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The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg (book review)

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules

Author:  Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg

Published: 2012 (original) Canadian publication March 2014

Publisher: Harper Collins

Genre:  fiction, general fiction, humour

• ISBN: 9781443428262 (trade paperback)

Source:  personal copy

Readers around the world have fallen in love with the Senior League, five residents of the Diamond Retirement Home—Martha, The Genius, The Rake, Christina and Anna-Greta—who turn to a life of crime.

New owners have taken over the Diamond, making cost-cutting changes that have transformed the happy home into a dull and dreary place. The residents wonder if they wouldn’t be better off in prison! Martha gets an idea: they shall commit a crime that will ensure conviction—some type of financial crime, a small coup of some sort. They will give whatever they get to the poor and elderly. If Robin Hood could do it, so can they!

What starts as a robbery attempt at a nearby luxury hotel escalates to art theft from a major museum, the culprits armed only with bolt cutters and high-tech walkers. The Mafia gets wind of these robberies, and suddenly the underworld has its eye on both the stolen paintings and the handiwork of The Genius. Soon the Senior League has both the law and the lawless at their heels.

My thoughts:

With all the recent cuts at their retirement home, Martha and her friends couldn't help compare their circumstances to those of prisoners.  In fact, they noted that prisoners have it better!  They get well-fed, exercise time outdoors, and access to a gym.  Considering that, these five friends decide to commit the perfect crime where no one gets hurt but that offers an opportunity to better their situation with jail time!

If you're thinking this is outrageous and potentially hilarious, you're right!  The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is a wickedly funny look at the life of crime as only they can pull it off, walkers and canes and all!

An enormous hit in Sweden, The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules was published in Canada in 2014.  It has been a hit!  I highly recommend it for the writing, the well-rounded characters, humour and tension.  Pick it up and see for yourself.

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