Women Who Kill by Lindy Cameron

Women Who Kill Reviews

• 
  Kirsti

  An interesting look into some of Australia and New Zealand's worst female killers. While we don't seem to have the shocking crime rate of some countries and our violent women count seems pretty low, this book highlighted for me some crimes I hadn't previously heard about. I was especially interested in the Perth situations- I hadn't realized that so many of our infamous crimes had occurred there. It was a quick oversight, which was a shame because I could have learned more about these women and what exactly motivated them. Three stars.
• 
  Mab Morris

  This is a book I'm so glad I have read. I'll admit that I don't know when I finish reading it, because it doesn't matter, because it's so ingrained in my thinking. This book opened up my mind, shifted my thinking in so many ways. I read it before I realized one of my new writer friends had read it--a suspense novelist. It was among her repertoire for reference reading.
  
  Well written, accessible, clear, and yet also challenging. It changed my perceptions. I'm glad of it.
• 
  Jessica

  It was okay. I've heard some of these stories before, and the viewpoint was a little narrower than i would have liked and excluded some of the more interesting facts. Of course, I understand that novels have limited space.
  Also, I'm fairly certain one chapter was set in new zealand which might not be very excited to find it's now merged with australia...
• 
  Karen

  Whilst WOMEN WHO KILL is Lindy Cameron's 5th True Crime book, it is the first for WA based writer Ruth Wykes. This is a book in which individual chapters look at a range of Australian and New Zealand murderers. All of them female. None of these murder fall into the category of defence killings. It's an odd feeling to come to this book, knowing that somehow, somewhere in the back of your head is the idea that it's almost "understandable" for a woman to kill in defence - against violence, in defence of her children, in defence of her family. Cameron and Wykes look at 12 separate cases, under the major headings "Truly, Madly, Deadly'; 'Vicious Young Things' and 'Overkill', none of which could ever be remotely classified as "understandable".
  
  Reading the details of what these women did is a very telling experience. Leaving aside all of the social taboos, it's a series of motives, outcomes and methodologies that, sadly, in terms of True Crime, are often told. Thrill killing, killing to cover up another crime, killing as a way of gaining or exerting power over somebody else - the scenarios are all here. The range of perpetrator types are also here. Abused, powerless, desperate, cunning, stupid - the full range of how people get themselves into the position of killing another human being.
  
  Most of the cases discussed in this book are chilling enough, add the idea of a female perpetrator, and some of the circumstances in which the victims were placed and you're left with a rather sinking feeling.
  
  There are, however, a few particularly memorable moments, Wykes recounts the story of Catherine Birnie in some detail, finishing off with her own face to face, and way too close for comfort encounter with the real Birnie, deep in the library stacks of Bandyup Prison. The section 'Vicious Young Things' starts off with the reminder that violent crime by young women is on the rise, making you think long and hard about what it was like to be a young woman all those years ago and wonder when the barriers shifted. The story of Vicki Efandis (Dinner and a Murder) that ends with the reader wondering how you'd deal with being face to face with somebody so unfeeling and arrogant. Just three examples in an overall set of cases that will all give you something to think about for a long time after you've put the book down.
  
  For this reader, True Crime reading is about the search for understanding. WOMEN WHO KILL also provided illumination. I think I'm right in my understanding that thrill killing and psychopathic behaviour only exhibits (or most frequently exhibits) in the human race. Why on earth we would assume that it only applies in the case of one of the sexes is mystifying. WOMEN WHO KILL clearly demonstrates that human nature (in this case the worst of) most definitely is not the domain of the male of the species.
  
• 
  Cate

  This book is portraits of various Australian/New Zealand female murderers. This is pretty interesting & details some shocking crimes. Eg, the teenage girls from Western Australia who just killed a friend because they felt like it: really quite frightening. You can tell it's a co-written with each author writing chapters because of the vastly different styles. This makes the book a little disjointed to read. Only one of the female protagonists presented here gets much sympathy from the writers, namely Tracy Anne Wiggington, who had a truely shitty childhood & in the view of the writers, really carried the can for the far more diabolical Kim Jervis. The chapter on Catherine Birnie is interesting because she was actually interviewed & the writer of that chapter dealt with her as part of her job in the prison in WA. That chapter contains some actual insight into Birnie as a psychopath. Good collection & well worth reading if you like the gruesome side of life.
• 
  Blair

  This is a pivotal work describing some horrible homicides committed by women in Australia. The authors have thoroughly researched the backgrounds of the perpetrators and offer chilling descriptions of the deadly deeds: from an idea in the killers' heads to actual execution (literally!). Highly recommend for anyone with an interest in true crime.
• 
  Cherise

  Not a bad book.
• 
  Sarah Jones

  2.5/5 this is interesting because of the subject matter but it’s not very well written