This was a very interesting and informative book on women who killed for various reasons. I had heard of a few of the women mentioned in the book , but I hadn't heard of most of the women listed . I highly recommend this book to other readers of true crime and non-fiction.

Interesting information on female murderers from many years past. The stories are short and cut to the chase but make you grab your phone to look up more info on the women.

This was well written and very interesting! I read this in one sitting. Thank you to publisher for allowing me to read this book!

I love true crime books and this is a good introduction to many female killers. I liked that the book was divided into sections, with all the poisoners, psychopaths, among others, together. The reason I gave it four stars instead of five was because I would have liked more information about each killer, Each woman gets a picture and about 1.5 pages of info, I would have liked more details to their stories, even if that meant there would have been less stories in the book. In conclusion, this book is good to know some killers at surface level and if you want more info about that specific case, get another book.

The stories in this book were interesting and well written! I really enjoyed reading this, and the shorter chapters really speed up the book! This was an intriguing and fast read! I would recommend!

She Kills Me: The True Stories of History's Deadliest Women is an excellent non-fiction collection of stories about female murderers. Whether they murdered for revenge, necessity, fear or even pleasure, the histories of over 40 women are featured in this captivating collection.

Something this book succeeded at was telling real-life stories in an interesting, not boring way. The narrator doesn't throw facts after facts at you but rather tells these stories engagingly and humorously. Sometimes, I felt as if this type of narration made the book a little too subjective, but then again, I didn't really mind.

The book is separated into different sections based on the various types of women presented: pretty poisoners, murderous mercenaries, avenging angels and many more. I appreciated the content warnings (like rape, torture, cannibalism...) at the beginning of each woman's story. Each story is three to five pages long and contains a drawing of the murderer in question.

I surely enjoyed She Kills Me and would recommend it to anyone who loves True Crime or just wants to read a bit about murderous ladies!

I'd like to thank Abrams Image for providing this copy via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you to Abrams Image and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

All quotes are taken from She Kills Me by Jennifer Wright.

//TW: torture, enslavement, juvenile death, cannibalism, death, murder, poison, rape, and abuse//

// Quick Review //

4/5 Stars

She Kills Me is a fast, yet excellent and informative read on not only the most depraved women in history, but also those whose actions were understable because of their strong morality. Featuring some of the most infamous women in history, She Kills Me briefly covers the stories of more than 40 and the circumstances that caused the actions of those described.

“People are very apt to believe that a woman can’t kill someone.”

// Other Information //

Publisher: Abrams Image

Page Count: 176 pages

Release Date: September 28, 2021

Series: None

// Book Description (via Goodreads) //

A powerful collection of stories about women who murdered—for revenge, for love, and even for pleasure—rife with historical details that will have any true crime junkie on the edge of their seat

In every tragic story, men are expected to be the killers. There are countless studies and works of art made about male violence. However, when women are featured in stories about murder, they are rarely portrayed as predators. They’re the prey. This common dynamic is one of the reasons that women are so enthralled by female murderers. They do the things that women aren’t supposed to do and live the lives that women aren’t supposed to want: lives that are impulsive and angry and messy and inconvenient. Maybe we feel bad about loving them, but we eat it up just the same. Residing squarely in the middle of a Venn diagram of feminism and true crime, She Kills Me tells the story of 40 women who murdered out of necessity, fear, revenge, and even for pleasure.

// Review //

Just a heads up, if you are thinking of reading this novel and expect an in depth investigation into each case, you might be slightly disappointed. While providing great information, the novel is very surface-level and doesn’t dive into anything past an overview.

Despite this, I was glad to see that I didn’t know every woman’s story in this novel. Some I knew a little bit about, others I had never heard of. Some of the women talked about in the novel include: Elizabeth Bathory; Irma Grese; Lizzie Borden; Christine and Lea Papin; Susan Atkins; Grace O’ Malley; Zenobia; Mary I of England; Nadezhda Vasilyevna Popova; and Freddie Oversteegen. Though, as stated before, more than 40 women are featured in this novel.

Besides some of the gruesome details that come with practically any true crime novel, the author managed to lighten the mood with some humor at the expense of horrific people while remaining respectful of victims.

I definitely enjoyed learning about many of these women, but was slightly disappointed with the lack of depth in their stories. However, this brief overview of cases definitely piqued my interest and inspired me to research further.

