These two story collections by Helene Tursten are translated from Swedish by Marlaine DeLargy. Tursten had previously written two mystery series, also set in Gothenburg, and first created Maud when a publisher asked her to contribute to an anthology of Christmas stories. In desperation, she jumped the line between those trying to catch criminals to a criminal as protagonist in "An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime." Here is a sampling of reviews for the first collection, An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good.
Eightly-eight-year-old Maud....freely dispatches greedy neighbors, selfish lovers, and potential thieves in four linked stories that push elderly empowerment to grimly funny heights in this Swedish cult favorite (The Boston Globe)
Darkly engaging...The murders Maud pulls off are meticulously plotted and executed, and one of the pleasures of the stories lies in watching Maud in action (The Toronto Star).
Witty...All pay the ultimate price for outraging this dangerous octogenarian. Will the police ever realize that sweet, frail, confused old Maud is in fact sharp as a tack and just as ruthless? (The Wall Street Journal).
A deliciously noir short story collection...Tursten takes readers deep inside Maud's head as she plots the demise of anyone who crosses her (The New York Times).
Booklist says of this short story collection, "Tursten brings back Swedish octogenarian Maud ... in this second title in her Elderly Lady series. After being interviewed by two hostile police detectives about the burglar's body found in her Gothenburg apartment, Maud decides she needs a change of scene and embarks on a luxury tour of South Africa. As she travels, Maud recalls her past life as a problem solver, beginning ...when she forthrightly dealt with bullies who were tormenting her mentally ill sister....This absorbing dive into the mind of a ruthless pragmatist posing as a Swedish Miss Marple will please psychological-thriller fans, once they realize that Maud isn't nearly as cozy as she looks."
Publishers Weekly calls it a "delightful sequel" and concludes, "Assured prose matches an irresistible heroine."
If you, like me, have ever wished that some really annoying or obnoxious person would disappear, you may also find these stories are deeply, darkly, satisfying. And fun to read.
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