# Female Assassins in fiction?



## easyreader (Feb 20, 2011)

I just reread Vengeance about the Israeli team send out after Munich to strike back. A really cool part of book was when they ran into female assassins who took out one of the members of the team and how they went after her and killed http://www.amazon.com/Vengeance-True-Story-Israeli-Counter-Terrorist/dp/0743291646
I just read Bodyguard of Lies http://www.amazon.com/Bodyguard-Lies-Black-Ops-ebook/dp/B003AYEP4A/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298945526&sr=1-2 and thought the backstory of the female assassin that book was pretty cool-- what turns a woman into a professional killer?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Probably not the sort of thing you're looking for, but a couple female assassins are important supporting characters in Steven Brust's _Yendi_ (the main character, a male assassin,


Spoiler



ends up marrying one of them


).


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## yomamma (Feb 10, 2011)

Jennifer Estep's series. Start with SPIDER'S BITE.


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## WilliamM (Feb 10, 2009)

The Blonde
http://www.amazon.com/The-Blonde-ebook/dp/B001K6L7R8/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1299012649&sr=8-1


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## Patrick Skelton (Jan 7, 2011)

I'm always up for a good female assassin!


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Patrick Skelton said:


> I'm always up for a good female assassin!


Be careful what you ask for.


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## Vivi_Anna (Feb 12, 2011)

I second Jennifer Estep's series.  LOVE it.  but it's urban fantasy, not contemporary, for those looking for real life type of assassins.


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## Joseph Robert Lewis (Oct 31, 2010)

easyreader said:


> what turns a woman into a professional killer?


Why would it be any different for a woman?


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## Leigh Reynolds (Mar 2, 2011)

NogDog said:


> Probably not the sort of thing you're looking for, but a couple female assassins are important supporting characters in Steven Brust's _Yendi_ (the main character, a male assassin,
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...


Yep, one in Martin Scott's Thraxas series, too.


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## Leigh Reynolds (Mar 2, 2011)

easyreader said:


> and thought the backstory of the female assassin that book was pretty cool-- what turns a woman into a professional killer?


Greg Rucka's Atticus Kodiak series has an assassin named Drama in it, and does explore that sort of question.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

If you like fantasy, Dawn McCullough (one of Kindleboard's resident authors), has written a historical fantasy series featuring a female assassin--the first book is . She's gotten some excellent reviews on Amazon.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

Joseph Robert Lewis said:


> Why would it be any different for a woman?


Good point, what turns anyone into an assassin? I think that people find assassins interesting because it is so far out of normal behavior for anyone. People might kill out of anger, but you have to walk through a lot of doors to be able to kill just for money. Does the assassin come into the job with a calloused view of human life? Or does the assassin have to beat down feelings toward fellow humans? Is it even possible for an assassin to "shut it off" when they aren't on the job? It would be like imagining Mister Rogers as having a second job as an assassin.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

QuantumIguana said:


> Good point, what turns anyone into an assassin? I think that people find assassins interesting because it is so far out of normal behavior for anyone. People might kill out of anger, but you have to walk through a lot of doors to be able to kill just for money. Does the assassin come into the job with a calloused view of human life? Or does the assassin have to beat down feelings toward fellow humans? Is it even possible for an assassin to "shut it off" when they aren't on the job? It would be like imagining Mister Rogers as having a second job as an assassin.


I think you hit the mark with the fascination factor. I imagine some assassins are great compartmentalizers, others simply sociopaths, and others maybe motivated by some extreme emotional state where they feel killing for money is justified in some way--in any case, it's far outside the realm of normal for most people, therein the fascination.


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## J.M Pierce (May 13, 2010)

purplepen79 said:


> If you like fantasy, Dawn McCullough (one of Kindleboard's resident authors), has written a historical fantasy series featuring a female assassin--the first book is . She's gotten some excellent reviews on Amazon.


I agree. I just finished this a week ago and really enjoyed it.


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

A couple of John Sanford's Davenport books feature Clara Barton (I think that's her name) and she was a pretty interesting character.


