A superb collection of true-crime stories—written by Texas Monthly’s legendary feature writer Skip Hollandsworth—that reminds us why America is perennially obsessed with the genre.

Skip Hollandsworth has been covering true crime since long before the podcasts, networks, and television shows discovered it. Texas born and bred, the revered journalist joined Texas Monthly in 1989, and the stories he has written over three-plus decades have helped define a locale and a culture.

Curated by Hollandsworth, She Kills brings together beloved stories that focus in particular on female perpetrators—from the high schooler who was so desperate to move back in with Mom that she had no choice but to poison her father’s refried beans, to the wallflower nurse in small-town Texas who one day started killing off her patients, to the lovelorn dental hygienist who ordered a hit on her rival.

These are expertly crafted tales that will stop readers in their tracks and leave them gasping with shock and pleasure. Each story is updated by Hollandsworth, who provides background on his original storytelling and new information on the perpetrators and victims, where available.

She Kills is a jaw-dropping, addictively readable compendium of women whose often sensational crimes and circumstances put them on the wrong side of the law. 

She Kills is illustrated with 44 black-and-white photos throughout.