The Kind Worth Killing: A Novel

Detective Henry Kimball is the lead detective on the Severson case. He is a young, tall man who reminds Lily of Eric Washburn. Kimball has a strong sense of justice and trust in the legal system on the exterior. However, he reveals that he may like to take justice into his own hands like Lily. Kimball writes limericks in his spare time about the people he investigates. Yet, the dirty limericks he writes about Lily shows his misplaced obsession with her. Kimball is intrigued by Lily because of her mysterious nature. He wants to understand her and get to know her, which is why he starts to follow her at the end of the novel.

Kimball suspects that Lily is not being truthful with him from the moment he meets her. Kimball loves David Kintner’s novels and feels excited to meet Lily initially. Kimball has a strong sense of judgement of people’s true character, and although Miranda thinks that Kimball does not suspect her, when the narrative turns to Kimball’s perspective, he reveals that he knows that Miranda is involved in the murder in some way. Kimball’s obsession with solving the case and knowing exactly what happened in the murder causes his downfall. Rather than following protocol, he decides to choose the dangerous and unethical route and trail her illegally.

Kimball’s main internal struggle concerns his loneliness. He wants to find someone to spend his life with, but he has not been successful in love. Kimball’s sister tells him that he falls in love with every woman that he meets and has lofty expectations his partners can never meet. Kimball’s closest relationship is with his partner Detective James. Although James denied Kimball’s advances in the past, she does not hold it against him. James saves Kimball’s life because she is so closely in tune with how Kimball feels. Even though Kimball does not realize how obsessive his behavior becomes, James worries about him, which is why she is there to save his life. However, Kimball’s actions cause him to lose the case against Lily, as well as possibly lose his job in the police force.

Miranda Severson is the antagonist of the novel and alternatively goes by the name Faith Hobart. Miranda is a beautiful woman with dark hair, although she dyes her hair red to mimic Lily when Eric cheats on her. Miranda manipulates everyone around her to get what she wants. She marries Ted for his money, and she decides to murder him when she grows bored of being around him. Miranda treats everyone in her life as tools, rather than human beings, which is why Lily believes that she deserves to die. Since Miranda’s childhood home life crumbles around her, she acts out as a teenager with kleptomania. Miranda’s kleptomania is a direct result of the loss of control in her life after her parents’ divorce. Miranda feels out of control, until she goes to Mather College. At Mather, Miranda discovers that she can manipulate people, particularly men. Miranda knows how to play the part of whoever people want her to be. Her duplicitous nature is clear in how she uses two different names, Faith and Miranda, for different periods in her life. When Miranda goes by “Faith,” she is still developing her personality. However, when she decides to go by the name “Miranda,” she has decided to use people around her to get what she wants.

Although they are both murderers, Lily has a system for why and how she kills people, while Miranda’s decision to murder Ted stems from selfishness and greed. Miranda’s desired isolation contrasts with Lily’s loneliness and desire for connection. Miranda does not want to be dependent on other people, which is why she manipulates Brad into murdering Ted. Although Ted does not suspect her insidious nature, Miranda loves to play with people’s emotions for fun. An example of this behavior is when Miranda decides to begin a relationship with Eric, even though she knows that Lily is still dating him. Miranda dyes her hair red, like Lily, as a joke so that it almost seems like Eric is dating two of the same woman. This twisted sense of humor reveals Miranda’s callous nature. When she learns that Lily has held a grudge against her for years, she revels in it because she loves the idea of getting under someone’s skin. This “evil” nature is the reason why Lily believes that Miranda should die. Lily knows that Miranda will only continue to use everyone around her for her benefit, even if it means other people’s pain.