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## Bob Mayer (Feb 20, 2011)

Back in the 90s, selling female assassins was hard.  In Bodyguard of Lies I have a female assassin and a housewife getting chased across the country.  I had a couple of movie studios very interested (can you see Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Anniston together?), but no publishers.  Managed to sell it in the early 2000's when the attitude changed.  Now it's the rave.  I remember watching La Femme Nikita in the original French version when it came out and thought it was a brilliant concept.


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## Tara Maya (Nov 4, 2010)

I think that statistically there are more male assassins than female assassins, but it sometimes seems that in fiction it's the other way around.


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## JeffM (Nov 22, 2009)

2nd suggestion for Rucka's Atticus Kodiak series.  We first meet "Drama', in the book "Smoker".


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## TheRiddler (Nov 11, 2010)

Another urban fantasy series featuring a female assassin is the excellent Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks.

She's not the main character, but does have a very important role, and her background is explored.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

Joseph Robert Lewis said:


> Why would it be any different for a woman?


We're actually meaner. And we calculate the odds and risks differently than men.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

NogDog said:


> Probably not the sort of thing you're looking for, but a couple female assassins are important supporting characters in Steven Brust's _Yendi_ (the main character, a male assassin,
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...


Thanks for this. It sounds like something I'd enjoy. I'll have to look up the storyline to see what it's all about.


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## easyreader (Feb 20, 2011)

Von Lustbader used to have some pretty hot women in his Ninja series way back when.


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## ginaf20697 (Jan 31, 2009)

Kelley Armstrong has a series that is pretty good. I wish she'd put more out there.


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## Stephen Prosapio (Jul 13, 2010)

There's a female assassin in John Twelve Hawks' _The Traveler_. It wasn't the best read ever, but wasn't horrible. The next book in the series got beaten on pretty badly though.


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## Joseph Robert Lewis (Oct 31, 2010)

MariaESchneider said:


> We're actually meaner. And we calculate the odds and risks differently than men.


That's an interesting point. Stereotypically, men are more likely to take dangerous risks to reap large rewards, and thus also suffer disproportionately worse consequences when they fail. Would that make for a more conservative and careful female assassin?


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## valeriec80 (Feb 24, 2011)

Well, when women do kill, they're much more likely to do it for financial or personal gain, rather than just out of anger (i.e. crimes of passion). Like most female serial killers are black widows or suffering from screwed-up Munchausen's. Whereas male serial killers are usually more into the idea of controlling their victims.

Of course, assassins are arguably more mentally stable than serial killers.


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## Tara Maya (Nov 4, 2010)

"assassins are arguably more mentally stable than serial killers"

Seems like there is probably an overlap. Arguably *all* serial killers are sociopaths, but probably a high portion of assassins are. I read somewhere that spies/assassins also have the highest portion of formally sexually abused individuals second only to one other profession, prostitution.


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## easyreader (Feb 20, 2011)

I appreciate all the comments and recommendations.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

Bob Mayer said:


> Back in the 90s, selling female assassins was hard. In Bodyguard of Lies I have a female assassin and a housewife getting chased across the country. I had a couple of movie studios very interested (can you see Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Anniston together?), but no publishers. Managed to sell it in the early 2000's when the attitude changed. Now it's the rave. I remember watching La Femme Nikita in the original French version when it came out and thought it was a brilliant concept.


I loved Nikita too. There was an American remake, can't remember the name, that was really bad. So often the female assassin/spy/cop is a secondary character -- in books by men, at least. I recall, in the film Miami Vice, there was a woman commando, a minor role, and I thought: "THAT'S who this movie should be about."


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

Joseph Robert Lewis said:


> That's an interesting point. Stereotypically, men are more likely to take dangerous risks to reap large rewards, and thus also suffer disproportionately worse consequences when they fail. Would that make for a more conservative and careful female assassin?


I think we assess risk/reward differently for one, but situations are different for each as well. What a male might view as VERY risky, a female might view as not as risky--depends on the situation. For example, a male who has to mingle with other males to get to his target isn't going to "see" the same risks as a female who has to mingle with that same crowd. Same thing in reverse. A female might view a bunch of women as a certain type of risk--and in fact, she's more likely to view them as higher risk than a male counterpart (just based on muscle alone.) The guy might not expect the women to be as large a threat--they aren't as commonly "dangerous." But a woman, is going to be much more aware of the politics playing out in a crowd of women--and in fact her entering the room might change the politics because she is an unknown woman. A single male entering will also change the politics, but has a completely different effect on the women.

