Book Review (SERIES): Mrs. Pollifax

Movie Poster from the 1971 Movie: Mrs. Pollifax Spy

I was introduced to the Mrs. Pollifax series in college, read through all of them, and then went on to read through the author’s, Dorothy Gilman, entire catalog. She passed in 2012 and I had to move on to other authors.

Fast forward to 2024. I had been hired to work in a library. Who knew that working for a library would mean I would have virtually no time to read? I was constantly shelving books, working on programming, or helping patrons. Faced with the challenge to keep up on my reviews, I thought “why not try audiobooks?” Normally, my version of neuro-spicy hates background noise, but I had a long half-hour commute on a mostly empty highway each direction (more like 45 minutes in the morning). I like my music, but I was missing fictional stories.

I had been shelving audiobooks and noticed Mrs. Pollifax and thought “Perfect!” A comfort read that I could turn off easily arriving at work or arriving at home. These are the three audiobooks I read while working for a library system.

Mrs. Pollifax is a widow of a certain age that when she had nothing left to live for, contacted the CIA to become a spy. This a series of unexpected shenanigans, she received an assignment and survived the results. Her name went into Carstairs rolodex and whenever a random older lady could get through a situation that a normal spy would be pinged immediately, he would brush the dust off and call her again. Fourteen books resulted.

I read books ten, eleven, and fourteen of the series this time around. The entire list from BookSeriesInOrder.com:

  1. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1966)
  2. The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax (1970)
  3. The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax (1971) – Movie come out this year
  4. A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax (1973)
  5. Mrs. Pollifax on Safari (1976)
  6. Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station (1983)
  7. Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha (1985)
  8. Mrs. Polllifax and the Golden Triangle (1988)
  9. Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish (1990)
  10. Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief (1993)
  11. Mrs. Pollifax Pursued (1995)
  12. Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer (1996)
  13. Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist (1997) – a direct-to-DVD movie starting Angela Lansbury come out in 1999
  14. Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled (2000)

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MRS. POLLIFAX AND THE SECOND THIEF

The assignment is a snap: Mrs. Pollifax just has to shoot some pictures at a quiet funeral outside Washington and take them to Sicily, where her old friend Farrell — a former CIA agent turned art dealer — anxiously awaits them.

But like all Mrs. P’s assignments, so ostensibly suitable for the CIA’s favorite garden club member, this one quickly turns lethal. Her welcoming committee in Palermo includes a most unlikely CIA agent and several unseen enemies. Unfriendly eyes also observe Mrs. P’s rendezvous with Farrell in a secluded mountain village and weapons are soon displayed. With mysterious forces hot after them, she and Farrell scurry for safety to a fortified country villa, where the bizarre chatelaine, once a star on Madison Avenue, is almost as unnerving as the dangers she’s protecting them from.

So, though the sun shines brightly, the food is delicious, and romance is in the air, Mrs. Pollifax is too busy handing out karate chops and playing catch-me-if-you-can with an assassin to enjoy the amenities . . . .

MY REVIEW for MRS. POLLIFAX AND THE SECOND THIEF

Read through a local library audiobook. The audio was crafted by Brilliance Audio with a multi-member cast.

I forgotten just how good this particular Mrs. Pollifax is.

I love John Farrell and his admiration of his “Duchess”. The love story. The eccentric aunt of Kate. The village. The return of Aristotle. The political intrigue. The Second Thief is picture perfect Mrs. Pollifax.

 

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MRS. POLLIFAX PURSUED

The last thing Mrs. Pollifax expects to find in her junk closet is a young woman hiding. Kadi Hopkirk insists that she’s being followed by two men in a dirty white van. Under the cover of darkness, Mrs. P. tries to drive Kadi back home to Manhattan, only to have a dark green sedan give them a run for their money and, Mrs. P. begins to suspect, their lives.

Finally Kadi shares the startling truth: her friend, Sammy, is the son of the assassinated president of an African country and, unbeknownst to the young man’s bodyguard, he passed her something under the table during a recent meeting. Ever resourceful, Mrs. P. puts in a call for help to her CIA colleague, Carstairs, who installs them in a safe house—at a carnival! Before Mrs. P. knows it, a dash to safety expands into an assignment that leads to hair-trigger violence in exotic places. . . .

