Women Assassins

I am forever and ever on the give me more translated crime bandwagon. This is one of those crime books with a great premise that I thought had a great execution: If your career has been murdering people for money and you’ve reached the age of retirement, what happens?

Hornclaw is a sixty-five-year-old contract killer. She’s spent decades murdering people for money, no questions asked. She’s very good at her job. But she’s been getting less assignments lately–are they trying to retire her? Can a contract killer just retire? She doesn’t want to. But an error on a job turns her life upside down…

If you like dark-ish crime novels, being in a character’s head, and want a character-driven book with added thrilling scenes don’t miss this one. Nancy Wu narrates the audiobook.

(TW attempted sexual assault/ mentions drug overdose/ baby killing/ natural dog death from age/ child kidnapping)

First, a note on comps and genre. For super strict cozy genre readers, there’s a few curse words, there’s no shexy times, there are darker themes and discussions but not graphic or on page, and the lead is literally a murderer—hence the whole theme. I wouldn’t put this as a comp for Pushing Daisies—outside of including pies and the magic being the same kind, just a pinch in our real world. I don’t say that as a knock on this book, I just like books to find their right audience rather than readers getting angry they didn’t get what they thought they were going to get.

Daisy Ellery murders men she thinks deserve to no longer inflict their harm on the world via her pies. The way Like Water For Chocolate infused emotion into food, she basically just makes murder pies that don’t have any added ingredient other than the magic that she is into them. And the good news is the pie can’t kill anyone else no matter who eats it, only the intended recipient. And they don’t have to die if they can choose to be a better person—most don’t take that option.

If you’re looking to read some mouthwatering pie-making and like revenge, cooking competitions, and a side dash of romance, here you go. There’s even a pie recipe–sans poison–at the end! Tanya Eby narrates the audiobook.

(TW domestic abuse/ mentions past parent with cancer, parent with addiction/ mentions past death from ectopic pregnancy/ sex recording without knowledge)