If a woman is entering a male realm and she can use her looks...well, possibly less risk than that same male entering a male realm--and he might automatically be assessed as a risk, whereas the woman might automatically be assessed as a non-risk simply because she is female.

Speaking from a woman's point of view, I think I'm much more aware of female AND male politics than my husband. He tends to ignore it. Now, granted, we aren't assassins (no, really, we aren't!) but as a woman who has worked in corporate America, I'm VERY aware of politics whether they be the female ones or the male one or the interaction of the two. A lot of men simply don't care. They go in, do their job and say screw the politics. Most men I know, if they are playing the political game are totally blindsided by a female who plays the game well--and when one does play well, they tend to immediately side with other males. They group together in the confusion instinctively. Women don't necessarily react the same when the roles are reversed. For example, if I were in such a political situation where the power of the moment happened to be mine, I would *not* rely upon other females to side with me. To strengthen my position, I'd go for the support of the strongest in the room, whether it was male, female or little green toad from Mars. Men don't EXPECT women to be in positions of power and thus are rarely going to go that route.

I think if you're an assassin you have to be more aware of these types of things--politics and what people are likely to do. But a woman in that position is not going to assume she has the support of anyone. She certainly isn't going to expect female bonding automatically (and cultures differ as well). Men can take greater physical risks as well--but a woman might be able to take risks that involve escapes that count on smaller fence openings, smaller tunnels or being in a spot unexpectedly. And we have to be fast--we have to count on the surprise factor--but we might also be able to "fake" someone out easier than a male.

As for meanness, well, most women I know hold a grudge better than a lot of males. We don't forget. And we can take our time with revenge. We can whittle away at you, one piece at a time. Translated to assassins, this means we might have more skill and patience in whittling away a defense. We don't have to hurry in there and BAM shoot someone. We are used to assessing and finding a single weak point and going after it.

Not that men can't be mean too. They can. These are just generalizations.


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## Guest (Mar 10, 2011)

Joseph Robert Lewis said:


> Why would it be any different for a woman?


Didn't you get the memo? We women are peaceful and serene and sensitive, and therefore only the most heinous of pasts (caused by evil men in their lives, of course) could drive them to become assassins.

So says the woman with the kind and gentle "sith witch" avatar.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Didn't you get the memo? We women are peaceful and serene and sensitive, and therefore only the most heinous of pasts (caused by evil men in their lives, of course) could drive them to become assassins.
> 
> So says the woman with the kind and gentle "sith witch" avatar.


   

Sounds like a Lifetime movie in the making . . .

Seriously, women are just as power-hungry as men--they're just more willing to be behind-the-scenes and sneaky when obtaining and keeping that power. I may have a slightly skewed take on it--I was the unwitting center of some very nasty, passive-aggressive office politics recently that eventually led to me quitting my job. I'm sadder but wiser now--I'll never leave myself that vulnerable again in a work situation. I still don't quite know what happened, except that I believe some women could make excellent assassins by sheer sneakiness alone.


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## Jorean (Jul 31, 2010)

Jon Olson said:


> I loved Nikita too. There was an American remake, can't remember the name, that was really bad. So often the female assassin/spy/cop is a secondary character -- in books by men, at least. I recall, in the film Miami Vice, there was a woman commando, a minor role, and I thought: "THAT'S who this movie should be about."


The American remake was Point of No Return.... I think. I saw a bit of it and it was just bad.

I have to admit both of the TV shows are a guilty pleasure of mine.


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## Dan Ames (Feb 8, 2011)

I love female assassins.  My favorite was the original LaFemme Nikita....