MY REVIEW for MRS. POLLIFAX PURSUED

I’m exploring whether I can listen to audiobooks while driving and I thought I would dive into a comfort favorite. I haven’t read Mrs. Pollifax since the Nineties – this book was originally published in 1995 and is part of a series started in 1966 and ran until 2000. I listened to the Brilliance Audio version, recorded in 1995. Words and situations like “VCR” and “gypsy” and the “quaintness of Africa” all date the book, but the listen was still very enjoyable. I managed to listen to the book going to and from work for three of the four discs but couldn’t wait for morning to finish and listened to the last disc while sewing at home.

Mrs. Pollifax finds a young woman hiding in her closet. This escalates and intertwines with a kidnapping Carstairs is helping the FBI with. Humor and adventure, mystery and murder, carny and spy action ensues. I love Mrs. P as an older protagonist.

While the book has aged, and may not be accessible to younger readers, I still enjoyed the revisit.

Checked out through the local library.

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MRS. POLLIFAX UNVEILED

After facing down hijackers on a flight to the Middle East and saving the lives of the passengers on board, a young American woman steps off the plane in Damascus in a blaze of celebrity and disappears. The CIA believes Amanda Pym was kidnapped, possibly murdered.

Masquerading as Amanda Pym’s worried aunt, Mrs. Pollifax begins her determined search, slipping through Damascus’s crooked streets and crowded souks . . . and trekking deep into the desert. Yet she is shadowed by deadly enemies, whose sinister agenda threatens not only Mrs. P. but the fragile stability of the entire Middle East. Only a miracle–or a brilliant counterplot– can forestall a disaster that will send shock waves around the world.

MY REVIEW for MRS. POLLIFAX UNVEILED

Re-read through audio performance by Brilliance Audio.
Unlike the two previous Mrs. Pollifax I listened to by Brilliance Audio which had a cast, this version only had a single performer. It still was a lovely read listening to a woman’s voice.

The last of the Pollifax series (due to Ms. Gilman’s (the author) failing health) our intrepid spy lands in Syria to find a lost American woman, who may not want to be found. With Farrell at her side, they arrive as innocent tourists looking for their “family” member. The police state tears Farrell away from Emily, with her being injured in the process, and now Mrs. Pollifax, or Duchess as the painfully missing Farrell calls her, must meet their objective alone in a country where she doesn’t speak the language and the people are ruled by fear.

But being Mrs. Pollifax, she endures and makes friends. Still finding one person in a country alone is like finding a needle in a haystack.

The story, now twenty-four years old (published in 2000) is becoming dated. Amanda Prym is always referred to as a “girl” though she is a full-grown adult – college age, so forgivable by our team of world-wearied adults. Other technology issues have gotten better, the mix of politics in the mid-east have gotten worse, stuff like that. Still a wonderful yarn.

I hope Mrs. Pollifax and her Cyrus live on forever happy having their adventures.

Book Review (SERIES): The Ridnight Mysteries

The build on this series is intoxicating. The first book introduces us to a world on the brink of industrialization through a murder mystery in the most magical and tribal part of this fantasy world. The second book weaves in stronger political portions with a heist in a Frontier Kingdom. The amazing conclusion is located in the industrial cities which straddle democracy and corporate oligarchy with a kidnapping mystery. Each mystery is different, each locale is different, the stakes keep rising, and there is no “saggy” middle to this series.

The Ridnight Mysteries Series by Stuart Jaffe

  1. The Water Blade
  2. The Waters of Taladoro
  3. Waterfire

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE WATER BLADE

A brave warleader on a quest for a mythical weapon, Axon Coponiv is forced to look outside her trusted party for help when one of her own is mysteriously slain. She turns to Zev Asterling, a failed businessman, displaced aristocrat, and psuedo-detective, to help her find out who killed her man and why. The mystery deepens as Zev realizes that the killer must be someone close to Axon, perhaps even one of the others in her band.

Is it Pilot, the genial but deadly warrior who has served alongside Axon for many years? Henlio, the quiet but steady sword who has stood by her through battle after battle? Or the mysterious witch Bellemont, one of the mysterious Stolen, about whom little is known?

To get to the bottom of this mystery, Zev will have to use all his intelligence and guile, not only to find the killer, but also to stay alive as the party traverses the treacherous distance to Castle Ridnight and the legendary Water Blade, the only weapon that can stop the encroachment of the armies of the West and their mysterious god-leader known only as The Beast.

