An Elderly Lady is up to No Good

An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good, by Helene Tursten, is a collection of darkly comic mystery short stories. The first three stories were originally published in a Swedish collection called Mina Mindre Mord och Mysterier in 2013. In 2018, the first English edition, translated by Marlaine Delargy, was published, with two new stories included. The collection focuses on Maud, an elderly Swedish woman living in Gothenburg, who copes with life’s inconveniences by committing violent murders. Maud’s seeming frailty contrasts sharply with the reality of her actions, demonstrating the mistruth of stereotypes of the elderly. Maud’s troubled backstory raises questions about judgment and morality. Tursten published another collection featuring Maud: An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed (2021). Tursten is also the author of many other mysteries, including the Detective Inspector Huss series and the Inspector Embla Nystrom series. 

This guide is based on the 2018 Soho Press hardcover edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of ableism, addiction, mental illness, sexual content, gender discrimination, physical and emotional abuse, graphic violence, and death.

Plot Summaries

All five stories in An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good feature Maud, an elderly Swedish woman living alone in a spacious Gothenburg apartment. With the exception of the collection’s fourth story, “The Antique Dealer’s Death,” each story is told from a third-person-limited point of view centered on Maud’s perspective.

Each story in the collection focuses on a murder Maud commits to rid herself of some inconvenience or discomfort. Although each can be read and appreciated as a stand-alone narrative, the stories work together to build a complete picture of Maud and her motivations. The second story in the collection takes place chronologically before the first, creating backstory that sheds new light on Maud’s mindset during the first story. New information about Maud’s relationship with her sister, Charlotte, is revealed over several stories, creating a collection-wide focus that provides important context for Maud’s actions.

In the collection’s first story, “An Elderly Lady Has Accommodation Problems,” Maud is targeted by a much younger and wealthier neighbor, Jasmin Schimmerhof, who pressures Maud into switching apartments with her. Maud’s apartment is much larger, and Jasmin wants more space for her art projects. Maud is concerned that Jasmin will find a way to exploit Maud’s age to make a case to the housing board that she should be relocated to Jasmin’s smaller ground-floor apartment. Maud pays Jasmin a surprise visit. She waits until Jasmin is standing underneath a heavy piece of artwork suspended from the ceiling and then releases the mechanism holding it in place. Jasmin dies of a skull fracture. Maud is relieved that the threat to her home is eliminated, but she also feels empty.

“An Elderly Lady on Her Travels” occurs just before Maud and Jasmin meet. It concerns Maud’s discovery that her former fiancé, Gustaf, is engaged to Zazza, an adult film actress in her fifties. After the early death of their parents, Maud spent many years teaching to support herself and her sister, Charlotte, who experienced mental illness and couldn’t work. Zazza is a former student of Maud’s, and Maud considers her a bad person who is marrying Gustaf for his money and social standing. She travels to Selma Spa—their wedding venue. When she is alone with Zazza near a cold-plunge pool, she shoves Zazza onto the ground. Zazza is knocked unconscious, and Maud moves her into the pool, where she drowns. Maud calls out for help and pretends to help get Zazza out of the water. Because she seems frail and confused, people assume she is a bystander to a tragic accident.

The collection’s third story, “An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime,” occurs during the previous Christmas, when Maud is 87. A Christmas Eve visit to the cemetery causes Maud to reflect on her past; her hazy memories of the circumstances of Charlotte’s death imply that she may have murdered her burdensome sister by pushing her down the stairs of their apartment building. Maud is increasingly disturbed by the noise created by her neighbors. The man, an attorney who drinks heavily, is physically and emotionally abusive toward his wife. When the sounds of another altercation in their apartment make it difficult for Maud to enjoy her holiday, she decides to put an end to the problem herself. When she knows the attorney is heading down to the street to add money to his parking meter, she unscrews a lightbulb and hides at the top of the stairs in darkness. She uses her walker to send the unsuspecting attorney flying down the stairs to his death before going home to enjoy a quiet Christmas dinner.

“The Antique Dealer’s Death” is the only story in the collection told from a first-person point of view: Its narrator is Richard W. Bergh, an elderly retired journalist living in Maud’s building. One day, when Richard is on his way out, he encounters police on Maud’s floor and sees even more inside her apartment. He learns that a local antiques dealer called Frazzén was found dead, bludgeoned with a poker in Maud’s father’s old room at the back of her apartment. The police believe Frazzén and an accomplice intended to rob Maud and that the accomplice killed Frazzén and fled. After seeing the scene and hearing Maud’s confused, distressed testimony about finding the body after returning from a trip, Richard calls an old friend, a former police inspector. They discuss the details of the case and conclude that Maud is the likely killer. Months later, Richard sees Maud in the building and shudders, sure that she is getting away with murder.

The final story, “An Elderly Lady Is Faced with a Difficult Dilemma,” is a paired story, recounting Frazzén’s death from Maud’s perspective. The third-person limited narration returns, following Maud as she contacts Frazzén and asks him to come to her apartment in order to value some silver that she wants to sell. When Frazzén is in her father’s room, Maud concludes from his behavior that he intends to steal from her. She knocks him down with a poker, and he hits his head on a sharp piece of metal when he falls. Maud covers up her murder thoroughly and then leaves for a spa visit. When she returns home, she calls the police and pretends that she just discovered Frazzén’s body. Months later, the police are unable to solve the case. Two female officers, not hindered by Maud’s age and gender in the way the male officers are—have their suspicions about Maud’s involvement, but they are unable to get the other officers to take this seriously.