The Unexpected Mrs Pollifax

Be swept back in time to the Cold War. Mrs Emily Pollifax is an unremarkable widow living an uneventful life, volunteering at the local hospital, garden club, book club etc. She's so bored that she almost, almost steps off the roof of her apartment building. Then a chance chat with her doctor reminds Mrs Pollifax that she once wanted to be a spy. Full of determination she walks into the CIA building and offers her services.

Of course Mrs Pollifax is almost the exact opposite of a spy, but that what makes her perfect for a simple assignment in Mexico City. Of course little old ladies (laugh that a woman a decade older than me is deemed a little old lady) are famous for not doing the expected and soon Mrs Pollifax finds herself captured and kidnapped.

If you like the sound of a book where a resourceful old lady outsmarts her kidnappers and rescues two fellow prisoners then I think you'll love this, I thought the 'twist' was obvious from the outset, but then I've seen a lot of spy films.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Rather Joyous....
The delightful Mrs Pollifax, widow and accidental spy. Lighthearted, fun and engaging. Mrs Pollifax, both unlikely and hugely likeable, is a disaster waiting to happen. This is the very first of the adventures of Mrs Pollifax and this excellent series goes on to recount many more. A fully relaxing read providing some much needed escapism. Rather joyous.

Emily Pollifax is a combination of Golden Girl Rose, Miss Marple, Aunt Augusta and Lara Croft! This is a wildly improbable and impossible adventure. Mrs Pollifax presents herself at CIA HQ one day saying that she wants to be a spy and is promptly given an assignment in Mexico City. Needless to say, it all goes wrong and here I will stop to avoid spoilers.

I really enjoyed reading this. It’s great fun but also has a serious side (Russian and Chinese involvement in South America and Albania). It’s a true page turner as the sticky situation Mrs Pollifax finds herself in becomes even stickier and ultimately very dangerous. I will definitely be continuing with this series. I’ve been hearing about Mrs Pollifax for years through Goodreads and am delighted to have met her at last!

What a fun trip down memory lane. Loved this series back in the day, and it is so fun to relive the stories of Emily Pollifax, a widow who decides to volunteer to be a CIA spy. This is the first book in the series, so you get to see the start of the adventure. She is sent as a simple courier to Mexico, gets drugged and flown to a prison in Albania. Between the Mexican spy, the Albanian secret police, the Chinese and Russian spies, it becomes a tangled web of espionage. Good thing Emily has her common sense wits about her. I am so happy to see Dorothy Gilman's books again, and cannot wait for more to be offered. Highly recommend this book, author and series.

First time I've read this series, although I've know about it for years. I did enjoy the suspense of the story and the characters. I liked how it was wrapped up. I look forward to reading more.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a story! Shades of Miss Marple’s! Mrs. Pollifax, a little old lady seeking a more interesting life visits the CIA to volunteer for a job. By chance they need an innocent looking tourist to visit Mexico to pick up a parcel to bring back home. She fits the bill and gets a paid holiday in Mexico with all the trimmings. The operation gets blown and when she goes to collect she gets kidnaped and ends up in a cell in Albania with another agent. She turns out to be a lady of infinite resource and sagacity and how she manages to weasel her escape, avoiding a man hunt, many other obstacles, and gets rescued safely back home makes an enjoyable, thrilling, and enthralling story

What fun! Emily Pollifax is a retired 60ish widow living in New Jersey. Her doctor detects that she is is bored and maybe a little depressed. He tells her to go for something she always wanted to do. So she does. She shows up at the CIA and offers her services as a spy.

It just so happens they need an unassuming older lady to bring a package back to the US from Mexico. But it isn't so easy. Mrs. Pollifax falls right into the middle of a whirling mess of all sorts of craziness.

This is well-written and just flows well. If you want to read something that is just fun, this is it.

This is such a fun series. It is an older colder war spy story. Mrs. Pollifax is a widow looking for a way be useful so she joins the CIA. She maybe older than other spies but she uses her life experiences and her optimism to help her out. In this one she travels to Mexico for what should be a simple operation only to have everything go wrong. The reader does have to suspend some disbelief. The book is very well written and easy to read. Enjoy this fun series.

I loved this delightful, humorous, and unexpected spy novel. Emily pollifax is a sixty-something widow who is bored with her quiet life. She decides to follow her childhood dream of becoming a spy and presents herself at the CIA Headquarters looking for a job.

