APRIL 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator Patience Tomlinson portrays a cast of charming geriatrics in this somewhat silly but amusing audiobook. Tomlinson portrays Martha Andersson, a 79-year-old Swedish pensioner, as a typically querulous grandmother who discovers her rebellious courage when her retirement home cuts too many corners. Martha’s four cronies are clearly distinguished in Tomlinson’s reading, including the retired navy man who is still suave with the ladies and the former banker who always knows best. But Tomlinson shines brightest in the narration of the almost slapstick adventures of the old folks as they execute a museum art heist in an effort to be put in prison, which surely will offer more amenities than their parsimonious and dreary senior home. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
07/18/2016
In Ingelman-Sundberg's winning seriocomic series debut, 79-year-old Martha Andersson gets fed up with her treatment at the Diamond House retirement home, starting with its bad food and restrictions. Martha decides to do something about her situation by enlisting a number of her geriatric friends, including 79-year-old Oscar "Brains" Krupp, in becoming "the most troublesome oldies in the world." They form the League of Pensioners and embark on a series of escapades that begins with a kitchen raid and grows progressively bolder to include a bank robbery. The OAPs (old age pensioners) prove both adept and inept in ways that are both charming and surprising as they pull off the theft of paintings by Renoir and Monet from Stockholm's National Museum, and then have to deal with the consequences. Readers will pull for the unlikely gang in their efforts to commit the "ultimate crime" toward the end of this appealing crime novel. (July)
From the Publisher
Instead of hyperbolic, mustache-twirling villains, Ingelman-Sundberg deftly orchestrates the twists and turns in the plot through the foibles of real life, capturing the rebelliousness percolating just under the surface of ignored, shuffled away elderly folks in this merry, lighthearted caper.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Swedish writers may be known for their crime novels, but Ingelman-Sundberg’s caper involves illegal activity of a rather unusual order: The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is a story about spirited seniors determined have fun and raise some hell.” — Booklist
“Reminded me of the more mischievous moments of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” — J.B. Morrison, author of The Extra Ordinary Life of Frank Derrick, Age 81
“A quirky, offbeat delight and a heart-warming reminder that one is never too old for some mischief.” — Tom Winter, author of Lost & Found
“A good-natured humorous crime caper.” — Independent on Sunday (UK)
“Criminally fun!” — Bonniers Bokklubb (Sweden)
“It has humor, brilliant dialogue, irony and warmth. A light-hearted and enjoyable detective comedy.” — PRO Pensionären (Sweden)
“This is hilarious! Ocean 11 group meets the 70s group from the nursing home. I hope I am as spry as the 79 main character. They antics they get into make the book a delight to read....such fun.” — Kay Sheldon, Page & Palette
“Such a great read! This definitely proves the wisdom: it’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.” — Suspense Magazine
“Readers will pull for the unlikely gang in their efforts to commit the ‘ultimate crime’ toward the end of this appealing crime novel.” — Publishers Weekly.com
“.. . ..A hilarious comedy of errors… The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is the read of the summer and it will make a splendid movie!” — Bookloons.com
“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel meets The Italian Job in internationally-bestselling author Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg’s witty and insightful comedy of errors.” — Library Love Fest
“This good natured outing will appeal to readers interested in a story about spirited seniors determined have fun, raise some hell, and cause more than a little menace during their so-called ‘mature’ years.” — Booklist
“Instead of hyperbolic, mustache-twirling villains, Ingelman-Sundberg deftly orchestrates the foibles of real life... and captures the rebelliousness percolating just under the surface of ignored, shuffled away elderly folks. A merry, lighthearted caper.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A comedy of errors, oversights and obstacles infuse Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg’s clever U.S. debut, and the hilarious, escalating antics of a spirited cast of walker-dependent characters in their 70s and 80s will have readers of all ages rooting for their cause.” — ShelfAwareness, starred review
“Refreshing and thought-provoking.” — San Antonio Express-News
“A truly fun, enjoyable [and] wonderful novel.” — San Francisco Book Review
“The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is an endearing and heartwarming tale...a must-read for people who overlook the older and mostly wiser seniors in our world.” — Collected Miscellany
Independent on Sunday (UK)
A good-natured humorous crime caper.
Suspense Magazine
Such a great read! This definitely proves the wisdom: it’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.
Bonniers Bokklubb (Sweden)
Criminally fun!