The Water Blade is the first in a new trilogy of fantasy mystery novels from Stuart Jaffe, author of the Nathan K series and the Max Porter Mysteries.

MY REVIEW for THE WATER BLADE

A fantasy and a mystery, but not exceptional in either genre to drown in, still an tasty mixture to sip. The characters were more complex than the fantasy world-building and the mystery, though the foundation laid for the gods, the politics, and the magic system look promising for the rest of the series now that the initial premise has been developed in book one.

The Water Blade follows two POV characters, one a solider in search of legendary status and one is a natural detective in search of a challenge. Neither one comes from a family that understands their ambitions. Together they might change the world.

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE WATERS OF TALADORO

The Shield of Taladoro. A mythic artifact recovered by the valiant efforts of Axon Coponiv along with brave adventurers from the East and the Feral Lands.

But now, during the unveiling celebration at Ridnight Castle, the Shield has been stolen. The King tasks Zev Asterling, master-solver, with finding it.

The guests, representatives from either side of the world, point fingers at each other, and Zev must navigate the lies and treachery behind someone who has taken the Shield but is still in the castle. Tensions mount as he interviews all those who had a hand in finding the Shield and getting it to the castle. If he doesn’t solve the case and find the Shield fast, a war is going to begin. Right there in the ballroom.

MY REVIEW for THE WATERS OF TALADORO

I don’t normally struggle to solve the mystery before the detective. Usually I am content to observe the master solver resolving the issue, watching it unfurl like a flower in the sun, but the interviews just begged me to peel back the layers of the mystery.

I adored the interviews which furnished flashback/backstory, supplied character development, and provided clues and plot points. The format provided a different way to approach the heist mystery than the Ridnight Mysteries Book 1 (The Water Blade), which was a murder mystery. I also appreciated different types of mysteries to be resolved in the series and am curious to what type of mystery the author has chosen for the third and final book of the series.

If you want some mystery in your fantasy, or some fantasy in your mystery, The Ridnight Mysteries are a good set to pick up.

So did I solve the mystery?Yes and no. I had a guess and I stuck with it forever and it was kind-of right, and many of the clues I picked up were the correct ones. I would say my guess was close enough to be right, but my particular flavor … I was too wedded to it and should have been open to more options. 

Editing comments – these are just my opinions, and, in fact, IMHO more than normal. I disliked some of the modern slang and/or Earth specific slang. The Ridnight Mysteries are set in a steampunk era world, so some of the slang is appropriate, but since I was reading a fantasy, it bothered me. “Rollicking time”- very early 1800 expression, first recorded during 1805-1815 according to the dictionary, would exist in the steampunk era, from 1850-1900. The big one for me was “scapegoat” which has very specific religious significance within the Judio-Christian belief system. On the other hand, The Ridnight Mysteries series has already introduced two or three religious systems and any of them could have created the scapegoat concept as well.

Basically, any of the slang terms used fall within the possible; I personally didn’t like their use in a non-Earth fantasy novel. But that is on me. 

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for WATERFIRE

The thrilling conclusion to The Ridnight Mysteries!

After returning to the East, Zev Asterling attempts to put away his Master-Solver days and rebuild his life. Political tensions have run high since the events at Ridnight Castle, and a summit between the Frontier and the East is a sliver of light that many cling to.

But when a politician’s daughter is kidnapped, Zev is called upon to do what he does best. With the help of Axon, Pilot, and Bellemont, they must find the daughter in order to avert an all-out war. Along the way, his companions will have to resolve their feelings about the gods, their nations, and each other if they want to make it out alive.

Zev will have to set aside long-held grudges and family issues to deal with a threat the likes of which no one has ever encountered before, as his investigation takes him deep into the bowels of the city, pits him against a bizarre cult, and forces him to battle rogue witches who have the power to destroy the entire East.

MY REVIEW for WATERFIRE

The third and final book of the Ridnight Mysteries slams it out of the ballpark with the culmination of the worldbuilding for the last three books. While the start is slow, setting all the pieces into position for the mystery and the political thriller, once the action starts, it does not stop, ever. By the end, you feel like you have gone through a battle alongside the characters.