Through missed connections, she is given what appears to be a simple job, that of courier.

It turns out it wasn't such a simple job. Mrs. Pollifax and her ability to think on her feet, her talent for getting people to talk, and her unexpected talents give this book a thoroughly enjoyable plot with a winning heroine.

In a nutshell, the best book I've read this year - and I've read a lot of books. Possibly the best book in several years!
If you're expecting a cosy mystery with a feeble old dear as the main character, think again! This mystery takes on international dimensions and involved real real, modern threats. Mrs Pollifax certainly starts her volunteer work with the CIA in at the deep end!
Everything's perfect about this book - a delightfully likeable heroine, who's more of an anti-heroine until push comes to shove, quirkiness grounded in brutal reality, the right combination of lucky coincidences and thwarted plans in the exciting action, and detailed, lively background..
The characterisations throughout are wonderful, the settings dramatic, and frequently terrifying, and the plot is clever with sheer brilliance thrown in here and there for good measure.
I literally couldn't stop reading this book once I'd started. I was hooked from the start.
I can't wait for Mrs P's second adventure!

A bored 58 year old woman decides to offer her services at the CIA (set in the 60s).
What follows is a delightful, scary and adventurous ride.
I thought this was a recent book, then read it came out a long time ago. Delighted that there are 12 more books in the series.
I love the mix of unlikely stories, Dorothy really painted vivid imagery for all the places (DC, Albania, Mexico).
I read the book in two days, it has short great chapters which make you long to read another chapter. Highly recommend this book!

This book was offered as an ARC by NetGalley

I thoroughly enjoyed as it's a fun and engrossing read.
I laughed out loud, love Ms Polifax and I think that the story is well developed and the characters are excellent.
I can't wait to read another book in this series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Mrs Pollifax Is the most unlikely spy, AND that's what makes her perfect.
She's always been what she was supposed to be, a wife, a mother, a respectable citizen.
Now that she has her first assignment as a spy, she'll have to use all her resources to escape (and save her new companion) after been caught by the enemy.
I truely enjoyed Mrs Pollifax's aventures, a ready you won't regret.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

Ooh, Mrs Pollifax, the heroine that's needed for the more mature woman. I loved this book and have already downloaded book 2. What a great read.

Well, despite her age (she is in her sixties, I wondered at that, but during the sixties era of the last century that was perhaps old in those days?) Emily Virgil Pollifax certainly has a nose for trouble and a keen sense of when to play a damsel in distress. What an adventure this book was. I am very much looking forward to reading more about this feisty lady.

For some strange reason, when I picked this off my Kindle to read, I had forgotten that it was a reprint. Only some chapters in did I suddenly realise that this was not a contemporary narrative. I do not know how this reflects on my detecting skills, but I hopefully made up for it by predicting the main twist towards the end (even if I have to convince myself of that)
Mrs Pollifax is feeling alone. She is a widow with children who have grown up and moved away. As she talks to her doctor about depression (this is where I assumed it was a story based in our time!), she gets the courage to follow through on a childhood dream to be a spy! She walks into the CIAs building, and after a comedy of errors, she is actually sent on a case. This is when the story gets interesting. Mrs Pollifax is an unassuming and honest woman. She leans into whatever her mind thinks is right and not in a pushy manner. This last point is important because elderly ladies, even as heroines, are sometimes shown to be pig-headed if obtuse. She was charming and won me over by the time she gets into trouble. How Mrs Pollifax rallies and the hardships she faces are shown in a hash enough light to change the narrative's tone! I liked the writing style and was surprised that she did not need a passport to go to Mexico City (a new thing I learnt). If given a chance, I would pick up her further adventures. Once the story gets going, it is a quick read.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Mrs. Pollifax is an utterly amazing woman! A retired woman, who has nothing but her little hobbies and various club meetings to attend to, what else is there to do it in life, but to pursue becoming a CIA agent? Why don't we all do that sort of thing?! At the very least, it is bunches of fun to ride along with Mrs. Pollifax in this introductory story as she goes on her undercover mission in Mexico, and somehow ends up kidnapped in Albania. What a zany plot! But super fun.

Recommended for: Adults
Suitable for: Ages 15 & up
(Contains some mild/coarse language.)