I couldn't resist buying this little hardcover, with its hearts-and-skulls-cross-stitch cover-art. It contains several short stories, translated from the original Swedish, featuring the same character, octogenarian Maud, who has been living rent-free in her roomy Gothenburg apartment for decades - and who is apparently not averse to improving her situation with a little homicide...

I really enjoyed these stories, though in at least one of them it seems that Maud might have found a simpler, non-lethal way of dealing with a troublesome situation. Still, her inventiveness is entertaining, if sometimes chilling! (She reminds me a wee bit of Tom Ripley from Patricia Highsmith's books - someone who, internally, just wants a life of peaceful luxury, but who doesn't hesitate to remove human obstacles to that.)

The author's bio at the end of the book reveals that the first "Maud" story was the Christmas one; in this book it seems that the tales are presented chronologically in-story, rather than in the order of publication.

The first story, "An Elderly Lady has Accommodation Problems", inflicts a pesky new neighbor on Maud, someone from a privileged family and with a widespread online reputation - and few if any boundaries. She starts "befriending" Maud with increasingly clear intent of trying to get her to switch her roomy (and rent-free) apartment for the newcomer's smaller one, something Maud simply won't consider. At first I was sympathetic to Maud, as a neighbor who just won't stop ringing the doorbell and trying to intrude is among my worst (non-catastrophic) nightmares - but Maud's method of dealing with her is lethal and messy (if, perhaps, appropriate, given the neighbor's love of being in the media). I couldn't quite see why she just didn't stop answering the door early on, but it seems that she preferred her method to having to put up with being pestered for however long it took for the neighbor to give up.

Next up is "An Elderly Lady on Her Travels", which provides a lot of Maud's back story, including her fiance Gustaf (who broke their engagement when his family found a bride who'd bring more to the match), her parents, and her older sister, and shows that Maud had devious tendencies long before she took to murder. When Maud learns that Gustaf, now 90, has just remarried (to a former porn-star actress 35 years his junior), she decides to step in. Turns out this is in part to defend Gustaf's children by his first wife, as Maud - who's been following Gustaf all this time via news and internet - suspects that the new wife will try to oust the children from the family concern. Maud finds that the new spouse will be at a luxury spa, and while that's not something Maud's ever been interested in she signs up so as to have a way to get at her target... which she does, very cleverly. And she also finds that she really, really loves the pampering and delicious food in luxury spas!

"An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime" is next, and includes the truth about the fate of Maud's older sister (hint: Maud's career in carefully-selective mayhem started early). It also shows Maud handling a rude store clerk very neatly indeed, and (surprise!) non-lethally for once {wry grin}. But the main plot here has to do with "the Problem", a couple who moved into a nearby apartment and who engage in frequent loud, sometimes violent quarrels, disturbing Maud's peace. She finds a nifty way to solve this, and if she did it more for her own sake than for the battered wife's, it still works out in the end. (I also learned about the traditional Swedish casserole "Jansson's Temptation", which Maud treats herself to for dinner; sounds quite good!)

Next up is "The Antique Dealer's Death", which is a bit of a change: it's narrated by one of Maud's neighbors, a retired author/journalist. In the past he's associated with a famed (and now also retired) detective, so when he sees a police presence at Maud's apartment he introduces himself and offers to help. Turns out Maud's OK, but sobbing quietly - after returning from a vacation to find a days-dead body in the room that was once her father's... [Seems her apartment is indeed quite roomy, as she has spare rooms that don't get visited at all very often!] The investigation unfolds from the neighbor's viewpoint, as he learns the facts and shares them with his old detective friend. And, amusingly, they both conclude that Maud killed the guy - but are sure that without any evidence to go on, nobody would believe them. And the poor narrator finds himself nervously passing Maud in the hall, wondering what she'll do next!

That story came out in 2016, and the next and last in 2018, so I'm guessing some of the fans asked for Maud's side. "An Elderly Lady is Faced With a Difficult Dilemma" covers the same crime but from Maud's perspective, so we learn why and how she offed a thieving antiques dealer - and how she managed to cover up her part in the deed, despite its taking place in her own apartment! She'd originally planned to sell some of her older treasures to the dealer, to improve her bank balance (now that she's become addicted to luxury spa getaways!), but when she sensed that he was planning to take more of her goods than she was willing to part with, she acted promptly, and worked out her plan from there. (I admit that some of her actions seemed a bit of a stretch for a woman her age, though she's healthier than she allows her neighbors to believe, but I could accept it as part of the story.)

There's a fun nod at the end of this one, where focus shifts to the police department, where the detectives are going over the case - and two characters from the author's murder-mystery series weigh in! And those two come to the same conclusion as the neighbor in the previous story - Maud could very well have done it, and now looks to have gotten away with it...

I hope there will be more "Maud" stories, but in the meantime I may hunt up some of the author's other works, to see if they're as much fun!

Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.

I left this book in my Little Free Library on this Halloween day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2020 Spooktacular October challenge, for the cross-stitched skulls on the cover. ***

*** Released for the 2020 Tick Tock challenge. ***

I'm reclaiming this from the LFL, as it hasn't been chosen in several months; will re-release elsewhere.

Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.

I left this book in the Little Free Library beside City Hall; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]