From Moors murderer Myra Hindley to Sara Thornton who killed her violent husband, from the Australian lesbian vampire case to serial killer Aileen Carol Wuornos, from Blue Steel to Thelma and Louise, the figure of the woman killer provokes ferocious debate, not just about why women kill, but about their treatment in the courts and in the press. Violent or murderous women raise fundamental questions about how our society views women: are these women simply victims of a patriarchal culture, or can their crimes be seen as an outrage against it? This collection of essays addresses these questions and looks at our enduring fascination with murder in literature and film. The contributors include Nicole Ward Jouve, Melissa Benn, Lorraine Radford and Briar Wood.