An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good ⭑⭑⭑⭒
Genre: Short Stories
First Publication: 2018
Print: 178 pages
Audio: 3 hours 12 minutes
Confetti Rating: 3.5 stars
REVIEW:
This one’s for the peeps that like a pinch of pepper in their chocolate chip cookies.
If I had a dollar for every book I’ve read about an elderly person that’s up to no good… I’d have a lot of dollars. The cast of the cozy coot canon, as I call it, just keeps growing, doesn’t it? We’ve got a 100-year-old man climbing out windows, a man called Ove being icy to his neighbors, and others like Harold Fry just wandering around the countryside.
But Helene Tursten’s short story collection kicks it up a notch by presenting readers with an old biddy named Maud who’s just not going to take it anymore. Her hijinks seem inspired by the fact that no one is as invisible as an elderly person. Who would suspect little ol’ octogenarian Maud of offing her neighbors?
At only 178 pages (or just over 3 hours for the audiobook), picking up this book, translated from Swedish, doesn’t require much commitment. I found all five stories enjoyable if not all that memorable. Maud’s murderous adventures continue in An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed, but I’m undecided if I’ll follow her there. (Although I hear that book contains cookie recipes. I wonder if any include a little cayenne?)
For those with the Hoopla library app, both of Maud’s story collections are available on audio.
PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:
Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and… no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home.
Ever since her darling father’s untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the family’s spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. That was how Maud learned that good things can come from tragedy. Now in her late eighties, Maud contents herself with traveling the world and surfing the net from the comfort of her father’s ancient armchair. It’s a solitary existence, but she likes it that way.
Over the course of her adventures—or misadventures—this little bold lady will handle a crisis with a local celebrity who has her eyes on Maud’s apartment, foil the engagement of her long-ago lover, and dispose of some pesky neighbors. But when the local authorities are called to investigate a murder in her apartment complex, will Maud be able to avoid suspicion, or will Detective Inspector Irene Huss see through her charade?
Content:
- An elderly lady has accommodation problems
- An elderly lady on her travels
- An elderly lady seeks peace at Christmas time
- The antique dealer's death
- An elderly lady is faced with a difficult dilemma