Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled

 

Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled / Dorothy Gilman
read by Barbara Rosenblat
Recorded Books, 2023, c2000.

So I have come to the end of my Mrs. Pollifax adventures. This is the final book in the series, although it doesn't read like a final book - the author died before she could write any more, so there is no big tying up of any story here. It gives us the opportunity to imagine Mrs. P continuing on with her many adventures. 

In this book, Mrs. P and John Farrell are once again travelling together. They are heading to Syria, where Mrs. P is posing as an American lady looking for her missing niece -- a girl who averted a terrorist attack on a plane, got off in Syria, got into the wrong car at the airport, and hasn't been seen since. The CIA isn't sure whether she was kidnapped or part of the plot. Mrs. P. has to find out. 

She and Farrell are supposed to be working together, but he gets himself arrested almost immediately, leaving Mrs. Pollifax to continue on her own. She can't give up on this delicate mission. This gives us a chance to really revel in Mrs. Pollifax alone on a mission, finding ways to get to where she needs to be. Her strength at really connecting with people is so key here - she gets help from locals who she is kind to, who she simply talks to, and they always know someone to help her out. And she always seems to have what she needs to trade with others to smooth the way. 

Eventually she and Farrell are reunited, they find out where the girl is being held (in a camp in the middle of absolutely nowhere) and come up with a slightly ridiculous rescue mission, one involving a lot of sheep. Fortunately there is a camp of archeologists nearby, and Mrs. P's age makes her the perfect 'visiting aunt' who crashes the camp with the help of one of the young scientists, giving her a base of operations. 

It's a fine close to Mrs. Pollifax's adventures. It highlights her on her own, it ties in with her previous adventures with Farrell, and it really gives her a chance to both shine individually and reminisce about her past adventures right in the middle of this one. I really liked this one, with the only letdown being that is the last fresh Mrs. P. book I will ever read for the first time. I feel that this is a series I will reread in a few years, though!