Reading: The Unexpected Mrs Pollifax

legionseagle recommended Dorothy Gilman's Mrs Pollifax novels recently in response to a Twitter request for recommendations of good travel reading, preferably with female authors and protagonists, and when I commented that they sounded like something I'd enjoy caulkhead, who had just finished reading legionseagle's copy of the first in the series, The Unexpected Mrs Pollifax, posted it on to me.

Emily Pollifax is a widow in her sixties with two grown-up children, and when the novel opens she is finding time in New Brunswick, New Jersey hanging very heavy on her hands. Volunteer work at the local hospital, the Garden Club and Art Association simply aren't enough to give her a sense of purpose. In fact, she's depressed, and when her doctor suggests that she should find something new to occupy her time, she remembers her childhood ambition to be a spy and heads for Langley, Virginia, to ask the CIA if they have any openings. Happily for Mrs Pollifax, she proves to be a perfect fit for the role of "innocent tourist", aka courier, and is sent to Mexico City on a straightforward job; rendezvous with a contact, take delivery of a package of microfilms, and return to Washington with them. Unfortunately, the job proves not to be as straughtforward as it seems at first, and Mrs Pollifax finds herself captured by enemy agents and held prisoner.

The Unexpected Mrs Pollifax is great fun; rather like a cross between Miss Marple and James Bond. I particularly loved Mrs Pollifax's sensible, down to earth approach and the way she manages to win everyone over (both mistrustful allies and ostensible enemies) by being honest, straightforward and genuinely interested in them as people. I'd definitely like to read some more of the series.