I was surprised by how much I adored eighty-eight-year-old Maude in the 2018 short story collection An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good. The stories were quick, witty, and cozy.
The former teacher with a penchant for murder is back with more in An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed!

It’s only a few months after the final story in Up to No Good, where an antique dealer met an unfortunate end in Maud’s apartment. With a surprising amount of suspicion falling on the seemingly frail and confused woman, Maud decides to treat herself to a luxury trip to South Africa. During her travels, she is triggered by something in the present that reminds her of her past and gives readers six interlocking stories. After landing in Johannesburg, our favorite elderly lady must take matters into her own hands once again after a crime is committed.

Quirky, charming, and cozy - I loved revisiting Maud in this second story collection!

Thanks to Soho Crime and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed is scheduled for release on October 5, 2021.

An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed by Helene Tursten was so much fun. What a blast to read. I think the prose is wonderful and the overall narrative keeps you interested!

The world needs more books like this to savour and enjoy, absolutely delightful. Thankfully the author has written more and I am already chomping at the bit to read all I can get my hands on. Translating from Swedish, this superbly funny and witty book is about elderly Maud, 88, an astute observer, musical genius and a former languages teacher. All of the short stories are brilliant and clever...impossible to choose a favourite, though the first one was my first foray into her life and thought processes so I was most taken by it. The stories are all connected so they feel more like chapters in my view.

Certain Problems require problem solving and Maud is adept and creative with the...eradication of them. Her kind heart feels she is justified. Annoyances disappear and she is congratulated and lauded for her courage and thoughtfulness. Not only is she a comfort to the victims' families but she is welcomed. The last story is a humdinger, a mix of generosity and problem solving.

Maud is on her way to South Africa on a well-deserved break. She reflects on her life whilst on the flights. Memories arise but her mind is lucid and she is anticipating her trip. Besides, leaving the Problems behind along with the befuddled police and inspectors is surely not an issue, right? Sometimes she wonders whether her fake tears, hand wringing and feigned puzzled looks fool them. Surely she's smarter than they are. Good thing she can "use" her age.

My first dive into Tursten's works came up with a huge catch. Those who are smitten with wit, brilliant writing, extraordinary storytelling and problems solving (!), do read this! It would be such a shame to miss. You are in for a real treat. It made me giggle several times.

My sincere thank you to Soho Press and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this wonderful, wonderful book! What a discovery! It is so fitting it seems it was written with me in mind. Such a great feeling when you connect with a book.

Maude is a problem solver. And she has her own unique way of solving those pesky problems that creep up here and there. Problems like getting demoted at work when a teacher Maude was filling in for returns cutting Maude's classes and therefore her paycheck. Maude's fixes" the problem in her own fashion, by murdering the offending teacher.
If you have not read about Maude yet, you should know Maude is nearly 90 years old, she lives alone, has no living family, is a retired teacher who loves to travel, and is only confused, dotty, and hard of hearing when it suites her to be such as when police detectives come asking questions about murdered men in your apartment.
To avoid these detectives Maude decides to take a long awaited trip to South Africa. While infrequently interacting with the group she is registered with, Maude likes to go out on her own, seeking old friends, and old shops from her previous trip to Africa. On one of these outings Maude comes across a young girl who is about to be raped, and by someone Maude knows! Well, Maude being Maude she handles the situation as she would any other, murder the offender.
Maude is one old lady I wouldn't want to encounter in a dark alley for sure. She has a habit of getting rid of those who cross or annoy her permanently.
This is a quick, somewhat dark, humorous read that quickly engages the reader in Maude's scandalous escapades.
Thank you to Soho Press and Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

An Elderly Lady Must Not be Crossed is a book of short stories that is a follow up to one of my all-time favorite short story collections: An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good. It’s not necessary to have read the first book, but those who have will enjoy spending more time with Maud - just don’t cross her!

These six stories are entertaining and are full of dark humor. Maud is clever and resourceful, but although she can play the part of a sweet, innocent old woman, she isn't! Maud is taking a trip and finds herself reminiscing about events in her life and the obstacles she has had to overcome. Each story shows Maud solving problems in her own unique way, up to and including murder! Maud is actually a likable character, even though her actions are definitely extreme. In spite of the darkness, I was pleasantly surprised by the uplifting ending of the book. Fans of Tursten will be happier to see Detectives Irene Huss and Embla Nystrom from the author’s other two series than Maud was. This isn’t quite as good as the first book, but I still had so much fun reading this book. I would rate it 4.5 stars.

I received this ebook from NetGalley through the courtesy of Soho Press. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

Helen Tursten has been writing for many years but this is the first time that I have read something by her. It will not be the last.

This book is a collection of interlaced short stories. It is a sequel to an earlier “elderly lady” collection that I will look for. I enjoyed that Maud was in her eighties as so many mystery protagonists are much younger. Maybe this is the start of a trend given other titles like The Tuesday Murder Club. That being said, she also recalls her childhood in a story that is included here.

All in all, this is a book that will delight its readers. Take a look.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy of Ab elderly lady must not be crossed. I really enjoyed this book. I work in a Nursing home and Maud reminded me of a few feisty women I work with. Never underestimate an elderly person based on their age.

