Can You Root For A Murderer?

Some of these lady killers are ruthless serial killers, while some are accidental criminals. Question is: do you want them to win?

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Can You Root For A Murderer?

Some of these lady killers are ruthless serial killers, while some are accidental criminals. Question is: do you want them to win?

Jamie Canaves

April 22, 2026

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From young to old, and around the world, I have nine fictional women who are some kind of killer—and who have all found themselves in a predicament. Now the question is: Can you root for a murderer?

If they’re being blackmailed?

You’d Look Better as a Ghost by Joanna Wallace

Here, we follow Claire through a past and present storyline. She has managed to make it this far in life without getting caught for her hobby of killing people who piss her off. Before you think she’s out here as a vigilante, her last murder involved being told an email claiming she’d won a prize was incorrect. Now she has two major problems: her doctor makes her go to a bereavement group, and a member of said group witnessed her last killing and decided to blackmail her...

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If they’ve paid their debt to society?

I’m Not the Only Murderer in My Retirement Home by Fergus Craig

Septuagenarian Carol is a serial killer. Does she think the people she killed didn’t deserve it? Not really. But she spent decades in prison and believes that she paid the price for her crimes and should now be allowed to live peacefully as a retired serial killer. So she moves into a retirement community and makes new friends without telling anyone about her past. When another resident dies, her true identity comes out, and she’s forced to figure out who the killer is to not go down for the one time she didn’t commit the murder in her vicinity.

If they are being discriminated against with ageism?

The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo

Hornclaw has been a contract killer for decades and has never asked questions or cared about assignments beyond getting them done. But now that she’s in her 60’s, she’s thinking a lot about retirement and how the agency is treating her. Do contract killers actually get to retire? And is her first time breaking the rule that states she can’t form an attachment with someone she met on the job cause for alarm?

If they only kill bad men?

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

Dual storylines follow a college freshman at Gorman University and a professor. I’m going to focus on the professor because she’s the killer. Scarlett Clark isn’t just contributing to the university as an English professor; she has also become a vigilante. Every year, she picks the worst man on campus and kills him in a manner that doesn’t get ruled as murder. But detectives are starting to ask questions.

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If it was an accident?

Dial A for Aunties (Aunties #1) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Meddelin Chan was on a terrible date that took a scary turn, and in defending herself, she accidentally killed her date. What’s a young woman to do? Turns out, when your family runs a wedding planning business and there’s a huge event, you all come together to dispose of the body so you don’t go down for murder. What could go wrong? Everything, in a hilarious hijinks and comedy of errors kind of way!

If someone is trying to kill them?

Killers of a Certain Age (Killers of a Certain Age #1) by Deanna Raybourn

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie were recruited in the ‘70s by an organization that kills powerful and dangerous people. Now in retirement age, they get a big wakeup call: no more missions and no retirement for them. Why? There’s been a hit put out on them.

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this she lf, and see 2026 releases! Until next time, come talk books with me on Bluesky, Goodreads, Litsy, and Multitudes Contained.

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