Book of the Month: Why Midlife Women Love ‘Killers of a Certain Age’

What happens when society decides you’re past your prime—but you’re still capable of extraordinary things?

That question sits at the heart of ‘Killers of a Certain Age‘, Deanna Raybourn’s wildly entertaining bestseller thriller about four women who refuse to be underestimated. CrunchyTales asked Kari Newman founder of ‘The Flipside of Midlife” Book Club to share her thoughts on this sharp, funny, and action-packed evergreen novel, that year after year continues to resonate with midlife women, and it’s easy to see why.

I’ve always admired the dynamic between women who have no qualms supporting one another without competition or jealousy. It’s a beautiful thing when egos are placed aside, loyalty is shared, and disagreements are resolved without lingering resentment.

Deanna Raybourn created four such women in her book Killers of a Certain Age. As soon as I started reading, I couldn’t wait to learn more about the characters and see how the story would unfold. If you’ve ever questioned your relevance in midlife and beyond, these women have something to show you.

Billie, Natalie, Mary Alice, and Helen make up an elite all-female assassination squad. They’ve been at it for four decades, and now that their old-school methods are showing their age, they’ve been reluctantly pushed into retirement.

Their consolation prize? An all-expenses-paid luxury cruise.

 Forty years on one of the most elite assassin squads on earth and it finished like this, with a free cruise and a bouncy letter from a girl who signed her letters with hashtags.

These Women Prove Aging Doesn’t Mean Shrinking

As it turns out, their time onboard the ship is far from relaxing.

Billie, Natalie, Mary Alice, and Helen spent their entire careers working for a secret organization referred to as “the Museum”. Now, someone in the organization has ordered their termination at sea. It’s up to them to eliminate the immediate threat and figure out who wants them dead.

These four women may be sixty with wrinkles, hot flashes, and graying hair, but their professional skills are still very much intact. They are calm and confident in their unique abilities and remain forces to be reckoned with, individually and as a group. Their expertise is formidable in ways the organization clearly overlooks. Their age is an asset, and underestimating them will be deadly.

Why Women Over 50 Connect With These Characters

This book inspired lively conversations during FLIPSIDE OF MIDLIFE® Book Club gatherings. Members loved the characters’ distinct personalities, intelligence, and resourcefulness. Each of the four women has strengths and weaknesses that give them authenticity, and we appreciated the author’s injection of humor throughout.

Most thought it was fun to read about past missions via flashbacks, and couldn’t wait to see how the characters planned and prepared for the next one. The suspense as it all played out kept us reading.

It felt empowering to witness each woman contribute her special abilities to the squad’s success. We felt like we were part of it!

Raybourn gave the characters midlife experiences, so we saw ourselves in the pages. Helen is grieving. Billie wrestles with identity without the work that defined her. Natalie has had multiple marriages, and Mary Alice is doing her best to keep secrets from ruining hers. All four navigate the physical and emotional complexities of this season of life, and they feel like friends we want to meet for coffee.

We liked the book as a group, but craved more character development around Natalie, Mary Alice, and Helen. We learned about Billie’s perspective and past because she narrates the story, and wanted to know as much about the other three women.

Overall, we loved that this thriller is filled with levity, female camaraderie, and the satisfying message that women in midlife and beyond are far from irrelevant.

Only women are ever called persnickety – Mary Alice said – Men get to be ‘detail oriented’

If You Love ‘Killers of a Certain Age’, There’s More to Read 

After finishing Killers of a Certain Age, I was sad to say goodbye to Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long to join them on their next outing. A second book was released in early 2025.

In Kills Well With Others, Deanna Raybourn includes a dedication to those who wanted to see these characters kill again. I’m obviously in good company!

Raybourn starts the sequel with a flashback to 1982, and Billie once again has a run in her stocking. When the story returns to the present time, it’s been two years since the squad’s forced retirement mission. They’ve drifted apart, but a vague summons from the head of the Museum brings them back together. It doesn’t take long for them to fall back into their sister-like squabbles.

At the designated meeting time and place, the women learn there’s been a security breach. There’s already been one death related to their very first mission, and their names are probably next on a target list.

It felt seamless to pick up this book. Billie is still narrating, and Raybourn continues to use a flashback structure that gives the reader more history of the relationship between these women. She weaves elements from the first book into this one and continues to write suspenseful situations and plot twists that make it hard to put down.

My only dislike of book two? Saying another goodbye to these four women! There hasn’t been an announcement of a third book, but I’ll be on the lookout for one.

She’d saved our asses during our last mission, her biggest contribution being the creation of an app called Menopaws. She had populated it with animated cats and features for tracking days since our last periods and hot flashes. At least that’s what it looked like.

Read, Reflect, and Remember Your Relevance

If you read one or both of these novels, I invite you to notice how these four women, and their relationships, make you feel. Grab your journal or a notebook and find a comfortable space to ponder the questions below:

• Which of the four main characters resonates with you the most? Why?
• What midlife experiences in the books do you relate to?
• Where in the books do you notice the characters questioning their own relevance?
• How do the books help you reflect on your feelings of relevance in midlife and beyond?
• Are there relationships in your life that you see reflected in the novels?
• What strengths do you bring to your own “squad”? How do you pause to appreciate your contributions?

Life experience and wisdom are assets that come with age. Killers of a Certain Age and Kills Well With Others help us see that our impact doesn’t expire after 50.

Your unique strengths, contributions, and female friendships are proof that you are, and will always be, relevant.

If you read one or both of these books, share your thoughts in the comments. What did you love? What wasn’t your favorite? Did you see elements of your own life experience in the pages? I’d love to know!

About the Author, Deanna Raybourn

A New York Times bestselling author and sixth-generation Texan, Raybourn holds a double major in English and history from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is best known for her Veronica Speedwell Victorian mystery series. Killers of a Certain Age, her first contemporary thriller, debuted at #9 on the New York Times bestseller list in 2022 and won the Barry Award for Best Thriller. Kills Well With Others, the sequel, was published in 2025.

Killer Of A Certain Age | By Deanna Raybourn
Berkley Publisher
Hardcover $ 11.29

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