The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules - (League of Pensioners) by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg (Paperback)

About the Book

Martha Andersson may be 79 years old and live in a retirement home, but that doesn't mean she's ready to stop enjoying life. So when the new management of Diamond House starts cutting corners to save money, Martha and her four closest friends -- Brains, The Rake, Christina and Anna-Gretta (a.k.a. The League of Pensioners) -- won't stand for it. Fed up with early bedtimes and overcooked veggies, this group of feisty seniors sets about to regain their independence, improve their lot, and stand up for seniors everywhere. Their solution? White collar crime. What begins as a relatively straightforward robbery of a nearby luxury hotel quickly escalates into an unsolvable heist at the National Museum. With police baffled and the Mafia hot on their trail, the League of Pensioners has to stay one walker's length ahead if it's going to succeed.

Book Synopsis

#1 International Bestseller

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel meets The Italian Job in internationally-bestselling author Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg's witty and insightful comedy of errors about a group of delinquent seniors whose desire for a better quality of life leads them to rob and ransom priceless artwork.

Martha Andersson may be seventy-nine-years-old and live in a retirement home, but that doesn't mean she's ready to stop enjoying life. So when the new management of Diamond House starts cutting corners to save money, Martha and her four closest friends--Brains, The Rake, Christina and Anna-Gretta (a.k.a. The League of Pensioners)--won't stand for it. Fed up with early bedtimes and overcooked veggies, this group of feisty seniors sets about to regain their independence, improve their lot, and stand up for seniors everywhere.

Their solution? White collar crime. What begins as a relatively straightforward robbery of a nearby luxury hotel quickly escalates into an unsolvable heist at the National Museum. With police baffled and the Mafia hot on their trail, the League of Pensioners has to stay one walker's length ahead if it's going to succeed....

Told with all the insight and humor of A Man Called Ove or Where'd You Go Bernadette?, The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is a delightful and heartwarming novel that goes to prove the adage that it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years.

Review Quotes

"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
".. . ..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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is, then, a pleasant piece of comic crime fiction with some very clever plotting. But it is more than that: It is a condemnation of the manner in which our society--and certainly not just in Sweden--treats its older generation." - New York Journal of Books
"A good-natured humorous crime caper." - Independent on Sunday (UK)
"Criminally fun!" - Bonniers Bokklubb (Sweden)
"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
"It has humor, brilliant dialogue, irony and warmth. A light-hearted and enjoyable detective comedy." - PRO Pensionären (Sweden)
"A quirky, offbeat delight and a heart-warming reminder that one is never too old for some mischief." - Tom Winter, author of Lost & Found
"Instead of hyperbolic, mustache-twirling villains, Ingelman-Sundberg 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. This tale captures the rebelliousness percolating just under the surface of ignored, shuffled away elderly folks. A merry, lighthearted caper." - Kirkus Reviews