Elusive Mrs. Pollifax

Elderly lady goes to Bulgaria for FBI with forged Passports sewn in lining. Meets some college kids. Gets into trouble. Not the greatest. Not near as good as Agatha Christie.

A hint of romantic interest for Mrs. Pollifax in this novel - it's so subtle you might miss it if you aren't looking. I wish I could be the kind of personality that has people ready to risk their lives on my crazy plans!! Communism continues to be the main obstacle in this installment. Some nice

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thoughts about human freedom.

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Mrs. Pollifax watches her cereus bloom, just before she is off to help people escape a foreign country, hiding passports in her hat. She picks up one of her usual strays, and nearly gives up her life, but comes through with flying colors. Quidk and easy read.

Number three of the Mrs. Pollifax books, this one finds our redoubtable heroine in Bulgaria -- well before the wall went down. A good story, an interesting setting, and -- as ever -- the charming Mrs. P make this a very enjoyable read.

A bizarre and unlikely romp through a Communist country. Mrs. Poliifax is a fun character - a sort of Miss Marple except that this little old lady has some martial arts skillz. A lot of the other characters are nicely drawn out as well, and certainly the break-in to the prison is rollicking

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excitement. If it wasn't for the overall silliness of the premise I think it would be excellent.

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I stumbled across a whole set of Mrs. Pollifax books at a library sale several years ago. I had just begun my collection of vintage books at that time and thought these looked interesting.
The first book that I read of this series didn't impress me a great deal. But, over time I have come to respect

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Mrs. Pollifax.
The one major thing to keep in mind if you aren't familiar with this series, is that these books were written during the early seventies and the spy theme worked well because of the cold war and on going fear of communism. The books were written in "present day" so many of the catch phrases and mannerisms of the seventies were incorporated in the books. For example in this novel a young lady flashes Mrs. Pollifax the peace sign. Words like hippie cropped up and so on. For some this can be off putting, but to me it just added a certain charm to the story.
In "The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax", our protagonist has been sought out by Mr. Carstairs to smuggle several forged passports into Bulgaria. Of course, Mrs. Pollifax gets involved with more than was intended and gets in way over her head.
These books are cleverly plotted, and written with great detail.(even though some things were outrageous) Although considered "cozy" reading by many, I think folks that enjoy spy novels and mysteries in general would enjoy these books.
Overall this one gets an A

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Mrs. Pollifax starts out a little slow in this spy thriller set in Bulgaria. At one point, I was asking, “ Mrs. Pollifax, what were you thinking?” But then she gets up to speed, and you just can’t help but love her, with her flowered hat, karate chops, and willingness to improvise. Bond is oh

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so predictable next to her.

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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

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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 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.

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Implausible but fun. This installment in Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax series starts off a little slowly, but the action picks up when the title character, sent aboard on a routine mission, starts her usual "meddling" and quickly gets herself involved with an American accused of espionage, a general bent

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on taking over a country, and the Bulgarian underground. As with the rest of this spy series, this light thriller is a good break from the more serious books in my pile.

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I actually enjoyed this one. I guess I've succumbed to acceptance that a woman as young as Mrs. P. can be viewed as old, dressed as old, treated as old, and be an active CIA agent...all at the same time. Whatever, this one kept me up half the night, so my attention was fairly caught.

The plot was

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ridiculous, as always. Purely escapist drivel. But enjoyable.

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Spy series staring Mrs. Pollifax, and elderly woman who grows flowers. An enjoyable lightweight romp through Bulgaria.

Who would think a cozy mystery series would feature a CIA agent? Well, reading the Mrs. Pollifax series makes it clear how this can be. This novel is set in Bulgaria during the Cold War era. Bishop reminds Carstairs of the problems that beset the simple errands that Mrs Pollifax has to run, but

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Carstairs blows him off. Of course Bishop is right; Mrs. Pollifax cannot help but care about the people who surround her.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book; the sequel is lined up to be read.

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I absolutely love this series! I discovered it by accident a few years ago and read all 14 books in one summer -- wish there more!

