Status
Available
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Series
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Publication
Fawcett (1986), Mass Market Paperback, 224 pages
Description
Emily's tranquil domesticity with new husband Cyrus is interrupted when she is called to Hong Kong in pursuit of a vanished agent.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Othemts
A different side of Mrs. Pollifax as she endures torture in the effort to stop a terrorists attack on Hong Kong. A more somber but riveting edition in this usually light-hearted series.
"That's what terrorism is, basically -- pure theater. Nothing in particular is ever accomplished by it, other than
"That's what terrorism is, basically -- pure theater. Nothing in particular is ever accomplished by it, other than
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to focus attention on a small group of people who seize absolute power by threatening everything that holds civilization together." - p. 126 Show Less
LibraryThing member tjsjohanna
Having Cyrus as an additional recurring character has changed the series for the better. Mrs. Pollifax, in the first few novels, regarded danger with a bit of disregard, feeling she didn't have much to lose. Now, her fear seems more realistic and she seems more real too. This was a bit dark, as
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Mrs. Pollifax novels go - despite the attempt at levity with the psychic there was really a sense of urgency and evil in this novel - terrorists do that I suppose. It's a nice change of pace that serves to keep this reader, at least, still interested in Mrs. Pollifax. Show Less
LibraryThing member nolak
Cyrus is in Hong Kong and Emily ends up tracking a Buddha statue through Feng Imports with Robin in tow. More intrigue and less humor in this one.
LibraryThing member astrologerjenny
I always enjoy Mrs. Pollifax, the spy, with her flowered hats and her not-quite-lethal karate chops. This one has her going up against Nationalist Chinese fanatics. It’s really escapist but it’s fun – and very affirming for white-haired women like me.
LibraryThing member kaulsu
As far as Mrs. Pollifax novels go, this one was nearly believable. It is definitely a sign of the times that a bit of murder and mayhem causes me to say this. But truely, this one had a fairly tight plot, characters that stayed true to their m.o., and showed some growth on the part of Mrs. P.
LibraryThing member Olivermagnus
Two books after going on safari, Mrs. Pollifax is now married to Cyrus, the gentleman she met on that trip. Marriage, however, doesn't slow her down. One day while discussing the position of her bay window with her contractor, Mr. Bishop from the CIA pulls into the driveway. He says they urgently
She soon meets and befriends a psychic and then unexpectedly finds herself reunited with Robin Burke-Jones, one-time jewel thief and now Interpol operative. He's pursuing the answers to questions of his own and is looking for a missing police inspector and investigating several diamond thefts. Then the man she met on the plane stumbles into her room with a wound on his head. Before long, as is always the case with Mrs. Pollifax, things soon spiral out of control.
I'm a big fan of the Mrs. Pollifax cozy mysteries. This wasn't my favorite of the seven I've read but I still found it enjoyable. I'm halfway through the series and absolutely intend the finish the final seven this year.
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need her to fly to Hong Kong. It seems that Sheng Ti, the young man she helped smuggle out of China a year ago, is working at a shop in Hong Kong under the guidance of another CIA agent, Mr. Detwiler. Detwiler's reports to the CIA have proved to be false, so he is suspected of being a double agent. Carstairs, Bishop’s boss, wants Mrs. Pollifax to make contact and figure out what is going on. Sheng Ti almost certainly knows and he trusts Mrs. Pollifax.She soon meets and befriends a psychic and then unexpectedly finds herself reunited with Robin Burke-Jones, one-time jewel thief and now Interpol operative. He's pursuing the answers to questions of his own and is looking for a missing police inspector and investigating several diamond thefts. Then the man she met on the plane stumbles into her room with a wound on his head. Before long, as is always the case with Mrs. Pollifax, things soon spiral out of control.
I'm a big fan of the Mrs. Pollifax cozy mysteries. This wasn't my favorite of the seven I've read but I still found it enjoyable. I'm halfway through the series and absolutely intend the finish the final seven this year.
