Reviewed by Kristin
Martha Andersson has had a good life, but is having a little
trouble adjusting to conditions at Diamond House, a Swedish old age pensioners’
home. The problem is that Nurse Barbara is cutting corners. Profits are down, or
at least not as high as the new director desires, and suddenly sticky buns and
cake are no longer in the budget. Other amenities are likewise limited, and
Martha and her friends are chafing a bit in the sparse accommodations.
Martha hatches a plan with Christina, Anna-Gretta, and the
men—nicknamed Brains and Rake. They are going to become art thieves. After all,
no one would suspect a group of oldies walking with the aid of Zimmer frames to
be the ones kidnapping art from the National Museum. “The League of Pensioners”
is born, and they are stomping their orthopedic shoes on their way to riches.
The pensioners hone their skills with a small robbery at a
nearby hotel, then move on to the big times. The police have no idea how those
paintings (Monet and Renoir!) disappeared or who tried to ransom them. They
dismiss the old people as dithering fuss-budgets who are just confused, bless
their hearts.
Told with humor, The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the
Rules is achingly clever, and funny even to those of us who haven’t reached
retirement age yet. This book reminded me of the Elderly Lady series by Helene Tursten. Those short volumes (An
Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good and An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed)
are also set in Sweden and are laugh out loud funny.
This is the first book in the series.
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