I should mention while our heroes do reach a satisfying conclusion in this fantasy detective series, the author leaves enough threads trailing into the future he could create another series which I would read through my eye-teeth if he manages to pull off another conclusion like this epic ending. The world is so layered, you know that the universe is continuing beyond the words of “the end” appearing on the last page.

Each of the stories of this Mystery series has concentrated on a different type of crime. The first one was the typical murder mystery, the second a heist, and the third contains a kidnapping. Usually a mystery series gets a little same-y feeling when reading them back-to-back, but with the changing crime focus and locales (East, Frontier, West), each book of this series feels remarkably fresh.

The theme of exploring toxic family vs. found family continues strongly in this book.

Zev, one of the two main Point of View (POV) characters, can be hard to deal with as he has the full confidence of a master craftsman and the internal destruction of the imposter syndrome. Some people may ask how both can inhabit the same body; if you know creators, you know this personality – godhood and worthless-worm. It is exhausting to deal with, but very real.

I do like the fact none of the characters are good at everything. The team of found family each have their specialty and respects each other in the area of their mastery, and teases them when not working in their best area. Like three friends going shopping – one drives, another is the SHOPPER, and the third keeps the other two on schedule so they get back in time to wrap the presents for the party.

Final mention, if you have read the other series books, you know the body-horror aspect of the magic system. This book takes it to a new level as one expects in an epic conclusion. I would say this last book crosses into horror as much as it crosses over into romance and political-thriller, while always respecting the core genre of detective-fantasy.

In conclusion, Waterfire delivers on the Ridnight Mystery series. It can work as a standalone, but you will be doing yourself a disservice not to become immersed in the world before experiencing the conclusion. Because, wow, the series is as amazing as this book on its own.

Book Review: The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

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The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked-room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a breathlessly addictive mystery that follows one man’s race against time to find a killer, with an astonishing time-turning twist that means nothing and no one are quite what they seem.

 

MY REVIEW

I slipped into editing mode while reading this book because I kept wanting to see if the timeline worked. I guess mystery readers do this all the time. The timeline and mystery is tight and complicated.

Very much a story about how different eyewitnesses see things from different angles and not everyone has the same motivations.

Only instead of the normal changing of points of view (POVs) for the various eyewitnesses, relating what they saw to a police officer or detective as is typical in mysteries, the “hero” is jumping between characters within the story to solve the mystery. It wouldn’t be a problem, except some of the characters are aware they are in a story too, and they have started changing the plot.

Checked out for public library. Support your library – foot traffic defines their budget.

Book Review: To Beat the Devil

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To Beat the Devil: A Techomancer Novel by M.K. Gibson

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175 years have passed since God quit on mankind. Without his blessing, Hell itself, along with the ancient power of The Deep, were unleashed upon the world. Two world wars and oceans of blood later, a balance was reached. Demonkind took its place as the ruling aristocracy. Mankind, thanks to its ability to create, fell to the position of working proletariat. Alive, but not living.

Lucky Us.

Welcome to New Golgotha, the East Coast supercity. In it, you will find sins and cyborgs, magic and mystery, vices without virtue and hell without the hope of heaven. In the middle of it all is Salem, smuggler extraordinaire and recluse immortal, who has lived and fought through the last two centuries, but his biggest battle is just beginning.

To Beat The Devil: A Technomancer Novel is an incredible adventure full of cyborgs and demons, gods, magic, guns, puns and whiskey, humor and heart. Follow Salem as he embarks to discover the meaning of the very nature of what mankind is: our souls. And, who is trying to steal them.

 

MY REVIEW

Short Version: An action-packed urban fantasy with some crazy fight scenes varying from single mano-on-demon to full scale wars with thousands and back again. Also emotional character development (but not at the expense of the action), a fantastically dark world built to many layers, and a couple of flaws often found in first novels which fade into the background the longer the story goes on because it is a rocking, heart-pounding story full of twists, red herrings, and cool cyber-technology.

Long Version: 
“The protagonist isn’t out to save the world –that ship has long since sailed…” (a line from the Foreword). In a world abandoned by the capital G, humans and demons have come to an uneasy truce with demons being overlords and humans being serfs running all the technology. Salem is a lightrunner, basically a quiet smuggler capable of a great deal of violence when necessary. He has developed a nice (as in survivable) little life with associates and no friends, when one of the associates sends a piece of business his way that changes things. Life may no longer be survivable, but it certainly becomes interesting.