Mrs. Pollifax is a CIA agent assigned to smuggle forged passports into Bulgaria in an attempt to help them escape. Just like her previous two cases, no simple courier job ends up that way as things go wrong when she meets a group of young people on the trip. One of them gets into serious trouble

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when he is picked up at the border. Her original mission of smuggling passports has also been compromised by a CIA decision to hide counterfeit bills inside of her coat without telling her. So with passports in a birds nest hat, and counterfeit bills hidden in her coat, she heads out for her mission.

The Mrs. Pollifax mystery series always keeps you guessing as to how she will escape whatever situation she has found herself. Even though this series was written in the early 70s and the political climate has changed, the characters still hold strong today. I always enjoy time spent with Mrs. Pollifax who always entertains me with tales of a retired grandmother who also just happens to be a spy. Even though I find this series very charming, I would not recommend it to readers who enjoy gritty mysteries.

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In book three of the series, the CIA’s least likely courier is sent on a mission to Bulgaria. She’s to deliver some forgeed passports to a group of underground operatives. The CIA has given her a wonderful custom-made hat, in which she can hide the documents. All she has to do to shake her

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Balkantourist “keeper” and order a particular garment at a local tailor shop. But her CIA supervisor, Carstairs, should know better. Emily Pollifax has a talent for getting involved and this trip will be no different. Before anyone knows what’s happening she is helping a handful of older men break into an impregnable prison – with the help of one teenage gymnast, one pistol, some fireworks and a gaggle of geese.

I love this series. Mrs Pollifax is charming, smart, resourceful and calm in a crisis. If the situations she finds herself in stretch credulity, who cares? The books are fun to read and pure entertainment.

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reread, historical-novel, mystery, suspense, spies, action-adventure
Read from July 24, 1992 to July 24, 2016

Interesting tale first published in 1971 about spies, communism, Balkan States politics, and a widowed senior citizen amateur volunteer employed as a courier by the CIA. Call it historical

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fiction.
Just suspend disbelief for a while and enjoy this view into a time and place not so different from now with a fascinating cast of characters doing things improbable even then. The story line holds interest, and the length is far from epic. The series is addictive and yet appropriate for any age reader, maybe even Harry Dresden.

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Charming diversion for beach and swimming pool reading. The heroine is an elderly widow whose interest resides in her garden club and whose income is augmented by her service to her country as a spy for the CIA sometime in the late 20th C.

In this novel, Mrs. Pollifax's mission is to get behind the

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Iron Curtain and deliver a number of passports to individuals the CIA wants to get out of Bulgaria. In spite of her handler's best efforts, that Mr. Carstairs' gave Mrs. Pollifax not to get involved in anything beyond being a messenger, her sociable nature overrides Carstairs' authority once she's in the field. Trouble and danger ensue.

Of course the premise in this novel (and the series of 13 other Pollifax adventures) is unbelievable and the series formulaic, which may cause potential readers to shy away from reading. However, charm, mild wit, and the sheer nosey bravado of the heroine could be qualities that, like the heroine herself, override one's reluctance to engage with one of America's most valuable "assets" of the Cold War era.

Thanks to Mrs. Pollifax and her creator, author Dorothy Gilman, readers live in a world safe from external enemies and happily ever after.

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This is the third Mrs. Pollifax book I've read, and the third in the series. This time, Mrs. Pollifax is the unlikely CIA courier who is supposed to deliver some much-needed passports in Bulgaria. Mrs. Pollifax, on this third trip, should know she shouldn't talk to strangers and get involved in

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their affairs, especially when airports or airplanes are involved.. But keeping to herself – that's just not who she is.

These books are formulaic. Different places, different characters, different CIA contraband, but the intrepid Mrs. Pollifax conquers all, often (usually) unwittingly. So even though I'm pretty sure how they are going to turn out in the end, more or less, I still enjoy reading them. They are light, fun, and entertaining. And sometimes that's all you need from a book.

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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

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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 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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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