An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good: Stories by Helene Tursten, translated from Swedish by Marlaine Delargy.

Soho Crime, 2018 (1st edition)

ISBN-13 ‎978-1641290111

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook, audio CD.

Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

Maud is an eighty-eight year old woman with a contract that allows her to live rent-free in her apartment as long as she is alive. She lives alone, likes to travel, and likes a peaceful, orderly life… and she knows how to get away with murder.

Three of the five stories are previously published. In “An Elderly Lady Has Accomodation Problems”, Maud discovers her friendly new neighbor is scheming to get her large apartment by trying to convince her that her smaller ground floor apartment is a better choice for an elderly lady, with fatal results. In “An Elderly Lady on Her Travels” Maud sees a notice that her ex-fiance is marrying one of her former students, a porn actress half his age, and decides to vacation at the same spa, with unfortunate consequences for the future bride. In “An Elderly Lady at Christmastime” Maud decides to take care of the loud arguments upstairs that are disrupting her peace by setting up an accident for the abusive husband. The last two stories are different perspectives on the same events, from a building resident and a police detective. Maud calls the police after discovering the dead body of a silver thief.

Maud is a sharp and canny elderly woman unafraid to use people’s perceptions of older women to influence the way they think of her: better for people to think she is dotty and deaf than a murderer. But she has no problem eliminating obstacles with premeditation and/or extreme violence. These aren’t murder mysteries, they are simply enjoyable stories where you can’t help being on the criminal’s side.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski