Women Who Kill: A Chilling Casebook of True-Life Murders

by Al Cimino

Murder is not an equal-opportunities activity. Just 13 per cent of homicides and serious violent crimes are committed by women. However, the perpetrators face particular opprobrium. The fondest memories of most of us are the times we spent as a child with our mothers and we believe that all women should be as nurturing. The women in this book are not like that. Some murder their husbands - sometimes, like Tillie Klimek, they make a habit of it. Others, like Tracey Connelly, kill their own children. Enriqueta Martí, the 'Vampire of Barcelona', killed other people's children to make cosmetics. There are those like Florence Ransom who killed rivals in love, Vera Renczi who disposed of her many young lovers with poison, Phoolvan Devi who killed those who had raped and humiliated her, and Rosemary West for whom murder became the ultimate thrill her depraved sex life.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, History, Adult

304 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2019

Reviews

[Alyssa Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just poorly written. It was kind of written like a news report that didn't quite have all the facts, and everything was just choppy. It also didn't have any clear organization, so every five to ten pages we jumped around from country to country, from 1920 to 2008, and it did my head in.

I would much prefer that instead of 31 cases, this book focused on like 5 to 10 cases and really delved into them. Most of these cases boiled down to "So and so had a bad home life as a child, and grew up to kill because of that." They didn't really tend to tell us much else.

Also, a trans man was included in this book, which is about women who kill, and was referenced with she/her pronouns even when his male name or just his last name was used. This edition was published in 2019, so there's really just no use for that.

It wasn't much worth the $7 I spent on it, when I could've just spent the same time scrolling through news stories online and gotten all the same information.

[lizzy register!!!! · Rating 4 out of 5]

well, where do i start? i bought this book on international women’s day, slightly as a joke and just decided to read it shortly after. man. this book was quite heavy. i did feel squeamish reading about a few of these lady killers, but i figured that was going to happen. i feel like the author inserted their own personal ideas and feelings about certain women, but it did stay pretty on topic. the author gave a lot of back story and gave of insight into the psychology of the killers, which was very interesting.

[Audrey GL · Rating 1 out of 5]

The stories themselves are interesting. It doesn't provide a lot of information or insight. We could have found this information on Wikipedia easily. It is not very well written. The subsections don't always make sense in the narrative of the story and there are added details that felt unnecessary to the point that the author was trying to get accross.

For example : An entire subsection at the end detailing how Tracey Connelly was too fat to climb the stairs of the prison? I don't get it really. That is just one example.

[Tasha Leigh]

Not giving star rating as I feel like true stories shouldn't be critiqued.

Interesting read. Wish it had have been more in-depth rather than skimming over entire cases in around 10 pages. Felt like could have not included a few ladies as their stories were very dull.

[Vanessa Ramos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good.

[Lanette · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping this book would have more women murderers than the ones that poisoned. It didn’t disappoint. While their were a few poisoners in the mix there were a lot of other methods. But that’s about all I liked about this book.

It didn’t go into depth and gave details about the crimes or trials or back story. It was like a quick Wikipedia article on each one. And not a well written article. A few stories I’m not sure why they were included because there was no evidence that the woman did it, just that she allowed the murder to occur, that doesn’t make her the killer that makes her an accessory… still horrible but also different.

Also, many of the stories told snippets that weren’t necessary to the story. For instance there was two pages about one woman after she was in prison (her boyfriend killed her baby from the sounds of it and she’s the murderer in the book) all about how fat she was. How is this relevant? Interesting fact, maybe, but doesn’t need to be 20% of the total story. Nor does what happened to her brother when they were children and were separated need to be included. (Clearly that story annoyed me, everything about it was so pointless. The author could have found an actual murderess to talk about). Lazy writing.

And lastly, the ending of the authors introduction to the book was “my girlfriend is crazy like the women in this book. I think she’s going to kill me…” that’s not funny.

[Erin Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a big fan of true crime, I was thrilled when I found this book in Barnes & Noble.

