The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (Mrs. Pollifax Series Book 1)

This book was a refreshing change of pace! I adored Mrs. Pollifax! I cannot wait to read Book 2. Humor, suspense, and endearing characters. Who could ask for more?

Mrs Pollifax is a fabulous character and Dorothy Gilman fills her with life and her adventures with suspense and wonder. Gilman’s books are well written and a great read.

For Miss Marple fans everywhere, espionage handed by a cool and efficient grandmother from New Jersey who is brave and bold

I frequently read a Mrs. Pollifax book in between weightier books so that I have a light reading break.

Mrs. Pollifax, widow of a successful lawyer, mother of two grown children, beloved grandmother, busy member of suitable clubs and charitable organizations is feeling unneeded. Although when "she ticked off the list of charities to which she gave her time; it was a long and sensible list." Dorothy Pollifax discovers during a visit to her doctor that "it's too sensible.... " and she sets off the do "something [she] always longed to do, something [she] never had either the time or freedom for until now." She decides to visit Washington D.C. and armed with a vague introduction from her congressman gets interviewed by the CIA for her dream job - spy. There are misunderstandings, Mrs. Pollifax fits the requirements to do a dangerous job and gets hired by Carstairs as a courier to get a book in Mexico City. It sounds so simple - spend some weeks in a nice hotel, visit the sights, travel a little, meet new people, buy souvenirs for the grandchildren and take photographs. A wonderful vacation! Mrs. Pollifax enters the bookstore a few days early, makes friends with Senor DeGamez, the proprietor and his pet bird, talks about Solitaire because, as he declares "It clears the brain, it clears the thought, it is mentally sound, mentally healthy." Just when she is ready to leave, Senor De Gamez hands her "77 Ways to Play Solitaire" and then throws her a deck of cards - after all she needs the cards to play the game. When Mrs. Pollifax returns to the store to effect the official, secret exchange, DeGamez and his parrot are gone instead there is a stranger who offers her drugged tea and kidnaps her. Coming awake in a shack, in the company of the American spy Farrell, Mrs. Pollifax is flown to Albania and held in a mountain stronghold. She is making fast friends with her guards, discovers another secret prisoner, engineers a daring escape and manages to bring everything and everyone back to Carstairs. Although she has picked up lice.

I avoided these books for many years, expecting that they would be goofy or silly or at the very least shallow and fluffy. And it's none of those things. It's a crazy premise, elderly lady approaches the CIA to be a spy in her golden years. Not an outstanding premise on its face, except that it actually works. The situations and characters are engaging and interesting,

Resourceful little lady gets out of many hair-raising scrapes, but it is a little too much, hence not 5 stars. Will definitely try the next one in the series.

I recently rediscovered Mrs. Pollifax and am enjoying her adventures, especially now that I am in her age group. Lots of detail in the stories and I love her positive, can-do attitude. I'm working my way through this series again and hate to see each one end.

ユニークなシニアの活躍がなかなか面白かった。次のが楽しみです。

翻訳版は何度も繰り返し読んでるので、多少知らない単語があっても読み進められます。シリーズ全部Kindle版にしてもらえたら嬉しいです。ついでに日本語版も全部Kindle版で出してもらいたいなあ。ただし、もう少し値段を下げて頂けるとありがたいです。

日本語版で大好きな本です。英語版はどうかなっと思いましたが、忠実に翻訳されているようです。

I first read this book in the early seventies and enjoyed it then. Reading it again in my seventies as opposed to my twenties I related to Mrs Pollifax in an entirely different way. It was interesting going back and remembering a time before technology - no mobile phones, no computers, no email, no phone cameras - it would have been a very different story in today’s times. I enjoyed the book just as much the second time around.

The first in the series of the Mrs Pollifax books is an entertaining read. What the protagonist lacks in experience, she makes up for with good old fashioned common sense. While the book deals with dangerous situations in which Mrs Pollifax finds herself, there is not a lot of gore and bloodshed one finds in books today. Mrs Pollifax is not a superhero by any stretch of the imagination and is generally as flawed as all of us are, but through her rational way of thinking, she gets the job done in the end. The book refers to her as being "elderly' somewhere in her 60's and being 'somewhere' in my 70's, being in your 60's is neither old nor elderly!