Killers of a Certain Age Books in Order

The Killers of a Certain Age books jump to the twenty first century and follow four women whose careers have been anything but ordinary. Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie were recruited in their twenties into an off the books organization called the Museum, which quietly eliminates people the law cannot or will not touch.

For forty years they travel the world under cover identities, assassinating war criminals, traffickers, and other monsters while posing as tourists, consultants, or society women. By the time Killers of a Certain Age opens, they are in their sixties and have just been pushed into retirement, complete with generous pensions and a supposedly luxurious cruise meant to celebrate their service.

On board, Billie spots a fellow operative she knows should not be there, and the four friends quickly realize the cruise is a set up and they are the targets. Betrayed by the only structure they have ever trusted, they have to outwit younger, more tech driven assassins using experience, improvisation, and the fact that the world tends to look past older women. The thriller plot runs alongside a quieter look at aging, friendship, and what happens when your entire adult life has been built around sanctioned violence.

The sequel, Kills Well with Others, finds the quartet back in play after a year of lying low. They are called on to investigate a leak inside the Museum while tracking a ruthless Eastern European crime boss whose operations touch some of their old cases. The job pulls them across Europe and back into the art and antiquities world, forcing them to decide how much longer they can keep doing this work and on whose terms.

Taken as a whole, the series is fast, sardonic, and grounded more in character than gadgetry. It offers the pleasure of watching highly competent older women refuse to fade into the background as they rewrite the rules of an organization that once owned them.