I read some reviews about how other readers were disappointed the accounts of the murders weren't more detailed. Others also seemed disappointed there were too many women mentioned in the book. For me, personally, there was just the right amount of description. I felt as though if the author shared too much information on each murderer, the chapters would have begun to feel as though they were dragging. Weird, right? Such a dark and twisted topic and I don't want the chapters to feel too long.

One thing I do wish was that there was more mention of murders from other regions. Many of them were from the UK and Ireland. What I did enjoy was learning about so many women I had never heard of There were some who were legend, who I'm sure everyone has heard of. In the same vein, there were many (20+) I had never heard their tales of. I was also reminded that one of the women was actually from my state, which was where she also committed her crimes.

If someone likes true crime in the form of short story, I would recommend this book. Each chapter is like an overview, with a few extra details about each of the women. There were a couple I Googled to find out more about, but overall was happy with the content.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for those who want to learn a little bit about several different cases of women who have murdered. With each chapter dedicated to a different woman, the chapters are more of a detailed summary of each case. Important details are noted and the reader is given the highlights of the story in order to understand the case. While in depth books on these women could be written, I liked getting the hard facts to become aware of each story and I can look up more details later if I choose to. The book covers a few more recent and well known murderers but also delves in cases that are over 100 years old that I was never aware of. Many of the chapters include photos or illustrations of the women which made reading the cases more real: putting a face to the name. Cases discussed are not limited to one particular country; the stories are collected from all over the world. Some of these cases really shocked me which, as a true crime lover, can sometimes be hard to do! On the other hand, I found a few stories rather dull, especially compared to the more shocking ones, although someone else may feel the exact opposite! There is a good mix of types of murders in the book, so finding some to fit your interest shouldn't be a problem.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a frightening book. Who knew there have been so many female murderers and serial killers! The stories are short and quick to read which is nice for a book with so many names and stories. I would like to know a little more about them though. There are 31 biographical chapters of women from all over the world who committed their deadly deeds. But there are also other people these women met who joined them in their evil deeds. No, it doesn’t stop at 31. The woman depicted on the cover of my version of the book, Eileen Wuornos, was executed in Florida’s electric chair in 2002. Seldom were the women ever executed, no matter how many people they murdered. They were generally sentenced to life in prison. I read more than one book at a time, so it takes me a while to read a whole book. I’m also reading a book about male murderers which is also very scary. If you like reading about true crime, some crimes of which I’ve noticed have been modified for TV shows like CSI and Criminal Minds, this book is for you.

[Ginger Vampyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are a fan of true crime I recommend this book. Each chapter is a different murderess, going into their personal history and crimes. Dating from the mid 1800's to just a few years ago, female killers are not new. Women murderers are the minority when it comes to killers, but after reading this book they seem to be more efficient. Reading over some of the historical crimes, there do seem to a few that could have been "solved" because the police at the time needed to solve it, the evidence seems circumstantial to me. Something else that seems to be different among women killers vs. their male counterparts is that many of them started killing later in life. I don't know if that was the author's choice to showcase these murderesses or if it is a statistic. One thing that was disappointed to read is there is a case involving a transgender (or would be called transgender) male, but the author refers to this person as 'she'. Whether a lack of respect on the part of the author or using that gender identifier that this person had to live with because of the times, is uncertain.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t normally give reviews for nonfiction because it feels like I’m reviewing someone’s life but this time I did.
I gave this book 2.5 stars not for the information or stories in the book but because of the writing.

When each chapter is a different women who has killed you expect some sort of cohesion. Each chapter starting with the information of the murderer OR information on the victim. Then their back story followed by what happened and sentencing. That’s sort of flow.

Not this book it would jump around way to much in each chapter and introduce so many unnecessary details and people that I was often confused.

This could be an amazing piece of nonfiction if the author was better at the planning of each chapter.

[Keith Lytton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been an avid reader of true crime for a long time...and I hesitate to get books like these as they normally rehash the same people over and over but this book was different...so many others ...never heard names...such horrible actions...many of these were from the early 1900's and late 1800's so is ...no doubt ..the reason I had not heard many of them...but the crimes are still incredibly horrible...

a quick read and one ....that since it is in sections per killer...was easy to make breaks on...

do recommend this one!

[Channelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book feels like it was written by a fourth grader. The sentences are random and disjointed. Example:

“At 20, she married 69-year-old Louis Fell, beating him with his walking stick when he refused her constant demands for money. He took out a restraining order and filed for divorce. Then came a rare stroke of luck. When her brother Keith suddenly died from cancer in July 1976, she was surprised to receive an insurance payout of $10,000, but she quickly squandered the money buying a car which she promptly wrecked.

I just can’t. I had to abandon this book. To goodwill it goes.

[Stormie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had a lot of potential, however I couldn’t even get past the first chapter!! 😳 it was so chaotic. All over the place. Multiple times, I found myself going back to the first or second page to reference things because I was just straight up confused on who or what they were talking about. One minute we’re taking about this person, and the next sentence is talking about someone completely different. It was just poor writing IMO. Women killers are rarely talked about. So I was very intrigued with this book. I was let down honestly. 1 star just for concept..

[PN · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. Some of the chapters and cases were really interesting and others less so. The very less one felt like it was tacked up just to have a set number of chapters of pages. The writing style itself was mediocre. It very much read like a string of blog posts that were gathered together and bound in a book. You'll read this and find interesting true crime trivia tidbits and be shocked but it likely won't stay in your memory bank very long.

[Mackenzie Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will say , I do appreciate the number of cases in this book, and they were not all very high profile cases . a lot of them I didn't know of, and i can appreciate he didnt stick to just well-known women who have killed . the writing threw me off a little, and I feel it was a little all over the place with each case and story . I found myself having to go back and forth pages to piece the story together .

[Kristen Tarr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative book regarding 31 various women serial killer(s). Some were discussed in pairs, others by themselves. Overall, very good information that appeared well researched. However there is a lack of references to where the information was gathered. There could have been more information on some but generally the information/chapter length offered quick information.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

2. 75. First off I did like the fact there was some women in here that I had not heard of. The author did a good job of summarizing all of the murderers. My main issue is the author included a Trans man into this book about women who kill. Plus used the wrong pro nouns throughout the whole story. This was written in 2019 there is no reason for that.

[Felicite Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this is a great book to look up brief facts about some murderers. Overall some parts were confusing and the timelines kind of jumbled around. One instance a trans man was misgendered his entire part of his story which is uncomfortable. However it is great to get the basic quick facts within 5-10 pages per person.

[Acenith Claassen · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I would never excuse the very heinous and violent crimes committed by the women in this book, it does make me sad. How different could the lives of these women and many other people been had they been afforded basic human interaction as very young infants and children?

Simply heartbreaking!!

[Tatiana House · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m a true crime fanatic. This book overall was interesting due to the crimes but it lacked a lot of information. I’m not sure if I just want to know every little detail or what but getting a brief overview was not what I personally wanted. I think this book would be good for those who just want the simple information and not the full account.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chilling is one word for it. Focused on a collection of true-life murders brought by women on men, women, and children, the book is one absolutely insane story after another and the justice, or lack thereof, their victims received. True crime fans will read for the content, because it's not really about the fancy storytelling here.

[Brianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean... how in the world do you rate something when you've read about some horrifying women?

Some stories were eh and some made me sick to my stomach, but overall the writing style was easy to read.

[Kayla Dixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many cases and it detailed enough, still a hood read though

[October · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating but very sad.

[Ranu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Certainly some interesting content but I was very disappointed in how poorly it was written.

[Evette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read. Mostly focuses on murderers in the UK. I do wish the book focused on fewer killers and went more in depth. Some women featured paled in comparison to others.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating stories. Disappointed at the misgendering of and inclusion of a trans man in this book. Murderer or not, language is important.

[RajDarknessAngel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me question who WOMEN could possibly think about killing/ feel no remorse.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have been better. Read like wikipedia. But it was full of interesting stories.