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

MariaESchneider said:


> I think we assess risk/reward differently for one, but situations are different for each as well. What a male might view as VERY risky, a female might view as not as risky--depends on the situation. For example, a male who has to mingle with other males to get to his target isn't going to "see" the same risks as a female who has to mingle with that same crowd. Same thing in reverse. A female might view a bunch of women as a certain type of risk--and in fact, she's more likely to view them as higher risk than a male counterpart (just based on muscle alone.) The guy might not expect the women to be as large a threat--they aren't as commonly "dangerous."
> 
> Speaking from a woman's point of view, I think I'm much more aware of female AND male politics than my husband. He tends to ignore it.


This is a great post, I think. I do believe that women are smarter and more courageous socially than men (and not just socially). They're just plain more interesting, not just for the way they might look (though, sometimes, that, too). This is why, for me, it's easier to be around women than men. They actually TALK. Casual conversation between men is too often a social power game, full of sports minutia, braggadocio and corporate climbing, lightly veiled. Obviously, this is a handful of vast generalizations, but on some kind of average basis, I think, it holds.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

Jon Olson said:


> This is a great post, I think. I do believe that women are smarter and more courageous socially than men (and not just socially). They're just plain more interesting, not just for the way they might look (though, sometimes, that, too). This is why, for me, it's easier to be around women than men. They actually TALK. Casual conversation between men is too often a social power game, full of sports minutia, braggadocio and corporate climbing, lightly veiled. Obviously, this is a handful of vast generalizations, but on some kind of average basis, I think, it holds.


Guys can be pretty interesting too, especially intelligent, watchful ones. A male assassin would *have* to be aware of the differences between men and women and their social norms. A good one had darn well better be smart enough to be on guard against a woman as a possible threat or he's gonna have a short life. I think the things men miss most often are the veiled compliments from women that are actually snark. Men do hidden threats (that aren't all that hidden) whereas women do hidden insults. It's this covert behavior that I think would come in handy for an assassin. Being more suspicious is a good thing if you're an assassin.

Cultures are different too. I wouldn't want to be an assassin in a culture I wasn't very familiar with--as in grew up in and around. I don't think you can learn subtleties well enough as a "second" culture. I wouldn't want to risk my life on it anyway.


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## BrettBattles (Mar 12, 2011)

Fuzzy mentioned THE BLONDE by Duane Swierczynski...I would definitely second that! There's also a cool female assassin character in Barry Eisler's RAIN books, Delilah. She's not in the first book, but I think she shows up in the second or third...?


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## Bob Mayer (Feb 20, 2011)

In counter-terrorism training, the mantra is if you kick the door and you have a male terrorist and a female terrorist next to each other, shoot the woman first.  Ever hear of a man boiling someone's rabbit?  Ask schoolteachers:  two boys are fighting, you can break them up.  Two girls are fighting, get help.


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## Guest (Mar 12, 2011)

Bob Mayer said:


> Ask schoolteachers: two boys are fighting, you can break them up. Two girls are fighting, get help.


Reminds me of the vice principal that got bodyslammed by a girl while trying to break up a fight.  Yep, this was definately the mantra. Boys will break up a fight, particularly if a female teacher gets involved. Two girls, it's best just to pray one doesn't kill the other.


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## Dan Ames (Feb 8, 2011)

Doesn't Iris Johannsen have a female assassin...?


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## Ralph F. Halse (Feb 21, 2010)

Females assassin's feature prominently throughout my novels and are pivotal to the plot. While I agree with the observation that there should be no or little difference in the genders toward assassination, I reflected a feminine approach after talking to female readers to understand just how they might deal with a particular situation. Most illuminating were those conversations.

_--- edited... no self-promotion outside the Book Bazaar forum. please read our Forum Decorum thread._


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## Tom Schreck (Dec 12, 2010)

For me, it's not the sex of a villain but whether or not they are a cliche. The super hot femme fatale you can see coming but how about a soccer mom, a grandmother or a nun--something different is what speaks to me, man or woman.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

Tom Schreck said:


> For me, it's not the sex of a villain but whether or not they are a cliche. The super hot femme fatale you can see coming but how about a soccer mom, a grandmother or a nun--something different is what speaks to me, man or woman.


Definitely. It's okay to have them be a ninja in their assassin job, but it helps a lot to have them be "other than a James Bond type" in their "real" life. I like the soccer mom idea.


