IN SHORT: This wryly funny mystery book features four retired Women who worked as assassins for 40 years. Now they have to evade getting killed themselves.

REVIEW

Four women who have worked together on assignments around the world for 40 years have just retired. They may be 60, but they’re not old. Their well-honed but old-school skills are just not seen as being as effective in this technological era.

Billie, Mary Alice, Natalie and Helen are embarking on a luxury trip aboard a mini-cruise liner, courtesy of their former employer, a top-secret organization they only ever referred to as “the Museum.” As Billie reflects on the welcome letter on board the liner: “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.”

Yes, these accomplished women are assassins. And very good ones. Their organization, not affiliated with any government, had been set up to hunt down Nazis after the war. Then it took on other bad guys: “dictators, arms dealers, drug smugglers, and sex traffickers.” They had no qualms with killing, but it never involved innocents.

Soon after they embark on their vacation, they realize they are being targeted by a former co-worker. So they must take swift action, both to save themselves and the rest of the passengers. Once they’re clear of that trap, the ladies have to figure out why the Museum has decided to permanently terminate them. Next step: strike back at the top leadership who ordered their deaths so they can be free to live out the rest of their lives.

Of course, they’re ladies of a certain age, and as most women past about 40 or 50 know, invisibility is a given at this stage, but so is being underestimated. Billie, Mary Alice, Nat and Helen work together, pooling their resources and talents, to take advantage of these facts.

Killers of a Certain Age is an entertaining romp that gives “invisible” women their due. It’s in a similar humorous vein as The Thursday Murder Club, in which older people pull off things others don’t expect of them because of their advanced age. It’s a good fun mystery and “women’s bonding” type of story, and definitely wry and witty. I’d love to see a sequel.

Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes 1 use of strong language, about 90 instances of Moderate Profanity, about 60 uses of mild language, and 45 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes somewhat regular, somewhat crude and casual references to sex, pretty much all from the four main characters. There are a few mentions of sex happening but no real details past brief kissing. Violence is fairly regular, and either mildly or moderately graphic. It’s mostly “light” in tone.

*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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