When Boomers Go Bad: A Crime and Mystery Collection by the Ladies Killing Circle

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta. He is co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities:
British Views of Canada, 1880–1914, author of The Salvation Army and
the Public, and editor of “Improved by Cult

The subtitle just about sums it up. When female boomers go bad they
write crime and mystery stories in which the female boomers who go bad
commit murder. It’s an engaging combination, in this case resulting in
about 30 sometimes witty, often funny, very readable stories. What makes
it more so is the variety of plot, voice, and style. If you read one you
will not (as you might expect in this kind of collection) have read all:
the semi-serious social commentary embedded in Barbara Fradkin’s
cleverly written “Spoils of War,” for example, contrasts nicely with
Pat Wilson and Kris Wood’s very funny “How to Make a Killing in Real
Estate.” And so, throughout the book, there are enough differences in
the storylines, the personalities of the characters, the crime
scenarios, the cover-ups, the humorous and the deadly serious (excuse
the pun) to make one read them all with pleasure. And, even if one is a
little repulsed by the thought of so many women killing off their
spouses, one could always imagine it the other way round. It’s a genre
probably not well known in Canada, but represented here are a lot of
very good writers, deserving of a bloodthirsty readership.