An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good / Helene Tursten
trans. from the Swedish by Marlaine Delargy
NY: Soho Crime, 2019, c2018
173 p.

I picked this one up for some light relief last week. It's a collection of short stories by Swedish crime writer Helene Tursten, featuring a little old lady who isn't quite what she seems. 

Maud likes a quiet life, without too much bother. She still lives in the apartment she grew up in, which thanks to a little quirk in the lease after her father died, is rent free for life. Each of the stories is centred on Maud encountering a problem of some kind, and solving it in a permanent manner. 

There are 5 short stories included:

• 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

I really enjoyed the first three; the last two were different angles on one situation, and I didn't think that both were necessary - just the last one with the same formula in the title would have been fine. 

Maud sticks to herself, even though she travels a lot. She likes to keep her life problem free, but still exhibits a bit of sentiment at times. In the first story, a new tenant in her building has her eye on Maud's large apartment, so Maud quickly takes care of that. In the second and third stories, she sees others encountering problematic issues -- both around marriages -- and so carefully manages to solve those too, on behalf of the injured parties.

The final story/stories were a bit gorier than the first ones, still not terrible but a bit ickier. I really enjoyed Maud's character, though -- she puts on a confused weak demeanour when it serves her, taking advantage of stereotypes. She's stubborn and doesn't abide fools. She is intelligent, thoughtful, and great at making rapid decisions in the face of difficult issues. The wry, dark humour in these stories made this a very entertaining read. I really enjoyed the break from more serious reading.