As mentioned in the Short Version, the book is both very good and has a few flaws so let’s get into that.

1. PRO – None of the action is boring. Every fight scene is different, from the opening fight with a Demon Bishop, to the land war, to the final fight with the big bad. Mr. Gibson changes fight strategy from single person to large group, from intent to kill to just maim a little, from physical fists to cyber tech. I’ve rarely run into such a wide range of fighting.

2. FACT – Has a great deal of “language”. Fits the character and situation (after all, hell come to earth), but pushes this book firmly in R for language alone. (For me this is a CON, but I know not all readers have the same issue.)

3. TRIGGER – One rape scene. Done quickly.

4. FACT – Male version of Urban Fantasy. Okay, what I mean by that – the female version has a paranormal female, usually with two love interests who support her but never overshadow her and all characters exist in relation to her. The male version of UF has gun porn instead of soft porn and again everyone exist in relation to him, usually with the male secondary characters having agency and the female characters, if any, existing to jiggle.

4a. PRO – Gun Porn – The guns are sexy. The cybertech more so. Oooh, the McGyvering and Blade Runner vibe is hot. Really, To Beat the Devil has some of the most interesting information dumps about guns and cyber, I actually read through all of them and enjoyed it while I did so. They were short and sweet.

4b. CON – Women – The handful of named women in the book all look in their twenties, wear g-strings and bikini tops if not just naked all-together, and either lust after the main character, have slept with the main character, or has the main character lust after them. Except for the one which is the lover of a secondary character. Typical male urban fantasy, inherited from the spy-thriller tradition. And a total turnoff for a female reader. Every single effective fighter in this book is male, even when the female characters are described as scary fighters (after their boobs are detailed); if the scary female cybers do do any fighting, it is off screen. Somehow I noticed this more than normal within the manuscript and the rating lost a star on the non-agency of the females in the story. 

5. PRO/CON Worldbuilding – Very detailed bleak world. Great backstory; maybe – no (sigh) definitely – a little too much exposition describing the backstory. Several NOTICEABLE introspections put into the book just to provide the cool backstory describing the world as well as aside breaks into the past for a short couple paragraphs here and there. In fact part way through the book the method changed from introspection exposition to the flashback breaks; a content editor should have asked the writer to go back and even out these two methods of backstory reveal. As this is the first in the series and the first book by the author, I expect the exposition issues will not happen in future books. Usually backstory is a little heavy in the first book of a series. And as I mentioned, the writer did find a better device while writing. I did enjoy each jump further down the rabbit hole when the worldbuilding reveal happened in dialogue between characters. Some of the flashback scenes were stories and some were just exposition – as Mr. Gibson continues to grow as an author, I expect the flashbacks will become more integral to the story and less worldbuilding expositions.

5. CON – Poor transitions. The first three chapters glaringly have jumps in transitions. This issue goes away later in the book. In fact the whole book gets better and better as the story goes on – usually in small press and first-time author works, the story gets less tight and technical writing skills get less polished as the story goes on because the writer rewrote the first three chapters a dozen times and ignored the rest of the book. During the first couple of pages of the second chapter I wasn’t certain we didn’t change Point-of-View characters – so much of the beginning of the second chapter felt like a repeat of the first chapter, but the voice felt different and the jump between the two chapter nearly a complete break. If I hadn’t received the book in exchange for honest review from publisher I might not have pushed past chapter three – which would have been a pity because after that weak beginning everything keeps getting better and better.

6. PRO – The most amazing part of the book, especially for an Urban Fantasy, is the personal growth of the main character. The guy starts as a self-centered smuck. The journey this book is about isn’t just the plot of solving the mystery(ies), but also about the character growth. Mr. Gibson does a very good job of establishing the personality of the main character and making the growth believable. I’ll be interested to see if Mr. Gibson can keep that portion of the story plot up for future books.

In conclusion, To Beat the Devil is an action-packed urban fantasy with great fight scenes, emotional character development (enhancing the action, not slowing it down), a Blade Runner apocalyptic world built complete with demons (and worse than demons), and a couple of flaws with technical writing (transitions and expositions) which fade into the background the longer the story goes on because it is a rocking, heart-pounding story.