The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax
by Dorothy Gilman (Mrs. Pollifax Mysteries #2)Mrs. Pollifax had just got home from church that Sunday and had not yet taken off her hat, a confection of pale pink roses, when the telephone rang. Mr. Carstairs from the CIA had another job for the sixty something widow.
Now with instructions that she only has twenty minutes to prepare, Emily Pollifax must cancel her karate lesson and give her regrets that she can't pour tea at the Art Association the following Sunday. After all, going to Turkey and rescuing a well known international spy who has mysteriously disappeared does take precedence.
And so off on another adventure, only the second one as a spy. Such a quiet conventional life Emily had lived until just a few months before and now when other ladies her age enjoyed their retirement with clubs and service groups and cards on Thursday afternoon, Mrs. Pollifax was facing murderers and espionage in the midst of the cold war.
Dorothy Gilman delights with her resourceful Mrs. Pollifax, sending her on one wild adventure after another and picking up people along the way. After all, Emily can't help but help others as she does her job. Yes there may be a few bodies along the way, and some time spent with a gypsy caravan, and the unveiling of a rogue spy, but none of it prevents Mrs. Pollifax from serving her country. And really, who would be the least suspicious spy than an elderly woman who wears outlandish hats.
Published in 1970 it now stands as a historical text of that time giving us a glimpse of life in the late sixties.
Most of all, it's just plain fun. How can you not like Emily Pollifax?
Dorothy Gilman has written many books but it was Mrs. Pollifax that is the most beloved of her characters.
Other Mrs. Pollifax Books by Dorothy Gilman
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