Mrs. Pollifax Series, by Dorothy Gilman, Book 1

The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
[audiobook version, read by Barbara Rosenblat]

Rating: * * * * *

Mrs. Pollifax is an elderly widow who has come to find life dull and is almost ready to end it all out of sheer boredom. Inspired by a newspaper profile of an actress who began her career in later life, she decides to fulfill a childhood ambition and apply for a job as a spy at the CIA. Meanwhile, Carstairs at the CIA is looking for an agent who can pass as a tourist in order to pick up some important microfilms in Mexico City. Due to a slight confusion, he thinks Mrs. Pollifax is one of the candidates and decides that Mrs. Pollifax is ideal; Carstairs decided this assignment carries so little danger that even one who is relatively untrained may be sent. So with minimum explanation, Pollifax is ushered off to Mexico City to meet a bookstore owner/secret agent, exchange code phrases, leave with a book containing the microfilm. Of course, the courier mission does not go as planned, and Mrs. Pollifax finds herself in a prison in iron curtain-era Albania, facing harsh questioning and possible torture. But she proves to be unusually resourceful, and with her companion’s assistance, manages to outwit the enemy and save the day.

This was a highly amusing audiobook, and the narration was absolutely perfect for the characters in the story. The plot moved well in pace and in events, and dialogue was concise without being too curt to be believable. The strength behind the story, in my opinion, is the wit supporting the writing.

Most surprising in this book is that Gilman constantly brings up and comments upon highly moral topics. Throughout the book, these topics subtly enter the story and are explored for both the readers’ interest as well as Mrs. Pollifax’s.

Mrs. Pollifax is lovable, as well as Johnny (especially in his moments of indignation), and even her captors become likeable, in their own ways. Gilman most definitely creates the first book as an addicting window to the rest of the books in her series.

Perhaps the only warning I can mention are that there are mentions of suicide. Also, for any Asians out there, instead of the “now” politically correct term, Asians are addressed as “Orientals,” which some find offensive.

Highly recommended.

& ElizabethC