The star of this deliciously noir short story collection, Maud, is nearly 90, with a cloud of "snow-white" hair twisted into a thick "old-fashioned chignon," and she hobbles about her neighborhood with a wheeled walker. It's a decoy: Using it makes her look weak and helpless, and Maud likes that - because she is anything but. Like Miss Marple, she is a benign-looking senior citizen with murder on her mind. Maud doesn't solve murders, though. She commits them, usually when someone breaches her peace and quiet. In fact, in each of these crisp, mordantly funny tales, someone around her dies, usually in spectacular fashion. Tursten takes readers deep inside Maud's head as she plots the demise of anyone who crosses her. In "An Elderly Lady Has Accommodation Problems," a conniving local sculptor who specializes in penises - made of wood, clay, concrete and even Play-Doh - goes after Maud's desirable prewar apartment. So the old lady dispatches her using a piece of the sculptor's own artwork (a penis cast in bronze, to be specific). In "An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime," Maud must take measures into her own hands when her upstairs neighbor begins beating his wife, causing an unbearable racket. "Maud had been unable to concentrate on the film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers on TV that night. All she could hear was quarreling and shouting from upstairs." At one point in "The Antique Dealer's Death," Detectives Irene Huss and Embla Nystrom - who star in Tursten's two ongoing mystery series - arrive to figure out why there's a dead man in Maud's apartment. They'd like to nail her for the crime but don't have enough evidence. ("I wouldn't invite that old woman for tea anytime soon," a neighbor is advised.) Here's hoping Tursten brings back the flinty homicidal octogenarian for more adventures.

Five connected stories about a murderous old Swedish lady.Maud has a good thing going. At age 88, she's lived in a large apartment rent-free for 70 years because of a clause in an old contract. Never married, she loves to travel alone and to be alone. In the first story, "An Elderly Lady Has Accommodation Problems," a rare event happens: Her doorbell rings. Jasmin Schimmerhof, a 40-year-old avant-garde artist who lives in the building, stops by to say hello. The daughter of celebrities, her past includes drugs, multiple divorces, and tragedy. Her current art project strives to "unmask the domineering tactics of the patriarchy," meaning that her small apartment is filled with phallusessome even hanging from the ceiling. She is delightfully overbearing as she constantly tries to weasel her way into Maud's good graces. But Maud isn't stupid or senile, and she knows Jasmin is up to something. Once Maud figures out what it is, her solution is drastic, funny, and final. Maud is a seasoned world traveler who once, at age 18, had been engaged to Lt. Gustaf Adelsi. He'd emphatically broken off their engagement on learning her family wasn't rich. Now, in "An Elderly Lady on Her Travels," she reads in the newspaper that he is a wealthy 90-year-old widower about to marry the 55-year-old Zazza, whom ex-teacher Maud knows as her long-ago student, a schemer and a failed soft-core porn actress. When Maud arranges to get near her at a spa and then overhears Zazza's plans to take control of Gustaf's estate, Maud devises an emphatic countermeasure. And then in "An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime," she deals with "The Problem" in the apartment above her. Maud's murders always have plausible motives, and she is a sympathetic character as long as one keeps a safe distance. Each story takes its sweet time to develop and concludes with a juicy dose of senior justice.The book is pure fun, although slender. Another volume of Maud's misdeeds would be most welcome. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

*Starred Review* Tursten has entertained readers for 20 years with her series of crime novels featuring DI Irene Huss of the Violent Crimes Unit in Göteborg, Sweden. Her new character, identified only as Maud, is another brilliant creation. Maud is an irascible 88-year-old criminal in full possession of her faculties who hides behind the fake persona of an addled elderly woman. She made her debut last year in a short story (included in this volume) in the Soho Press collection The Usual Santas, wherein she decides to make her Christmas merry and bright by sending her wife-abusing neighbor off to his eternal damnation via a one-way trip (literally) down the apartment-house stairs. Yes, you read that right. He was too noisy, you see. Our antihero Maud believes that her family pedigree entitles her to a peaceful and genteel existence, and woe be to anyone who threatens it. She is presented here in five episodes, all dark, irreverent, and hilariously funny. Huss puts in a guest appearance in the final piece, where a stolen walker acts as the perfect prop to disguise the scaffold-climbing abilities that enable Maud to murder a greedy antiques dealer. Yes, this woman actually snatches people's canes and walkers. And she can climb scaffolding. Come back soon, Maud. But be careful. The police are getting suspicious.--Jane Murphy Copyright 2018 Booklist

The five stories in this exceptional collection from Tursten (the Irene Huss mysteries) feature Maud, a seemingly mild-mannered 88-year-old Gothenburg resident who's perfectly willing to use wiles and sometimes deadly force to defend her independent lifestyle. In the delightful "An Elderly Lady Has Accommodation Problems," a pushy neighbor has designs on Maud's apartment, and that can't be tolerated. When a gold digger hooks an old beau of Maud's in "An Old Lady on Her Travels," Maud decides to intervene, showing that she's also ready to right wrongs that threaten others. Perhaps the best entry is "An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmas Time," in which Maud cleverly puts a young clerk in his place and rids herself of an abusive neighbor. In the last two tales, she deals ruthlessly with a greedy antique dealer. Readers will be amused by how sharp-as-a-tack Maud plays the forgetful, fuzzy-brained old lady to achieve her ends. With any luck, she'll be back for an encore. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.