An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good
By Helene Tursten
(171 pages, fiction, 2018)
Much like this pocket-size collection of stories, 88-year-old Maud is a teensy Swedish lady with a sardonic wit and a deadly streak a mile wide. She uses her outward appearance of sweetness and light, helplessness and innocence, to plot against her enemies and preserve her lifestyle; due to a clause in her late father’s will, Maud is able to live rent-free in a beautiful Gothenburg apartment for the rest of her life. She blissfully travels the world whenever the whim strikes her, and spends a good deal of the rest of her time using the Internet to keep abreast of all the happenings in the world. Maud is more than capable of living independently, but she readily turns up the stereotypical old lady charm when the need arises to manipulate those who seek to take advantage of her.
Her neighbors are disgruntled by the fact that Maud lives rent free in such a spacious apartment. One neighbor in particular, an annoyingly saccharine artist named Jasmin Schimmerhof, swoops into Maud’s life and tries to befriend the older woman. Shrewd Maud realizes Jasmin’s game when Jasmin begins to incessantly bring up how large Maud’s apartment is in comparison to her own, and how she could really use the extra space. Maud is not about to let anyone take her precious living quarters, so she swiftly concocts a way to “do away with” Jasmin. This is the reader’s first introduction to Maud’s true character. She is firmly set in her ways, enjoys her life the way it is, and will victimize anyone who she deems a threat to that lifestyle. And for some odd reason, this makes for a sublimely entertaining set of stories!
Like a delightful cross between Sophia Petrillo and Dexter Morgan, Maud stays ten steps ahead of those around her, including the authorities; she is methodical in her executions, and after a few suspicious deaths in which Maud just happens to be nearby, she outsmarts even the savviest of detectives by playing into the trope of the helpless and clueless elderly lady.
While of course I am by no means condoning Maud’s heinous crimes, it’s not difficult to admire her tenacity and sharpness of mind; there is something downright fun about this tiny fictional woman’s escapades and her sassy demeanor, even if her actions in real life would be abhorrent. I don’t know what it says about me that I would find a murderous old Swedish lady most endearing, but I know other readers will feel the same way when they meet Maud.
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