Overall, She Kills Me is a solid 4/5 Stars and a well-rounded novel including various cases.

“The family that slays together does not stay together.”

I was so excited when I saw that one of my favorite non-fiction writers was dropping a new book. Jennifer Wright has done it again, and this time she brought her sense of humor to the table with a book about some of the deadliest women recorded in history. If you like true crime, I promise you that this book is for you.

When I say that Jennifer brought her sense of humor to this book, I also mean that it’s done tastefully. As always, she knows when she can be funny and when it’s time to scale back. However, this book isn’t in any way funny, and you won’t see her brand of humor shine due to the subject matter. As I was saying, she is always tasteful about when and where she can lighten the mood as her readers take in heavy subject matter.

This time around, we check out the lives of 40 different deadly women that have been recorded in history. Each chapter has a drawing as well as a trigger warning if the woman whose life as well as murderous deeds that’s being covered mentions rape, torture, or anything that may be a trigger for readers. While suicide is not one of the trigger warnings in the ARC I received, it may be added to the final edition of the book.

I found this book quite interesting. Many different women were covered, and the book is separated into sections based on the type of crimes each person committed. While they were each killers, some killed out of self defense while others murdered a steady stream of husbands or were deadly on the battlefield. Each chapter is short, but covers who each person was, a little bit about their lives, who they killed, why they killed if it was known, and what happened to them. Rumors and tall tales were included and are stated to be stories that went around.

All in all, I think this is a great book. I’m always excited when I see that Jennifer is publishing a new book and I’m excited to see what she comes up with next.

In the mood for a nasty little historical bite to enjoy? Like true crime, but wanna focus less on men-killing-women and more on equal opportunity? "She Kills Me" by Jennifer Wright is an audacious little bit book that focuses less on the details behind ladies who kill and more on the highlights. It won't win points for detail (each section for every murderess is anywhere from 3-5 pages) but it does what it says on the tin - tells you stories about women who murdered, and why.

And it's not all serial killers, either! In some cases, Wright discusses outlaws, alchemists, pirates, and women who genuinely were trying to help others. But the lion's share is telling tales of history's most notorious women. While the focus is undoubtedly West-centric, there were plenty of murderesses here that I'd never heard of, and plenty that I learned more about. All ladies were discussed in a flippant tone - no somber retellings here - so if you want something serious or scholarly, look elsewhere. This book is written in a conversational style, and is here to have a good time, not a long time.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Let me start by thanking both NetGalley and the author for an eARC of this book.
"She Kills Me" by Jennifer Wright is exactly what the modern zeitgeist has been clamoring for. It's no secret that our culture is moderately obsessed with all things true-crime as many of the top shows, docuseries, and podcasts are true-crime related, and feminism has again erupted as women and their allies try to abolish glass ceilings and pink tax while elevating women to true equality. "She Kills Me" combines modern feminism with true-crime by pulling together a wide array of short descriptions of history's most infamous, or not so infamous, female killers. From serial killers to family annihilators, crusaders to avengers, these fascinating women, and their crimes will capture your attention and leave you wanting more.
Sadly, I was left wanting more. This book had so much potential and as someone who grew up reading story-collection of murders and ghost stories, I had high hopes. Unfortunately and bafflingly, Wright somehow took these enthralling stories and made them somewhat boring, redeemed only by the captivating subject matter. Rather than reading brief fact-telling article-like summaries, I would have loved to have read descriptive retellings in greater detail and with a touch of character development to pull me into the story.
I applaud the idea to celebrate(?) these bold and audacious women of history by collecting their stories in this anthology and I can definitely say that I learned of stories that I had never heard of before and I felt both disgusted and inspired by their feats. I also appreciated the trigger warnings although I think that having the initials "TW" beforehand would provide more context. There were also a few typos to comb through before this book is sent out into the world!
Thank you for embarking on this journey and all of your research that is evident by the number of engrossing details included. Both feminists and True Crime junkies will probably get a kick out of this book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes to hear the bare facts without any extra fluff.

