The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules    by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg Order:  USA  Can HarperCollins, 2016 (2014) Softcover, e-Book      Reviewed by Hilary Williamson Here's a delightful recommendation for summer reading (especially if you're retired or approaching that phase of life) - The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg, translated from the Swedish by Rod Bradbury. It's set in Sweden and called 'the funniest book this year' by Norway's Familien magazine. Essentially, seventy-nine-year-old Martha Andersson, living in a retirement home that has been cutting corners (and services) concludes that life is better in Sweden's prisons. She and a group of over medicated friends (each with a useful skill) embark on white-collar crime to build a Robbery Fund, to be doled out 'to culture, care of the elderly and everything else that the state neglects'. The result is a hilarious comedy of errors. Martha eases them into it carefully and gradually and they (as well as readers) have tons of fun along the way. This League of Pensioners even serve a brief prison term (after their confession is eventually believed), when they discover that men and women are segregated and jail is not as pleasant as they'd hoped. But they do their time and are released, ready to continue their Golden Age of crime, this time committing heists with a little help from the next generation. The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules is the read of the summer and it will make a splendid movie! 2nd Review by Mary Ann Smyth: Martha Andersson is seventy-nine years old and lives in a retirement home. The home's management started to cut corners to save money. Martha and her friends (Brains, Rake, Christina, and Anna-Greta – the League of Pensioners) decide to do something about their situation; they meet in Martha's room to make plans to break out of the home and go it on their own. But when Martha tries to hold up a bank while using her Zimmer frame (read walker) no one believes her and she leaves the bank no richer than when she hobbled in. After that let-down, they realize they really need to strike a blow for all of the aged. White-collar crime has to be the solution. Feeling low? If you need a pick-me-up, I recommend obtaining a copy of The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules. I can tell you, this book really perked me up. I wouldn't mind having a League of Pensioners in my neighborhood. This group plots and plans their capers trying to envision any possible mishaps. However, sometimes the results don't quite meet their expectations. For a bunch of oldies, they do a pretty good job. However, after they steal two extremely valuable paintings and cleverly hide them, the paintings disappear! The ransom money for these paintings also disappears! I could go on and on. I won't. I want you to read this book for yourself and enjoy every page. And if you want to start a career in crime, there are some very good tips to get you started. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Contemporary books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews