What an absolute blast! Deanna Raybourn delivers another witty, sharp, and wildly entertaining installment with Kills Well with Others. Spending time with Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie felt like reuniting with old friends, ones who just happen to be expert assassins. Fast-paced, funny, and full of heart, this book proves once again that life (and adventure) doesn’t end at fifty. I adored every page and can’t wait for more.

The Museum assassins are back. They may be mature but they aren’t done yet. A whirlwind trip across the ocean and through Europe. Only a few dead bodies. Arc from NetGalley.

Kills Well With Others by Deanna Raybourn
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Our favorite four senior citizens are back. These four assassins have been called to track down a gangster who is killing off agents. The job involves planes, boats, trains, and…a chicken?
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What I liked:
-So much entertainment! These ladies are so sassy.
-I liked seeing the ladies all together with their nearest and dearest for a few scenes.
-The ending was pretty suspenseful!
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3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I enjoyed this story a lot, although the first is still my favorite.

I introduced the first book in this series, <I>Killers of a Certain Age</I>, by describing the operatives as similar to the character of Victoria, played by Helen Mirren in the movie "RED" (Retired, Extremely Dangerous). Readers are introduced to the women in that book as they survive an attempt to kill them off while they are on their retirement cruise. This time around they are called out of their well-earned leisure activities to help the Museum (the code name for their organization) discover who is leaking information about past missions and who is using that knowledge to kill off the operatives involved.

With each woman having her own special skills (demolition, breaking & entering, etc.) and the help of friends they have made along the way, they set off across the globe tracking down clues and suspects - and fending off assassination attempts. The main action takes place in our current timeline, so the earlier missions happened years before. There is intrigue, action, and ladies of a certain age demonstrating just why they were top operatives. Readers will be rooting for them to show they still have the skills to get the job done.

Unfortunately i kept picking this up and putting it back on my shelf

Wventhough the first book was an easy 5 stars, this one did not live up to the hype, yes there was some action, but something about it dragged, too snappy and teens attitude!

Not as fun or exiting as the first one

I DNFed at around 60%

These ladies are always a hoot! They are leading decidedly unexciting lives when the Museum reaches out, they have a mole and they are targeting a very specific set of agents. Those involved in missions that affected a very dangerous gangster, one that would not hesitate to shoot first and ask questions after. Of course, our favorite "mature" agents are on that list. To protect themselves they end up all over Europe in pursuit of the person behind this, and trying to survive. A fun read, and if you haven't read Killers of a Certain Age, go read it!

The premise is solid: our favorite quartet of retirement-age assassins are pulled back in for another globe-trotting mission, complete with shady villains and sabotage. But the execution wasn't it. The pacing lagged, and the tension never fully built the way it did in book one.

That said, I still love these women. Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie are fierce, funny, and deeply competent in a way that’s wildly satisfying. The themes of aging, loyalty, and reinvention remain fresh, and I’ll always root for more women over 50 being unapologetically badass. I just wish the plot had given them more to work with.

This is a very entertaining book about four women friends who are long time assassins. They were recruited to take care of criminals above the law, and as women they could get into places no man could. Depending on what they wore, like a maid’s outfit, no one would ever remember that they were there.
The ladies have a long history of assassinations, and they aren’t as young as they used to be. Now someone from their past is after them personally.
This is a fun romp that recommend, 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

As a huge Raybourn fan, I had to request this one. It did not disappoint. I loved reading these characters again, the first book was so good.

Retirement isn't easy for former assassins. Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie find themselves pulled back into the world of espionage and intrigue when the murder of a former colleague appears to be linked to a former job. Now the quartet must figure out who's behind the death before their own lives end. Racing around the European continent chasing leads and wearing disguises, this second novel in the series following Killers of a Certain Age is an adventurous mystery, a little cozy and a little dangerous! While the plot is fast paced and entertaining, it's the characters that make the series worth reading and we get to dive further into their friendships, hopes, dreams, and fears. I highly recommend this fun and suspenseful read!

Returning to the world of Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie felt like catching up with old friends—albeit ones with a very particular set of skills. After a well-earned break filled with watercolor classes and yoga sessions, the ladies are itching for action, and when Naomi Ndiaye from the Museum calls, they’re more than ready to dive back in.

