The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax

That most unlikely of CIA agents - the charming, flowered-hat-wearing grandmother Mrs. Emily Pollifax - returns in this, her third international adventure. Dispatched to Bulgaria with passports hidden in her hat, her assignment was a simple one: make contact with a member of the underground political movement there and give him the passports, to enable dissidents to flee the country. But as was so often the case with Mrs. Pollifax, things proved to be more complicated. First, there was the question of her coat, which hid another bit of smuggled contraband, of which she herself was unaware. Then there was the innocent young American, arrested as a spy, imprisoned, and being used as an pawn in an international conspiracy. Mrs. Pollifax show more was, as Bishop noted back in Washington, a "meddler," and soon she was involved in another extraordinary adventure...

Every bit as delightful as its predecessors, The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax is amusing, entertaining and ultimately heartwarming. Its eponymous heroine is such an unlikely agent, not simply because of her age, but because of her goodhearted and trusting nature. It isn't that she's a fool - if anything, she is very wise, and is a good judge of character - but she wants to see the best in people, and this allows her to find allies in unlikely places, allies that a more cynical person would never have managed to find. As always, I found the setting here quite fascinating - I find that many of the countries and regions I want to visit, to this day, have features in this series - and the cast of secondary characters appealing. I loved the hilarious exchanges between Radev and Mrs. Pollifax, and the more romantic ones between Mrs. Pollifax and Tsanko. All in all, a wonderful adventure, every bit as entertaining as when I read it years ago! Highly recommended to anyone who has read and enjoyed the first two Mrs. Pollifax books. show less

Okay, this is not five stars like my favorite books of ALL TIME are 5 stars. But if you are looking for FAST paced adventure, a quirky, improbable, yet wonderfully entertaining read, then, yes. Five stars.

I am in love with Mrs. Pollifax. I am starting to see a longer story arc unfolding in each book of the series and that is almost as tantalizing as each novel's own roller coaster plot.

And sorry, but dinner had to wait till 9pm, as I rushed through the ending. I could not have put down the last 30 or so pages if the house had been on fire (SO glad it was not!).

I have taken to following her adventures via GoogleMaps - VERY fun, highly recommended.

Thank you Ms. Gilman, now traveling the Summerlands, for this unlikely heroine, your show more meticulously researched details, and the anti-Bond some of us might have longed for. show less

Mrs. Pollifax is one of my most favorite spunky old-lady heroines in literature. It’s delightful to see her living a normal life, but I also love the way she dives wholeheartedly into whatever job she’s given, and somehow manages to help others along the way. This book felt a little different from the previous two. It didn’t have so many of the chase-and-capture sequences; it was almost more of a rescue mission with plenty of hindrances along the way. I loved how she kept getting in trouble with Bulgarian Tourist (or whatever the organization was called), and how she managed to mollify them—quite fun!

Definitely an entertaining read!

As usual, Carstairs sends Mrs. Pollifax off on a routine courier mission-- this time delivering some false passports to rescue some dissidents from Bulgaria, plus (unbeknownst to her) another delivery meant to be picked up from her luggage. As usual, the mild-mannered but fearless grandmother befuddles her guide, collects a coterie of rescued bystanders, bemused agents, admiring gentlemen and a following of dangerous villains as she makes her way across Bulgaria and delivers a much more successful mission than Upstairs could have imagined.
I have trouble telling which Mrs. Pollifax books I like best, but this is definitely one of my favorites.

Emily Pollifax is sent to Bulgaria to deliver eight passports hidden in a cleverly designed hat. She meets a group of students taking the same flight. One of them, Philip Trenda, who had been feeling sick and did not want to go, chatted with her briefly in the airport. She was surprised when she heard he had come and distressed that he had been immediately arrested for espionage. She has to slip away from her Balkantourist guide Nevena to deliver the eight passports to Tsanko, but also is determined to rescue Philip and political prisoners held at Panchevsky Institute. As usual, this third Mrs. Pollifax is a fun read.

Mrs Pollifax has a beautiful new hat. Perfect for hiding 8 forged passports. So it seems simple enough for her to deliver them to the Bulgarian underground, at the CIA's request. But when the prize-winning geranium grower from New Brunswick, New Jersey is involved, nothing stays simple for very long. Mrs Pollifax is trying to arrange a nice young man's escape from an escape proof Bulgarian prison, with the aid of fireworks, a rope, a bow and arrow, stocking masks, and a gaggle of geese.

When the CIA needs to get eight forged passports into Bulgaria, it seems like a perfect assignment for Mrs. Pollifax, an amateur who has occasionally been useful to them. All Mrs. Pollifax needs to do is meet a contact and deliver the passports. Nothing ends up being that simple when Mrs. Pollifax is involved. On her way to Bulgaria, she meets a group of young people traveling on the same flight. When one of them ends up in trouble, Mrs. Pollifax may be the only person who can save him.

This book was originally published in 1971, and it is firmly anchored in the Cold War. Yugoslavia hasn't yet disintegrated, Brezhnev is the Soviet leader, and the young Americans look like hippies and are concerned about their draft status. In spite of show more all the changes in world politics since the book was written, the only detail that made it feel dated is the expressed novelty of someone in the CIA having a phone in his car.

I love the combination of adventure and travel in the Mrs. Pollifax books. Mrs. Pollifax manages to see quite a bit of Bulgaria during her stay, and the descriptions of historic sites and scenery have me longing to see it in person. show less