Cathy C. (cathyskye) - , reviewed on 10/4/2021 + 2307 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

Part of me wants to be just like Maud. This woman is eighty-nine and still more than able to go on safari. She's got all her marbles. Her health and mobility are good. She's got enough money to live the life that she wants. Good for her! There's just one fly in the ointment: her attitude towards taking a life-- and this is one reason why some people will not see the humor in these stories, and why I call them a guilty pleasure. This is fiction, not real life. In fiction, isn't it nice to be able to do away with a thoroughly nasty human who's causing harm to others? I figure as long as I think a little fictional murder is okay does not stray into the real world, I should be okay.

What's so unsettling is Maud herself. She's irascible, yet once you learn of the life she's had to lead, she's sympathetic, too. You're not supposed to feel sympathetic toward a killer. The humor these stories contain can also keep you off balance. Just the thought of a little old eighty-nine-year-old woman carrying out a murder or two... shouldn't she be sitting in front of the fire with her knitting?

One of the things I found most enjoyable about this latest collection of Maud stories is that Maud gets drawn outside of herself and becomes involved in the lives of others. It's how she plans the next stage of her life that really put a smile on my face. I'm hoping that we might hear from this little old lady at least one more time.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)

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