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This brief book of five short stories features an elderly woman in Sweden. She’s never married and has outlived her mother and sister, the latter by 30-plus years. She’s saved well enough to be able to travel a lot, living simply in the apartment that’s been her home her entire 80-plus years. Maud just wants to be left alone to do what she wants, when she wants, and to be able to go about her routine.
When a wealthy celebrity moves in to an apartment in her building, Maud soon realizes that the woman is angling to acquire her large apartment, and that absolutely won’t do. So she resolves to get rid of her. Permanently. And she succeeds — without anyone suspecting. She’s just a little old lady and the poor celebrity’s death was a horrid accident.
In another story, Maud is being bothered by a neighbor couple’s arguments (which include domestic abuse). So she makes up a plan to get rid of the husband. And succeeds — without anyone suspecting.
Maud pulls off another, much more premeditated plan to kill an annoying gold-digging woman who has entered the life of the man who was her fiancé 70 years earlier. The death at a spa is a tragic accident. The bonus is that she learns how delightful it is to visit spas!
The last murder is a little complex, but she pulls it off just fine. A couple of smart police investigators suspect her, but there’s nothing they can do to prove she was responsible.
This book goes along nicely topic- and tone-wise with the Thursday Murder Club books, in that they feature murders and elderly people who are a lot more capable than others give them credit for. Of course, in this case, it’s the elderly person getting away with murder, rather than solving it, and there’s no mystery for the reader. It’s a very entertaining little book. I had to chuckle over every situation Maud got into that she decided to resolve with murder.
Rated: High. Profanity includes 7 uses of strong language, about 10 instances of moderate profanity, a handful of uses of mild language, and a few instances of the name of Deity in vain. Violence includes a murder in each of the five stories, with some having moderate details about blood or gory wounds. One story has references to domestic abuse. There are one or two brief off-color references to sex.
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