Having long worked for an exclusive network of assassins called the Museum, Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie are hitting 60 and being sent to pasture with an all-expenses-paid vacation, their well-honed people skills no longer needed in an age of technology. It's soon evident that high-ups at the Museum have marked them for assassination, and they must figure out how to survive. From the New York Times best-selling ("Lady Julia Grey series"), Edgar Award-nominated ("Veronica Speedwell Mysteries") Raybourn.

Billie Webster was a college student when she was recruited by The Museum. She, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie were the first all-women team of assassins trained to kill Nazis. Eventually, they moved from Nazis to dictators, arms dealers, drug smugglers, and sex traffickers. It was an excellent job with full benefits, including retirement now, 40 years later. When they go on a cruise, though, Billie recognizes a fellow assassin who hasn't made contact with them. Her team reunites for work when they realize they are the targets, now expendable as retirees. Before they blow up the ship to give themselves time to gather information, they make sure all the passengers are off safely. It becomes a fast-paced gamble to see if they can save themselves before skilled assassins take them out. Although they were trained by a mentor at The Museum, even the present board underestimates women, and killers, of a certain age. VERDICT Fans of Raybourn's "Veronica Speedwell" historical mysteries will enjoy this well-plotted story, and a thriller featuring four skilled, well-trained women is a treat in a male-dominated genre. A fast-paced, explosive, fun novel, reminiscent of the 2010 movie RED.—Lesa Holstine

Edgar finalist Raybourn (the Speedwell series) makes a dazzling excursion out of the Victorian era with this uproarious contemporary thriller. Billie, Mary Alice, Natalie, and Helen have been a cozy quartet of "avenging goddesses" for more than 40 years, one of the "most elite assassin squads on earth," recruited in late 1978 by an "extra governmental" organization called the Museum. Soon after they're forced to go on an all-expenses-paid retirement cruise in the Caribbean, they discover they've apparently been targeted for death by the Museum board. They immediately go into investigative overdrive, relying on their expert training and experiences to uncover the means and motives behind their potential demise. Flashbacks to several of their high-profile cases, including a Zanzibar hit on an aging baroness that comes back to haunt Billie, keep the reader guessing. Colorful regional details and vividly portrayed secondary characters flesh out this rollicking tale. Fans of Helen Tursten and Richard Osman will relish watching these badass women in their 60s ("no one notices you unless you want them to," Billie observes) swing into action. Raybourn has outdone herself. Agent: Pamela Hopkins, Hopkins Literary Assoc. (Sept.)