While I enjoyed being back with my favorite retired contract killers, I didn’t find this installment as strong as the first. The plot felt a bit scattered at times, and the flashbacks, though meant to add depth, often disrupted the flow of the story for me. I also wished the narrative had gone a bit deeper—some parts felt too surface-level, missing the emotional or thematic punch I was hoping for.

That said, the charm and chemistry of the core group still shine through, and their banter and bond remain a highlight. Despite my reservations, I’m definitely on board for the next book in the series. These women are just too fun to walk away from.

I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as the first but I absolutely love how this author tackles sexism and ageism and shows how women can continue to be bad asses even into old age! I love the message of these books and the female friendships. This had the same awesome humor from the first book and was truly a blast to read. This Golden Girls meets Charlie’s Angels series will definitely stand the test of time!

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for this ARC!

I so enjoy your writing. I do hope you will continue this series and writing about middle aged women.

I very much enjoyed #1 of this series, and the enjoyment continued with #2. I love the premise of the books, and the relationship between the four women. Being a thriller, there is a certain amount of logic you need to be willing to suspend when reading it. But it’s worth it to enjoy this fun read. I want these books to be turned into a streaming series with a kickass cast of women. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this as an ARC.

There's just something I love about a bunch of old retired female assassins as action heroes. I love these characters and how they interact with each other. Raybourn does a great job of showing how these ladies have literally know each other for decades and how much they know and understand each other.

The flashbacks kept pulling me out of the story a little so it took a bit longer to get through than I would have liked. But in the end you can't help but feel love for these unlikely killers.

I really liked the first book, but this one wasn't the one for me. I felt a little underwhelmed and bored while reading it. I hope to read it again... maybe it was the mood I was in.

Our four female assassins are back! This time, they’ve been hired for a covert mission to uncover a mole within their organization and take down a gangster targeting Museum agents. Everything I loved about Killers of a Certain Age—the witty dialogue, the larger-than-life “mature” female characters, and the engaging writing—can also be found in Kills Well With Others. However, this time, the characters' mission and relationships are even more deeply developed.

Unfortunately I just couldn’t get into the second installment of this series. I loved the ladies in Killers of a Certain Age - and I enjoyed them here…but the plot lost me and I just found that this book couldn’t hold my attention. I read about 65% of the book before deciding to move on.

Raybourn created a fun sequel for her quartet of aging assassins. Billie narrates and I always imagine Jamie Lee Curtis in the cinematic action of my imagination. This is full of travels - there's a QEII transatlantic passage, a stay in Venice with boat chasing and piazzas, and a centerpiece scene on a train (a la Orient Express). It's a little bloody and there are, of course, the take down of Nazi offspring and art thieves.
A page turning mystery that lacks any plot holes to the naked eye.
Thanks so much for the ARC! I always enjoy Raybourn's style and humor.

Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn is a fun and fast-paced second book in the Killers of a Certain Age mystery series.

We pick up a little over a year since the events of the first novel. The ladies have kept in touch but have been living pretty far apart from one another, until they all receive an invitation for another project. It seems that there's a mole in their organization and they may be the only ones to sniff them out. Off the books, of course, or the mole might figure out that they know.

I've had a lot of fun reading this series! I borrowed the audiobook from my local library and followed along in my physical review copy. Both narrators did a phenomenal job! Their execution, especially during humorous scenes, is fantastic. There are a couple scenes with a chicken in them where I really lost it.

The narrators have split duties in the book: one reads the present storyline and the other reads interstitial flashbacks to previous missions to provide depth for the case at hand. I said this before in my review of the first book, but I love it when authors use this kind of dual-timeline plot structure.

I'm still really enjoying Billie as our main POV character. Her sense of humor really works for me and I was overjoyed to see where she was (and who she was with) at the beginning of this book. We did get to dig a bit deeper into the lives of some of the other three ladies in this installment, which was lovely, but I would really enjoy a deeper dive into some of the other ladies. I'm especially interested in seeing what Helen does next. Natalie feels a tad bit underdeveloped, or maybe she's just not as memorable to me as the other three ladies.

This book would be great for fans of the Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman or the Vera Wong series by Jesse Q. Sutanto. All of these including folks in their 60s or older sorting out mysteries, though Killers of a Certain Age has much faster pacing and leans more into thriller than cozy mystery.

I hope we get more books in this series!