Serial Killer old ladies are the best kind.

Meet Maud. Maud is an 88yr old Swedish woman with nothing really of note in her life except for her super awesome apartment and penchant for (often justified) murder. Thanks to a clause in her apartment complex, Maud is able to live in a spacious apartment rent free as long as someone in her family is living. She loves to travel, spend money on herself and occasionally, murder those who stand between her and her beloved apartment.

Tursten includes 5 short stories in this volume, each with a different set up to Maud reaching her tipping point. In the first, a wealthy celebrity is trying to steal her apartment. In the second, she encounters the new fiancee of her true love. In the third she takes out an abusive husband, not really for the abuse but moreso for disrupting her Christmas, and in the fourth and fifth stories there’s a situation involving Maud, an antiques dealer and finally, the police. Will she get caught?!

I loved this book. The pacing was spot on and the character of Maud was a delight. She’s intelligent, quick witted, sneaky and hilarious. Several times in this book I full on laughed while reading, and I tore through it all in about an hour. It’s great, funny writing with a really interesting and conniving main character and based on this book alone I’d read loads more by this author. Apparently the police detective character in this book is the main character in Tursten’s other novels, so I’m very interested to check those out. Truly fun, charming and dark. 

Title:  An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good
Author: Helen Tursten
Format:  Hardcover
Pages: 171
ISBN: 9781641290111

Three Descriptors: Darkly humorous, quirky, character-driven