67 pages • 2 hours read
Deanna RaybournKillers of a Certain Age
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
Talismans and Jewelry
Billie and the other characters frequently weaponize conventionally feminine objects. Raybourn disguises the functions of these weapons until a crucial moment when their purpose is exposed to show how feminine objects are perceived to be harmless. For example, when Billie and Helen are still on the Amphitrite and are looking for intelligence, Billie notices Helen’s necklace. As they walk, Billie says, “she’d finished the outfit with a twist of rough-cut amber beads at her throat, they rattled slightly in the hushed stillness” (62), so Billie takes them from her. Raybourn has previously established that Helen is frail and grieving, so the reader might assume her accessorized outfit, which makes noise and therefore is not an aid to stealth, is a sign she has lost her professional edge.
Billie later turns the beads into a weapon, using them to strangle Fogerty, and Helen calmly informs her she had used them for the same purpose on a previous job, proving that Helen was aware of their tactical use. The scene underlines that both women understand their femininity as a secret asset in a world determined to underestimate them. Billie pays similar attention to her appearance as she dresses for the art auction at Tollemache’s: “I clipped half of [my hair] back with a simple silver barrette Natalie brought me” (306). Only during her final struggle with Vance does Billie reveal that the barrette is a weapon. Since Vance has been persistently misogynist, he has been dispatched by his own failure to see women as tactical equals.
Billie makes frequent use of and reference to personal talismans, such as her St. Christopher’s medal, as sources of strength. Billie’s attachment to the medal foreshadows Taverner’s return and his reunion with Billie. Similarly, Billie uses the same lighter in all of her brainstorming missions. It is her last remaining reminder of the mother who abandoned her. She uses it when she reviews the dossier she took from Carapaz and realizes that Martin is the Museum member who betrayed them. Billie’s use of jewelry and personal talismans transforms two characteristics, femininity and sentimentality, which are often seen as weaknesses, into sources of resourcefulness and strength.
Art and Mythology
Mythology and art permeate Raybourn’s narrative and symbolize the women’s connection to the past. Naming the organization the Museum shows the overarching importance of the past and characterizes intelligence gathering, espionage, and political assassinations as lost arts. The cruise ship the women board is called the Amphitrite, named for the goddess of the sea and the wife of Poseidon. The reference to a feminine deity when the reader already knows that Billie was part of an all-female assassination squad foreshadows that the cruise will not be an uneventful vacation. Constance is aware of the power of myth when she reminds her charges that she was once one of the Furies, a goddess of vengeance, and she expects them to be sphinxes, who will survive through cunning and a drive to kill, with feminine features to disguise their power.
Constance, as befits her role as one of the Museum’s founders, also relies on an ability to decipher the power of art, a skill she passes on to Billie and the others. Billie is immediately drawn to the painting The Queen of Sheba Arising because it depicts the biblical figure as a powerful free agent, confident in her sexuality and dominance over men. Later, she recalls the painting A Shepherdess Among the Sphinxes, and she recalls wisdom from her mentor about “trusting your team. […] I looked at the painting in the book, running my finger over that beautiful, murderous herd of sphinxes” (296). It is then that Billie reveals her plan to dispatch Vance with help from her friends. Art inspires her in her work, pushing her to take risks and fight for her survival. Finally, Naomi proves herself a worthy successor to Constance when she recognizes the painting of the goddess of justice at Benscombe. Throughout the narrative, reading art and mythology is proof of humanity, ingenuity, and courage.
The Power of Place
In Killers of a Certain Age, Billie and her friends choose locations that are meaningful to them as they seek refuge from their pursuers. These locations are motifs that reinforce the narrative’s themes, especially those of women’s power and importance, loyalty, and the intertwined nature of past and present. Billie’s safe house in New Orleans is a dilapidated former convent, which is the exclusive domain of women. It is also where Minka is waiting for them. Billie’s knowledge of the city helps her evade her pursuers, including her ability to join a parade.
When the group needs a base of operations in Europe, Helen suggests Benscombe as her husband bought the property for her as a gift. Since the task of taking down the Museum’s directors requires the foursome to draw on knowledge of their pasts, it is especially appropriate that they return to the place that first made them into skilled assassins. Billie trusts her team to turn the kitchen into a deadly trap, relying on the flammable nature of nondairy creamer to dispatch one of Vance’s assassins. Billie’s final struggle with Vance takes place in the estate garden, the same general area as her first hand-to-hand combat lessons. She bests him, partly inspired by the memory of her first encouragement from Constance. Raybourn uses locations to emphasize her characters’ ingenuity, bravery, and willingness to confront their pasts in the course of their work.
