The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

Cold War spy thriller, written in 1966, that manages to be both cozy and steely. For the uninitiated (like me), this is the first book in a series of old-fashioned Cold War spy novels, featuring one Mrs. Pollifax. She's a rather fluffy, quirky and kindhearted lady in her 60s, with an unexpected core......more

What if James Bond were someone's grandma? Unexpected. I thought this would be a bit fluffy, and it was. But it also went a bit darker than I thought a book written in the late 60s about a widowed grandmother would go. It starts with Mrs. Pollifax recalling a feeling of uselessness so deep that she alm......more

I thought I should change my tone here a bit. I've "recently reviewed some audio books, mysteries that I listened to mainly because, well, I was looking for...a book. I figured any book was better than no book. My wife loved whatever series it might happen to be and I listened to them because we had......more

This is a charming mystery that may require two things of the reader to be thoroughly enjoyed: a recognition that it was written over 50 years ago, and the ability to suspend disbelief and not take things too seriously. It is a humorous, fun, old-fashioned spy novel which takes place during the Cold......more

Who doesn't love Mrs. Pollifax--or the novels chronicling her preposterous but weirdly believable adventures? For the uninitiated (and rush out to initiate yourselves, already!), this is the first Mrs. Pollifax novel. She is a widow living in New Jersey in the 1960s, feeling depressed--not so much be......more