Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg

Digital audiobook read by Patience Tomlinson.

Martha Andersson is 79 years old and lives in a retirement home. But she isn’t happy with the realities of the situation. When new management takes over, corners are cut, and the promised amenities are no longer evident. Martha and her friends – Brains, Rake, Christina and Anna-Greta – are not going to take this lying down. They form the League of Pensioners and decide the best way to improve their circumstances is to engage in some show more nonviolent crime.

These characters are a hoot! As outlandish and ridiculous as many of their schemes are, I found it great fun to watch them unfold. Of course, things don’t always go as planned (how many times can those paintings be stolen?), but it would be a short book if it all went right the first time. Martha and her “gang” are a resourceful bunch, and who on earth would suspect a little old lady with a walker of being a master criminal? Does make you think twice about discounting the senior citizens in our lives. There may be snow on the roof, but there’s a fire inside.

I did get more than a little tired of Nurse Barbara and her schemes to get her married lover to leave his wife and marry her instead. Enough already. Still, it was an enjoyable adventure.

This is the first in a series. Wonder what the League of Pensioners will get up to next?

Patience Tomlinson does a fine job narrating the audiobook. She sets a good pace and manages to give the characters sufficiently unique voices so that I didn’t get confused about who was speaking. show less

The Lily of the Valley retirement home was once a haven for Martha Anderson and her friends, but now under new management, and renamed Diamond House, the group had become victims of rate rises and repeated service cuts. Management’s decision to not provide decorations for the Christmas tree is the last straw for Martha who, after watching a television documentary, decides they would all be better off in a prison cell than as clients of Diamond House. Escaping the home is just the first show more step of a masterful scheme that includes the ‘League of Pensioners’ living the high life in Stockholm’s most exclusive hotel, a trip to the national art museum and a relaxing stay in a minimum security institution…but not everything goes to plan.

I can’t help but draw some comparisons between The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules and The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by author, Jonas Jonasson, the two books share a similar cover design, title, a ‘senior’ protagonist and both author’s are Swedish to begin with, but in truth there are few similarities.

While Allan Karlsson’s only plan is to escape his centenarian celebrations at the care home, Martha and her gang make meticulous plans for their break out and subsequent adventures with a clear goal in mind. The plot is largely straightforward with their initial schemes escalating when things don’t go exactly to plan. And things go wrong – a wild storm, a curious Yugoslav Mafia member and an ambitious hotel housekeeper, all add excitement and a touch of danger to the pensioners enterprise.

Ingelman-Sundberg plays it straight where Jonasson comedic sense wanders into the absurd. There is humor of course in a group of old age pensioners rebellion against society’s ‘rules’, the care home’s restrictions and their crime spree, certainly enough to raise a chuckle or three.

Commentary on the marginalisation of the elderly and their vulnerability to the power of care institutions, more concerned with profit margins than the well-being of their clientele, is inevitable though tempered by the idea of ‘growing old disgracefully’. You can’t help but admire the group’s sense of fun and mischief.

I read the English translation of the novel which I think was well done. I did find the pace a little uneven and thought perhaps overall the novel was a little too long.

I did enjoy The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules, it’s an entertaining, feel good crime caper which will have you cheering for the elderly rebels on the wrong side of the law. show less

I am ready to join this group!
What a fun ride with 5 Swedish pensioners who have escaped the old folks home by applying skill and intelligence to robbery clothed in a Robin Hood cover.
The previous book set this group of 5 on their way and now they need more money for a pension fund for all of those old folks still left in sub standard nursing and retirement homes.
From the casinos of Las Vegas to the banks and National Museum of Sweden this group of seventy and eighty year olds play Robin show more Hood.
Their methods are intriguing and the results sometimes hilarious. A fun romp through old age that can teach everyone to respect their elders!
Read as an ARC from LibraryThing. show less

This certainly isn't Scandinoir even though it does involve Sweden, Swedish people and crime. But it is a fun read and was just the thing to pick up for a few days vacation at the beach.

This is the third book in this series and I would recommend reading the other two before picking this one up. Many of the crime capers won't make sense unless you know what went before. Martha and her friends in the League of Pensioners need still more money to finance their charitable donations to people who show more are not adequately cared for by the government such as other old people, health care workers, art galleries, even seamen and police officers. The gang pulls off a bank heist which involves breaking into the bank vault at night from the floor above and then shoving all the loot into the waste disposal system where it is vacuumed into a big truck that Martha is operating. There are a few hitches but the worst thing is when the garbage truck rolls off their property into their neighbour's pool. Fortunately the neighbour is not at home and the gang can bring in cement to fill in the pool and bury the truck. They worry about their neighbour's reaction when he comes home but they discover that he is ensconced on one of his three superyachts in the Mediterranean so they figure he won't be home soon. The money from the bank robbery allows Martha to get a start on one of her ultimate desires--having a community for older folks where they can enjoy themselves and not worry about money. The group buys an old barge and converts it into a trendy restaurant complete with a speed dating table for elderly singles. It succeeds beyond their dreams but a couple of criminals who run a protection racket want in on the act. Martha faces them down several times but the pair try to destroy it. Unbeknownst to them retired Chief Inspector Blomberg and Anna-Greta, who have become attracted to each other, are on board. When Blomberg goes to investigate the strange noises on the deck he recognizes the pair causing him to abandon Anna-Greta in order to get the police involved in capturing the two cons. Anna-Greta and the rest of the gang go off to the Cote d'Azur to steal one of their neighbour's superyachts. They accomplish this and sell it to some Russian oligarchs and then cover up the theft. Martha overhears the Russians talking about her unfavourably and she decides to teach them a lesson. Back in Stockholm she enlists Anna-Greta, who is the group's computer wizard, to drain their bank accounts. Anna-Greta can't get through the security system so she calls in Blomberg to help. So Anna-Greta is paired up with Blomberg, Martha with Brains and Christina with Rake (whenever his wandering eye doesn't wander too much). They also have enough funds to make their dreams of a Happiness Village for seniors come true.

With all this money can the League of Pensioners finally settle down and enjoy themselves? As far as I know there aren't any more books in the series so maybe the group have retired from their criminal activities. show less