Six top crime novels about settling old scores

Lesley Kara is an alumna of the Faber Academy Writing a Novel course. She completed an English degree and PGCE at Greenwich University in London, and has worked as a lecturer and manager in further education. She has now relocated to the small town of Frinton-on-Sea on the North Essex coast.

The Rumor is her first novel. Her new novel is The Dare.

[Q&A with Lesley Kara]

Kara writes:

In The Rumor, loosely inspired by the real-life case of Mary Bell who killed two little boys when she was ten, I wanted to explore how the families of victims often feel that justice has not been done, particularly in cases where the child perpetrator is rehabilitated and enabled to start afresh under a new identity. The novel addresses the ongoing grief and anguish of the victim’s family and how such unresolved feelings can sometimes spill over into righteous anger and vigilantism.

At CrimeReads Kara tagged six crime novels about settling old scores, including:

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

Now when I first heard Layne Fargo’s They Never Learn described as a feminist serial killer story perfect for fans of Killing Eve, I knew straightway that I had to read it! It’s about an English professor who routinely punishes men who have abused women on her school campus. She makes their deaths look like accidents or suicides, until the local police finally catch on to her hobby. Meanwhile, a student in her freshman year is seeking revenge on the man who has sexually assaulted her roommate. When these two stories merge halfway through the novel, the plot twist is a delight.

Read about another entry on the list.

They Never Learn is among Heather Levy's top eight books on those darkest guilty pleasures we love to devour, Melissa Colasanti's six deliciously duplicitous female characters in thrillers, Amy Gentry's novels of the new Dark Academia canon, and Molly Odintz's six best vigilante thrillers.

My Book, The Movie: They Never Learn.

--Marshal Zeringue