Tom Winter
A quirky, offbeat delight and a heart-warming reminder that one is never too old for some mischief.
PRO Pensionären (Sweden)
It has humor, brilliant dialogue, irony and warmth. A light-hearted and enjoyable detective comedy.
Booklist
Swedish writers may be known for their crime novels, but Ingelman-Sundberg’s caper involves illegal activity of a rather unusual order: The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is a story about spirited seniors determined have fun and raise some hell.
J.B. Morrison
Reminded me of the more mischievous moments of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Kay Sheldon
This is hilarious! Ocean 11 group meets the 70s group from the nursing home. I hope I am as spry as the 79 main character. They antics they get into make the book a delight to read....such fun.
Booklist
Swedish writers may be known for their crime novels, but Ingelman-Sundberg’s caper involves illegal activity of a rather unusual order: The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is a story about spirited seniors determined have fun and raise some hell.
starred review ShelfAwareness
A comedy of errors, oversights and obstacles infuse Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg’s clever U.S. debut, and the hilarious, escalating antics of a spirited cast of walker-dependent characters in their 70s and 80s will have readers of all ages rooting for their cause.
Collected Miscellany
The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is an endearing and heartwarming tale...a must-read for people who overlook the older and mostly wiser seniors in our world.
San Francisco Book Review
A truly fun, enjoyable [and] wonderful novel.
San Antonio Express-News
Refreshing and thought-provoking.
Library Love Fest
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel meets The Italian Job in internationally-bestselling author Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg’s witty and insightful comedy of errors.
Bookloons.com
.. . ..A hilarious comedy of errors… The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is the read of the summer and it will make a splendid movie!
PRO Pensionären (Sweden)
It has humor, brilliant dialogue, irony and warmth. A light-hearted and enjoyable detective comedy.
Booklist
This good natured outing will appeal to readers interested in a story about spirited seniors determined have fun, raise some hell, and cause more than a little menace during their so-called ‘mature’ years.
APRIL 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator Patience Tomlinson portrays a cast of charming geriatrics in this somewhat silly but amusing audiobook. Tomlinson portrays Martha Andersson, a 79-year-old Swedish pensioner, as a typically querulous grandmother who discovers her rebellious courage when her retirement home cuts too many corners. Martha’s four cronies are clearly distinguished in Tomlinson’s reading, including the retired navy man who is still suave with the ladies and the former banker who always knows best. But Tomlinson shines brightest in the narration of the almost slapstick adventures of the old folks as they execute a museum art heist in an effort to be put in prison, which surely will offer more amenities than their parsimonious and dreary senior home. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2016-04-13
Could prison really be worse than a retirement home? Five senior citizens plan the perfect crime to find out. Martha Andersson has had it with the prisonlike atmosphere at Diamond House Retirement Home. Bad food, limited coffee, and no exercise spell trouble for this spry old woman. With the help of a generous supply of cloudberry liqueur, she recruits her friends into forming The League of Pensioners, bent on committing a crime worthy of incarceration. Perhaps most helpful for Martha's purposes: nurse Barbara, the ambitious manager of Diamond House. Barbara has her romantic sights set on Ingmar Mattson, the penny-pinching director of the retirement home, and her eagerness to please him leads to the economizing that pushes Martha and her cronies toward a life of crime in the first place—but when Ingmar sweeps Barbara away, it leaves Martha and her cronies the perfect opportunity to misbehave. Brains sorts out the technical details, while Rake and Christina act as henchmen, and Anna-Greta foots much of the bill. Their victimless jewel and art heists, however, soon implode under a series of unexpected obstacles. Instead of hyperbolic, mustache-twirling villains, Ingelman-Sundberg (The Little Lady Who Struck Lucky Again, 2015, etc.) deftly orchestrates the twists and turns in the plot through the foibles of real life, including an overly zealous housekeeper, a vaguely menacing convict, a lazy pair of crewmen, and police officers whose ageism blinds them to the clues right under their noses. Once caught, the pensioners quickly learn much from their fellow inmates—the next crime will certainly come off without a hitch. The first of the League of Pensioners series translated from the Swedish, Ingelman-Sundberg's tale captures the rebelliousness percolating just under the surface of ignored, shuffled away elderly folks, although the simplistic prose sounds a bit paternalistic at times. A merry, lighthearted caper.