This book was excellent! While I love a good, deep dive into a single case, the short overviews of lots of different female killers provided in this book made it perfect for filling small gaps of time - waiting at the doctors office, waiting in the checkout line, waiting for your coffee at the coffee shop. Although once I got started reading I couldn’t put it down! This book has just the right amount of humor (never at the victim’s expense) mixed in so it is like discussing these cases with your best friend. While I tend to prefer more modern true crime cases, this book was written in such a way that it held my interest even though these cases were much more historical. I will definitely be looking into other books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

**an arc was provided by Abrams via NetGalley**

As a lover of true crime, when I came across this in my weekly NetGalley perusals, I knew it was the one for me. An entire book filled with killer women? Yes, please.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a mix of stories in here: women I already knew about thanks to my YouTube true crime watches, some women so famous one has to try to not know of them, and ones I had never even heard of.

The book is broken up into sections that group women by motive or environment. For example, section two features women who poisoned while section seven is "killer queens." Each section ends with a small aside from the author discusses the overarching theme further in some way. It was a nice way to know the section was coming to a close.

The details in this book are also fun—fun in the same way true crime is "fun." Each chapter starts with any potential trigger warnings, so one does not run blindly into something particularly terrible. They also feature wonderfully illustrated pictures (done by Eva Bee) at the start of each chapter, offering a hint of what to expect.

I rated this book four stars because, even though I enjoyed it wholeheartedly, I cannot imagine myself rereading it anytime soon. The chapters are just short enough that they are memorable, as are the women discussed. However, given they are all kind of the same thing—women who kill—I could not read too much in one sitting before it began to feel a little repetitive.

Like many others of its kind, this book would best where you can read it in tiny sections. Perhaps on a bus or train commute, or in the waiting room at the doctor's or perhaps whenever you have a spare handful of minutes. It's wildly entertaining, shocking on occasion even to me (who considers herself a true crime fan), and overall a good time—again, as good as murder can be.

What an interesting book! I didn’t know about a lot of these serial killer women. Just goes to show you, if you want a Murder done right, you have to have a woman do it. Just kidding!!

If you like the serial killer podcasts and documentaries, you’ll love this book. It’s founded in fact and has its references for you as well.

"There are flames of rage in the heart of every woman, as there are in the heart of every man. Because of the way women have been treated, there is every reason that these urges might burn hotter and brighter. And every so often, there is a woman who acts–and becomes a killer," --Jennifer Wright, "She Kills Me"

"She Kills Me: The True Stories of History's Deadliest Women" by Jennifer Wright is a quick, but thorough overview of the stories of 40 of the most notorious female murderers, what led them to commit such heinous crimes, and the societal contexts that they lived in. While discussing the horrific crimes committed by these killers, the book is also dotted with the author's own brand of wry, witty, and tongue-in-cheek humor. Throughout the narrative, Wright hits the mark with her sly observations on women's role in society and the patriarchy.

As a fan of true crime books, the short, but interesting accounts of these women were interesting, but I was left with wanting to know more about each of these female killers. Many of the individual profiles of the women lacked the depth and details that other contemporary true crime books contain. That being said, the book is well put together and well written. I found it easier to digest because, while the topic is morbid, the author clearly chose to contain less graphic details than other true crime books. It was great that the author included content warnings at the beginning of each profile. This is helpful to readers who do not want to read a profile that contains subject matter that they are uncomfortable with.

Overall, "She Kills Me" contains many interesting stories and I enjoyed the author's witty style of writing. If you are just beginning to delve into true crime or want a true crime book without all of the gorey details, then "She Kills Me" is the book for you!

I would like to thank NetGalley, Abrams Image, and Jennifer Wright for my complimentary copy of "She Kills Me: The True Story of History's Deadliest Women". This book is a very quick read that you gives you an introduction into some of the most infamous women killers of history. These women used various means of murder including torture, poison, and weapons such as guns and axes to commit their murders.

As a true crime buff, I am very familiar with the male serial killers so this book was a nice change of pace. Women can be just as deceiving, conniving and dangerous as their male counterparts and this book reminds readers of this fact.

"She Kills Me" takes a look at various women killers including Lizzie Borden and Elizabeth Bathory, Delphine LaLaurie and Tillie Klimek, too name a few. The various methods of murder for each are all discussed. They killed using poison, and other weapons of their times.

If you enjoy true crime, this book is a great introduction into some of the most notorious lady killers in history and it's sure too pique your interest.

I really enjoyed She Kills Me. It was a very quick read. Short chapters that gave a summery of each killer. It was just enough to let me know if I would be interested in learning more about each person. I absolutely loved the illustrations!