Maude is back and more devious than ever. My first encounter with her was in "An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good." Will she get caught this time trying to balance the scales of good and evil?

I love these books. In this one, 88-year-old Maude goes on a vacation to South Africa. This time she joins a group tour. She occasionally joins the group for meals and some outings, but she also likes her alone time.

She visits a friend she made last time she visited Cape Town only to find her husband has died in the interim. And she's having a rough time financially.

She picks up an elixir she uses but also shares with a fellow tourist in the group who is battling cancer.

Maude also interjects some back story about her time as a language teacher.

You can’t help but root for Maude as she’s never mean or downright nasty. Everything she does is meant to even the score. These books should be bestsellers.

Is Maud a supervillain or the superhero we need? Prior to reading this second collection of stories about the octogenarian murderer, I might have gone with the former, but Helene Tursten makes a wonderful case for Maud actually being just another human being who has a bit more of a gift for getting things done. That's not all for the good; the cathartic charm of Maud saving her mentally ill sister from bullies as a child (not by killing them, it should be noted) and later saving a little girl from a would-be rapist while on a trip to South Africa are somewhat offset by her taking out an unpleasant colleague as a young woman. But there's still something about her that's delightful to read about, and that's thanks to Tursten's ability to present Maud as fully human, even when she's doing things that most of us wouldn't dream of. Maud is unabashedly herself, and even were she not gleefully subverting literary notions of sweet old ladies, that would make her worth reading about as many times as Tursten cares to grace us with collections of her adventures.

I loved the first "Elderly Lady" book, and was so excited to see another here on Netgalley. While I wasn't quite as delighted/shocked by this second edition, I enjoyed it very much.

Maude might look like a sweet old lady, but she is quite the most single minded and murderous little old lady I've met in a book. This is the second of this series and I thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe not quite as much as the first, but it is engaging and I raced through it having a lovely time. Maude is so extremely murderous, and the problem with that is that the very annoying police are constantly irritating her looking for her victims. In this outing we get to find out more about Maud and her back story. Of course that isn't at all comforting because she has been murdering people right and left all her life. People can be just so irritating and she and the world are better off without them, so she knocks them off. You'll enjoy this if you like a short entertaining read. It is unlike anything else and a really good time. How can a book where the main character just kills those who irritate her? I really don't know but it is definitely the case with this. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me access to this.

A surprise sequel to An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good is better than the first.

The police are suspicious of Maud murdering the man she really murdered. Figuring she needs to lay low, she goes on a trip to South Africa.

As much as I enjoyed the first book, I found this one better woven together. We find out Maud's background and the other people she's killed. Through these collections of short stories, there is a clearer story of the type of person Maud is. It was nice to see a different side of her than just her killing people who annoyed her. The way she orchestrates a murder is entertaining.

Review based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

Maude is at it again. In her 80’s she lives a wonderful life. On her terms. Loved the humor in this book, and Maude’s style!

How often have you wished to take matters into your own hands, but feared the consequences? Maud has no such compunction. She's clever, she is loyal in her own unique way, she has no mercy, she murders, and she's 88 years old.

An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed takes Maud on safari after helping a friend in Sweden with a very important family matter. A stop in South Africa takes an unexpected twist leading to a big decision for Maud.

This is book 2, in what I hope will be a long-running series. So good. 4.7/5

As an older woman Maud still has a keene eyesight into life. Taking risks , enjoying life, and helping others in her own way. From early life saving het unbeatable sister from bullies to a young girl almost raped on Mauds trip to Africa. Lots of splendid adventures. Good beach read!

Maud is a hoot! We see her more sentimental side in this second collection as she remembers more of her shenanigans throughout her life. She is a spitfire and quite a killer. Highly recommend!

international-crime-and-mystery, murder, inconvenient-people, translated, teacher, octogenarians, family-dynamics, disguising, noir, short-stories****

Maud had a lot of limits placed on her life because she had to take care of her mentally damaged older sister. These darkly fun stories are from her reflections of past deeds from her perspective at 88 while flying to South Africa from Sweden. She masquerades as a frail and somewhat dotty old lady but is a lot sharper than the people around her and find creative (and deadly) ways to eliminate problems.
I requested and received a free temporary ebook from Soho Press/Soho Crime via NetGalley. Thank you!

All the stars for Maud! Our favorite Swedish octogenarian with a habit of killing people who annoy her is back. This time she’s trying to evade some pesky detectives as a result of what happened in the previous book, “An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good.” To keep them at bay, she joins a swanky group tour to South Africa. While on the trip, Maud reminisces about her younger days and gets involved in something very unexpected in Cape Town that ends up changing her life. It’s very hard not to like Maud, although if she leaves you any homemade Christmas treats, don’t eat them! My sincere thanks to Netgalley and Soho Press for providing this ARC for review.

Well this wasn’t what I expected however I enjoyed it. Maud is an interesting character. This is a short story and is well written.

#AnElderlyLadyMustNotBeCrossed #NetGalley

I am not a short story lover but I have to admit this senior citizen female killer makes up for my dislike. Maud is the lady you don't want to mess with and she comes up with what she considers her ideal way to deal with a problem. Although you may question the morality of her decisions you have to like her for her spunk, quick thinking and the ability to solve any problem that may raise its ugly head.

Enjoy!