Time for another one of my monthly lists and this time I decided to be extremely specific with my list so my criteria was pretty exacting. As you may have gathered from the title the books had to be about fictional female serial killers which is not necessarily an extremely common theme in fiction. The books had to be fiction and the women themselves also had to be fiction, they could not be based on real women or situations at least to the best of my knowledge anyway. They also had to be actual serial killers meaning they had killed three or more people. I must admit I used a little bit of leeway on that one as not all of them had killed three people before the beginning of the story but all of them have by the end of the story. And as always I tried for sufficient differences that they obviously did not feel identical when reading. I think I ended up with some good choices but as always let me know what you think and if you know any other works that would fit this list let me know.
- Serial Killer Support Group
My first choice was Serial Killer Support Group by Saratoga Schaefer. I do want to apologize because my inclusion of this book is probably a slight spoiler for the story. That being said, it does fit my criteria pretty well. It is about Cyra Griffin who is a young woman determined to find out what happened to her sister who was recently murdered. When their mutual friend who works with the police reveals that it may have been a serial killer and that they are looking into a serial killer support group in order to identify suspects she decides to act. Let’s just say that her act and persona within the group happens to be extremely convincing and leave it at that. I will also mention that of three characters I have picked out she is probably the coldest and the closest in personality to what we think of as a regular or typical serial killer.
2. This Girl’s a Killer
My second choice is This Girl’s A Killer by Emma C. Wells and this book is about exactly what it says. The killer is Cecilia who in terms of scale and type actually fits the serial killer description the best. She routinely hunts men that she determines are a threat in some way to women. Her criteria for that is a little odd and I am not entirely sure that she is completely sane even if she functions fairly normally around other people. As you can imagine this book was a great fit for my list but there is one thing that makes it stick out from the others I have picked. The book is at least somewhat comedic and I say that because the book is about anything and everything that can go wrong with what should be a routine murder and just how close Cecilia comes to getting caught because of it. It definitely has a more lighthearted tone than my other picks but it is still worth including.
3. The Kind Worth Killing
My final choice is actually the first book in a series and it is The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson. The killer in this book is Lily Kintner and just saying that is probably a minor spoiler for the series but not enough to ruin it fortunately. Lily is a rather unusual serial killer in that she only kills when she determines the need for it though she does have the three person body count by the end of the book. She doesn’t go out of her way to kill but she also doesn’t shy away from it when she thinks it is necessary as she freely acknowledges that her sense of morality is different from most of humanity. The interesting thing is that she does not seem proud of her kills as she goes out of her way to not think about them after the fact though she does hide the bodies and any evidence wherever possible. In my opinion this makes her the more unusual one of the three. Still worthy of including but definitely different to the other two as well. Let me know what you think of my picks and share your ideas for books that could have been included.