourn wrote, she never lets me down her writing is classy and clever and her characters complex. She gets the balance of the personal and plot just right and her romance is subtle and never over done. She’s just so good. There were a couple of times when the ladies made mistakes that I just thought a group of elite assassins wouldn’t make and the way the plot was set out meant the latter half was ticking off boxes rather than forwarding the plot but it was all entertaining and I had a great time with these ladies.

Fun read about a group of retired female assassins, confronting ageism, misogyny, and a lot of unknown people trying to kill them. A bit slow to start but really kicked in with a mix of humor and the realities of getting old, plus clever plotting as the heroines figure out who wants them dead and how to get to their enemies first. Hopefully the start of a series. I received this book from #Netgalley.

Unfortunately this was not a book for me! I found that the characters were unbelievable and the plot rather silly. There was no humour in the book as it took itself very seriously. Sorry, but definitely not for me.

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn is a great cozy mystery that kept me entertained throughout.

I really enjoyed this murder/mystery that had four retired assassins as the main characters. Billie, Mary Alice, Helen and Natalie had great chemistry and played off one another quite well.

I enjoyed the snippets looking back and seeing some of the past experiences and beginnings of the characters sprinkled throughout. It kept the narrative evenly paced and gave ys foundations and reference to their current personalities. I enjoyed the sass, wit, and humor…it definitely worked well with tge more serious murder/mystery thread.

I hope this is the start to a series, as I could definitely see it develop into something quite nice.

4/5 stars

Thank you NG and Hodder & Stoughton for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 3/9/23.

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What a fabulous fun read.,a fast paced thriller .Four female trained Assassins for 40 years are now being retired and sent on a fabulous cruise ,but they soon realise that they are now the targets to be assassinated and now work together to keep alive .Told by one of the woman Billie in two timelines ,this is an exciting story of espionage with very likeable characters .A really enjoyable story .Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.