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## A K Smith (Feb 15, 2011)

I recommend Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. It's a fantasy novel about a female mercenary whose employer attempts to kill her. She survives the attempt and plots revenge on him and everyone involved. Abercrombie's other books also feature strong and sometimes deadly females.


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## Javier Gimenez Sasieta (Feb 18, 2011)

My brother has written a thriller with a female assasin  in the leading role, called "The spider". It´s written in spanish. The book title is "La senda del crimen". If you are learning spanish you can try it.

Of course, you can also try with mine!


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## mima (Jul 16, 2009)

i remember being fascinated by a tv show when i was young: scarecrow and mrs. king. the soccer mom's purse as a macgyver-like toolkit and her wits and know how gleaned from being a mom were always needed by the suave "trained" agent. really funny. mr. and mrs. smith was a very entertaining married-assassins movie. 

i think one of the reasons people don't see women as assassins more often is our perceived need for relationships that is such a detriment to a "career" requiring long absences and solitude (and violence). as a writer who pretty much exists in long (mental) absences, solitude, and (mental) violence, this is kinda funny.


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## Plotspider (Mar 15, 2011)

Something I heard about through John Tesch Radio is that many spies are female because they are able to get men to either go easy on them, thinking they are harmless, or because men will try and tell them things to make the females like them more (try to impress them).  It turns out, for many men, it is easier to keep a secret from another man than a woman.  Just what I heard.


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## Ralph F. Halse (Feb 21, 2010)

From the research I conducted, Maria's right on the money. Goals, agenda's and expected outcomes are different because of POV. While both genders might get to the end of the road by different routes, the journey while similar has many deviations (pun intended). And this is the yardstick I used as I have attempted to construct my character. 

An even great challenge has been creating the opposite to an assassin type, creating a female counterpart who, while equally driven comes across as making it on merit and not the bodies of others. Well, there's that and all intrigue that goes along with political shenanigan’s too in a post apocalyptic world.


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## Joshua Unruh (Mar 10, 2011)

I think even more on point than Greg Rucka's novels are his graphic novels of _Queen and Country_. The main character isn't strictly an assassin (although she can and does fill that roll) but is primarily one of the top three agents (and the only female) for the British Secret Service. This is very much not James Bond, though, much more Sandbaggers or LeCarre. I don't think Rucka's doing new Q&C but there are at least 10 or 12 counting the main series and the Declassifieds.


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## mnstratdaddy (Nov 30, 2011)

Check out Cold Lonely Courage by Soren Petrek.

Stunning Female Assassin...maybe the best one I've ever read of the genre.

http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Lonely-Courage-Soren-Petrek/dp/0982582374/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322627794&sr=8-1


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## Ben Reeder (Jun 28, 2011)

Jennifer Estep's Elemental Assassin series (thirding that one!  ) is the latest in my Kindle. What makes this so cool for me is that Gin is so very human at teh time of the books, and seems more so all the time, in spite of her tendency to resort to her old profession when necessary. What I think Estep does right, though, is create an urban fantasy environment where the reader can get behind Spider's decision to kill because her targets are those people who lack much in the way of redeeming values. We don't mind seeing these people get theirs. In fact, more than one, I wish could die multiple times!

Someone asked what would make someone choose that life. In Spider's world, it was one part desperation and one part need for justice. And a third part of "just good at it".


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## djgross (May 24, 2011)

ginaf20697 said:


> Kelley Armstrong has a series that is pretty good. I wish she'd put more out there.


I enjoyed Armstrong's Nadia Stafford books, featuring a cop turned assassin. The first is:



Another vote for the great Elemental Assassin series!


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

There are some terrific recommendations here that I will follow up on. Thanks.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

A K Smith said:


> I recommend Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. It's a fantasy novel about a female mercenary whose employer attempts to kill her. She survives the attempt and plots revenge on him and everyone involved. Abercrombie's other books also feature strong and sometimes deadly females.


Just bumping this comment.

I picked up this book, read to page 8, and put it back on my shelf until my Christmas vacation. Why, you ask? Because 8 pages was all it took for me to want to call in sick so that I could finish the book.

8 pages.


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