WHEN WOMEN KILL examines the misrepresentation of female killers

As Alia Trabucco Zerán explains in the prologue of When Women Kill, female-perpetuated homicides are its topic of choice. First published in Chile and translated here from Spanish, the book is a true crime title, focusing on four female murderers well publicised in domestic media.

Zerán writes with respect, always leaving a hint of mystery; she acknowledges the internal complexity of each murderer, bypassing simple narratives of them being jealous or hysterical. If at times she seems to rush to her conclusions, you’re still carried along by their rationality, which she supports with words from thinkers including Foucault and Judith Butler.

In all four cases, there is a narrative of injustice – these women were misrepresented, even as perpetrators of heinous crimes – and there’s unfinished business in that we will never know the murderers’ opinions regarding Zerán’s conclusions. When Women Kill’s closing statement pulls together all the strands while looking more closely at the other societal impacts on the women in question.

Research and preparation for When Women Kill, Zerán writes, often led to encounters with people unable to fathom why she might undertake such a task. Put it down to the morbid curiosity that’s part of our human nature, even if we barely understand why – or really want to.