3.5 stars
She Kills Me
by Jennifer Wright

This is quite an unusual collection of true crime stories. The author has filled this volume with irreverence, sass and murder. I did appreciate some of Jennifer Wright's sassy insights, however, they did become a little much at times. I had never heard of most of these women before nor their stories, which are quite interesting.
I only wish there was more information included on each woman. I do believe this book will be popular with a variety of readers.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley.

Where there are people, there are problems. Some women are ruthless with hearts of stone and kill out of rage, passion, retribution, for money, for power and/or the throne. And then there are others who kill in wars such as Resistance fighters. Chillingly, some kill simply because they enjoy it, others torture before watching people die. The author, Jennifer Wright, injects her own brand of humour into telling her readers about atrocious true crime stories committed by women throughout time.

I like the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter as well as content warnings so the reader can choose what to/what not to read (rape, cannibalism). The book is incredibly interesting and I recognize quite a few women discussed in other books, mostly in greater detail than this one. Each short chapter describes a woman and her killing(s) and reasoning.

Some killers create their own crime potential such as murdering disliked patients in hospitals or torturing and killing slaves/serfs. Many methods are used such as poison, starvation, razors and guns. So many stories stand out in my mind but one is the "hyena of Auschwitz". If a female guard in Auschwitz stands out, wow. Another woman had 600 deaths attributed to her. In another example when asked about her victim by a clerk completing paperwork after a person died, a woman said it would be ten days from that date. One signed wedding and death certificates on the same day, one killed 138 of her 600 serfs. Still another had the gall to travel and give lectures on the topic of her need to kill a man.

Women kill(ed) out of duty and for their country, such as resistance fighters who were sometimes in their teens when they killed Nazis and rescued Jews. Female pilots flew planes in war, some in hand-to-hand combat in earlier times.

Though the topic seems (and is!) morbid, it is also interesting and is much less graphic in detail than others.

My sincere thank you to ABRAMS and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC of this thought-provoking book.

Its not often that you read books about female serial killers so this was a different look at it for me
Its well researched and well written!

Thank you #NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

”The world would be so much gentler if it was run by women."
-A Man Who Never Opened A History Book



In She Kills Me, Jennifer Wright attempts to tell stories of female killers in a humorous, tongue-in-cheek way. This book is peppered with wry comments and sly observations. At times she hits the mark. She also includes queens, warriors, spies and aviators instead of just murderers, which brings historical women to light many readers may not be familiar with. Unfortunately, the book is basically a snarky feminist stab at (what else?) the patriarchy. Bad women kill because of it. Heroic women kill in spite of it.

Ms. Wright's book operates under the premise that if some of these women had access to divorce or careers or the rights to their own bodies they would not be killers. The patriarchy makes women kill, not their homicidal urges or their bloodlust or their meanness. This, in and of itself, causes some cognitive dissonance. If women have always been just as capable as men, just as smart, just as intrepid and adventurous (as history bears out) haven't they always been just as capable of violence? And of desiring, even enjoying murder? There is every likelihood a woman who poisoned husbands would still poison even if divorce was easy to obtain because she feels justified in killing those who wrong her. A woman who murders because she is bored would still murder even if she had a career because she sees murder as entertainment. Not because she hates being a housewife. The most egregious argument says that not allowing women full autonomy over their bodies means you don't see them as human. In the case of rape that is absolutely true. But in other areas that argument gets sketchy. It's almost as if, by presenting all these killer women, she is saying "If you don't let women do what we want, when we want we will kill you."

The individual stories are interesting. Some of them are downright cool, and inspiring. The author did make me chuckle a few times, and knows how to write cleanly and with style. Each case is meticulously researched with links to the sources. But the tone got on my last nerve. in addition to the above mentioned offenses she insinuates that the boss who rubs your shoulders when looking at your computer screen is the same as the 18th century mysoginist who sees all women as a source of evil.. Men haven't really changed.

Personally, I am heartily sick of women whining about mansplaining and manspreading and ”microaggressions" abd all the other petty complaints offered up as acts of oppression. We have more rights, more freedom, and more income than at any point in history. If your idea of oppression is a man sitting with his knees apart, or being called, "Dear" by your coworker, you need to look back , see how far we have come and show a little gratitude instead of inventing ways to be a victim.
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If you can't do that, buy this book. You will probably enjoy it