An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good

My thirteen-year-old actually checked this out at the library, then when he left it lying around the house it definitely piqued my curiosity. From the title to the cross-stitched skull and crossbones to the fact that it was translated (and tiny!), I told him that if it was good, I might want to read it after him. Later that night, after the kids' bedtime, he came downstairs and pressed it into my hands. "This book is crazy!" he said, and disappeared. It seemed implied that he liked it.

And wow, it didn't take long to figure out what he meant! Of course I expected that it would feature an elderly woman with sometimes nefarious purposes, but I didn't expect her to be the POV character, and I didn't expect her to be so wickedly show more relatable!

This quickly took Nimona's place as my therapeutic alternate with How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS. To go from self-interested bureaucrats refusing to rise to the occasion to prevent needless deaths to Maud's casual and remorseless offings of people who kinda-sorta deserved it was quite refreshing.

The first three stories were perfection. I enjoyed the last two, which more closely fit a standard whodunnit format, a bit less, or else I would have easily given the whole thing five stars.

Not my usual reading, but so enjoyable. show less

Five quietly sinister and entirely plausible tales of a woman in her eighties who discovers she can get away with murder

This is a delightfully mischievous read, especially at Christmas, when one of the stories is set.

In Maud, Helene Tursten has produced as an intriguing villain: an old lady, happily solitary and financially secure, for whom other people are not entirely real, except in so far as they help or hinder her in taking care of herself. When people become problems, that is they pose a threat to her or those she cares for or disturb her peace or attempt to steal from her, Maud is happy to solve the problem permanently with a little bit of well-managed violence that results in a death the either looks accidental or cannot be show more reasonably attributed to Maud herself.

I can see that Maud's actions show her to be a psychopath but I still found myself cheering for her. The people she killed seemed to me to deserve killing. I'd certainly have thought of doing what Maud did but I wouldn't have had the nerve or the emotional distance to act on my impulse. I'm hoping that my admiration for Maud is a sign of the power of Tursten's writing and not my own incipient psychopathy.

I admired the way Maud could, when it served her purpose, turn herself into the not-quite-all-there, harmless-old-dear that people expect to see. She uses the way the young see the old as both camouflage and as a weapon. I'm more than twenty years younger than Maud but I can already see how my perceived age changes how I'm treated unless I act against type and I can imagine the glee of being a predator disguised as someone seen as so low threat that they're almost invisible.

The book contains five stories:
- 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

With each story, we learn a little bit more about how Maud came to her present circumstances. We don't get an explanation as to why she is as she is, rather we get a picture that her circumstances rather than he character have changed She now has the independence and the protective camouflage available to her to be herself and get away with it.

The last two stories are two different perspectives on the investigation into the death of an antique dealer. Tursten uses the antiques dealer's death to bring Maud to the attention of both of the detectives she's currently writing series about: Irene Huss, with ten novels in a series that started in 1998, and Embla Nyström, Huss's protegé with two revels in a series that started in 2014.

I tried "Inspector Huss" the first book in the series a while ago and abandoned it. My encounter with Maud was much more fun. The difference may be down to the twenty extra years that Tursten had practised her craft between the two books but I suspect that it's also to do with a change of translators and to listening to the audiobook version. So, I've decided to try the second Inspector Huss book, "Night Rounds" as an audiobook, in the hope of finding another series to read. show less

*An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good* by Helene Tursten was such a fun, delightfully dark read! There's something incredibly entertaining about reading a story where the protagonist is unapologetically on the wrong side of the law. This old lady truly lives up to the title—she is absolutely up to no good, and I loved every minute of it.

What makes this book so fascinating is how she acts on all those intrusive, unwelcome thoughts that most people have and immediately dismiss. You know those fleeting moments where you think something terrible and then quickly move on? Well, she doesn't just think them—she *does* them. There's a scene where an old man has his cane leaning against the wall, and she has that passing thought: "What if I took show more it?" And she actually does take it! Obviously he has the cane because he *needs* it, but she doesn't care at all. It's shocking and darkly funny at the same time.

Everything she does is completely selfish, and yet I found myself completely engaged, trying to understand what's going on in her head. Watching her devise elaborate plans to make her life easier—regardless of who gets hurt or helped in the process—and then watching her execute those plans was genuinely captivating. There's a cold calculation to her actions that's both disturbing and strangely compelling.

I also really enjoyed the glimpses into life in Sweden, where the story is set. The cultural details and everyday life there are so different from what I'm used to in the US, which added another layer of interest to the book. It made the reading experience feel fresh and gave me a window into a world I don't usually get to see.

This is a dark comedy done right—morally questionable, wickedly entertaining, and surprisingly thought-provoking. If you're looking for something different and don't mind rooting for someone who's definitely the villain of her own story, this book is absolutely worth picking up. show less

I was sorry to reach the end of An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten as I was enjoying these stories so much. Maude lives a quiet life, barely noticed by the people around her. After all who really does notice the elderly with their canes and wheeled walkers, gentle ways and soft speech. But Maude is anything but the quiet old lady she appears to be, inside she is a calculating, intelligent serial killer who systematically eliminates those who annoy her.

In a series of short stories we get to meet and join Maude in her escapades and all too soon we find ourselves rooting for her and cheering her on. From a greedy antiques dealer, to annoying neighbours, or a lost love’s new interest, Maude works on her problems and comes show more up with, for her, a satisfactory conclusion.

Being an elderly lady myself I found that I could relate to Maude and although I would never go as far, I couldn’t help but admire her cunning ways. An Elderly Lady Up To No Good is a fun read that is not intended to be taken seriously. It is dark, humorous and clever, and an excellent break from all the sweet stories that one finds at this time of the year. show less

A series of related stories about an elderly lady, Maud.

She's got her nice little old lady act down pat. She knows just when to use her walker or cane (both stolen and neither needed by her) or to act disoriented or bewildered. And she gets away with murder - literally.

I laughed all the way through this cute little book. I listened to the audio, and the author does such a nice job of differentiating Maud's clear as a bell internal voice vs her outward quavery little old lady voice.

An elderly Swedish lady is a serial killer, and manages to get away with it because no one seriously believes that an 88-year-old who acts slightly confused and who occasionally relies on a walker might actually be murdering people.

This was quirky, and I mostly enjoyed it, although I couldn't decide whether I was supposed to be rooting for Maud or not. A couple of her murders technically benefited other people, but I wouldn't say she was particularly altruistic. That woman had ice water in her veins. I did very much appreciate her completely shameless use of old lady stereotypes in her efforts to appear as harmless as possible.

This small volume is an absolute delight. AN ELDERLY LADY IS UP TO NO GOOD by Helene Tursten and translated by Marlaine Delargy from @soho_press is one of those rare finds of a book that you didn’t know you needed in your life until you read it. Maud, an 88 year old elderly lady, likes her routine and her quiet life in her apartment. However, if that routine or quiet is disturbed, Maud is not above a little murder to set her world back to rights. She is irascible and cranky and the most lovable murderer you’ll ever find in a book.