5 ✰ | ( )

You gotta love Maud, mostly because you don’t want to get on her bad side. The “no good” that Maud is up to is murder. The first murders are justified, at least, there is a reason in Maud’s mind that she needs to murder. And then it gets easier. And by the last story, it almost seems contrived, like she wanted murder to happen. And as much as I normally don’t like stories in which the protagonist is a criminal, somehow, in this novel, Maud is likable. I’m not quite sure how the author managed that, but she did it with admirable style. It’s a well-written novel, with intricate murder mysteries and an elderly (and likable!) murderer! ( )

While a fun little book of 5 short stories starring Maude, they follow the same pattern in each one. Makes for a quick read, but a tiny bit redundant. They were short stories printed throughout the years, so completely forgivable. A good palate cleanser if you just read a heavy, deep book. 3.5 stars. ( )

An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed (2020) (Elderly Lady #2) by Helene Tursten. Little Maud is back in this continuation of the first Maud book, An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good. This time there is a grand tour set for South Africa and there Maud finds problems also confronting her. While she doesn’t actually want to kill anyone, heaven knows, life just makes things difficult sometimes.
The stories in this installment of the series finds more of little Maud’s solutions for everyday problems. The stories are nicely written, and while the last entry is about 100 pages, it is worth the little extra effort. Do read this book only after having read the first collection as you will have a few questions answered for you and both books are morbidly fun in their own fashion. ( )

Collection of short stories featuring an octogenerian spinster who does not suffer fools gladly and takes direct (and irreversible) action to deal with them. ( )