The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax is the second in the series, and a rather late discovery for me. It wasn't until I was rereading a later book in which Emily is enjoying letters and postcards from people she met on past CIA missions that I realized there was a gap in my knowledge. In this case, a letter from Colin Ramsay and wife, whom she meets in this story (and who meet each other). Like all of her other stories, this one is a fairly action-packed, breezy, positive adventure. Emily Pollifax is a nice, unassuming grandmotherly figure who relies largely on her judgment of character and chance (but always essential to the plot) acquaintances to achieve her missions. Once again, her job is to act as courier, delivering passport and other essential items to a fugitive double agent who made international news by appearing and then disappearing from the British Embassy in Istanbul. During the flight to Turkey, she meets an interesting young lady who asks her to check in on Colin Ramsay, the black sheep of the family. The job isn't so simple after all, and Emily and party become fugitives across the length of Turkey against the odds. This is the book where Mrs. Pollifax meets the Gypsy queen (Dorothy Gilman definitely has a thing for gypsies and the paranormal). She is also held prisoner by the bad guys at least once.

As always, events proceed unpredictably from the viewpoint of her CIA supervisors back in Virginia, but rather predictably from the reader's perspective. Of course that apparently random person turns out to be important, of course it all ends happily ever after, and of course Emily pulls miracles out of her elaborate hat after her bosses give her up for dead again. All of this is standard for Mrs. Pollifax stories, which are essentially G-rated action stories about spies as nice guys, where young and unattached straight people settle down and live happily ever after once the crisis is past. These stories are light and fluffy and feel-good and would make great movies, except for the fact that Hollywood doesn't give lead roles to gray-haired women, particularly for action movies. ( )

Mrs. Pollifax is sent to Istanbul on her second adventure and finds Sandor and Magda and Colin Ramsey along the way. A flurry of events hides them with gypsies and they get out by way of Mrs. Pollifax piloting a helicopter, when she doesn't know what she is doing.

The thing that is so appealing to Mrs. Pollifax is that she is so open to new experiences and people and she takes help where it is offered. In this installment, we get a glimpse of Turkey and the Gypsies - all romanticized a bit, but still full of interesting flavor. Even on a third reading, the story stands up as entertaining. ( )

Mrs. Emily Pollifax, grandmother (aka CIA agent), travels to Turkey in this second book of the series. Her assignment is to assist a recently defected Soviet spy by providing her with a passport and money so she can leave the country. Mrs. Pollifax makes contact with the spy, but she quickly disappears without taking the necessities with her. It's up to Mrs. Pollifax to find her and get her to the United States.

My experience and pleasure reading cozy mysteries has grown this past year, but I'm not up to where I'd like to be. This one didn't help the genre, but it didn't hurt it either. It was just okay. I enjoyed the minor twists and turns of the plot, but there were a few action scenes that crossed my line of acceptance. They ended up catapulting the book into a realm of foolishness that I just don't appreciate (not my thing). Other than that, I did enjoy the travel to Turkey with Mrs. Pollifax. With her kind disposition and genuine caring nature, she draws people towards her, including me. Despite my lack of enthusiasm towards the book, I do look forward to meeting up with her again. (3.25/5)

Originally posted on: "Thoughts of Joy..." ( )

These books are such quick reads, but they are absolutely endearing. Mrs. Pollifax, the plucky retired and widowed woman who decides to become a spy in the advanced years of her life, is fantastic. I love the way that she baffles all of the experienced staff with her success, just when they thought that everything had gone to hell. I love how she wears hats with huge flowers on them. I love that she is unafraid of scruffy rogues with guns met in a graveyard in the middle of the night. Yes, the plots stretch the limits of our belief, but far less so than in James Bond. Hurrah for Mrs. Pollifax!

I liked this second entry in the series better than the first. This time around, Mrs. Pollifax is flown to Turkey. The CIA know that it is dangerous, but it is imperative that they send a spy who doesn't look like a spy, and who is not connected with the spy network in any way. They are trying to recover a double agent, defecting from Russia, and the spy communities from countless countries are involved. Mrs. Pollifax is the logical choice for the CIA. Of course, the simple meet-and-exchange-travel-documents plan does not work out, and once again Mrs. Pollifax's life is imperiled as she discovers new allies, befriends the natives, and travels across the country to fulfill her mission. Since much of the fun of these novels are the ups and downs, the surprises along her path, I won't say anything more about the plot. I highly recommend this series for those days when life has worn you down. A happy pick-me-up in a book. ( )