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LibraryThing member Jean_Sexton
This mystery pushes the boundaries of "cozy" mystery. There is more pain and death than I am used to in this mystery series. Still, it was a page-turner and a good story. Mrs. Pollifax is becoming more used to the world of espionage, even if her superiors think they are sending her into relatively
If you like cozy mysteries, you'll like this book. While I suggest you read the earlier books first, it isn't strictly necessary as people are introduced with enough background that you can easily follow along.
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safe situations. In this book we meet some old friends out in the field and I found the people are far more important to the story than the setting. If you like cozy mysteries, you'll like this book. While I suggest you read the earlier books first, it isn't strictly necessary as people are introduced with enough background that you can easily follow along.
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LibraryThing member csmith0406
This book was written and published quite some time ago and has hung around in my TBR pile for a very long time. I finally picked it up and quite enjoyed it. It was definitely dated but aged well. Coincidentally I had recently read another book published the same year, and Mrs. Pollifax had a much
Generally I found the tone of the book a bit dark, and surprising. I expected a lighter read but the subject matter was deadly serious and thought provoking. It was also very interesting reading this type of international thriller written pre-9/11, knowing how the world has changed.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries and thrillers, and I am surprised I haven't discovered Dorothy Gilman before now.
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better portrayal of women. I expected to see a somewhat dated approach to the role and portrayal of women but the attitudes of the characters seemed realistic for the times. The main character, and other women seemed real, only limited by their own learned attitudes as well as those around them. Generally I found the tone of the book a bit dark, and surprising. I expected a lighter read but the subject matter was deadly serious and thought provoking. It was also very interesting reading this type of international thriller written pre-9/11, knowing how the world has changed.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries and thrillers, and I am surprised I haven't discovered Dorothy Gilman before now.
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LibraryThing member SeriousGrace
When we left Mrs. Pollifax after her African safari she and Cyrus Reed had just started a new romance. Now ten months later they are newlyweds living in a house they bought together. He's off in upstate Vermont somewhere on a bird-counting expedition and Emily is overseeing renovations on their
Mrs. Pollifax gets herself in a pickle but now she has a secret weapon to help save the day, her lovable husband, Cyrus!
Author fact: According to the back flap of Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha, Dorothy Gilman lived in New Mexico and Nova Scotia. That sounds like the best of both worlds.
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house when who should stop by for a visit, but old friend (and CIA man), Bishop. Of course, he needs Mrs. Pollifax for a delicate assignment and, but of course, there is no time to waste. If she agrees to take the case she doesn't even have time to contact the hubby or pack properly (although she does remember to grab a snazzy hat). In an era when you could leave strangers in your house, Emily pops off a note to Cyrus and leaves the handymen to work unsupervised. Mrs. Pollifax's new mission is a trip to Hong Kong to find missing agent Sheng Ti (a character from a previous story I didn't read). Here's the thing about Mrs. Pollifax - she will talk to just about anyone so the characters she meets run the gamut. She blithely shares information with double agents, gangsters and psychics alike. You could call this an adventure with just the right amount of silliness boiled in. There is death and violence and the threat of terrorism but take, for examples, the agents's "secret" language, "...should be arriving you-know-where in fifteen minutes..." (p 128). I'm surprised the statement wasn't followed by a wink-wink. Mrs. Pollifax gets herself in a pickle but now she has a secret weapon to help save the day, her lovable husband, Cyrus!
Author fact: According to the back flap of Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha, Dorothy Gilman lived in New Mexico and Nova Scotia. That sounds like the best of both worlds.
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LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
Mrs. Pollifax heads to Hong Kong to investigate a CIA asset who seems to have been feeding the agency incorrect information in this seventh novel devoted to her adventures. Traveling solo, she befriends psychic Mr. Hitchens on the plane ride over, and soon discovers that her new friend's mission -
As other reviewers have noted, Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha is somewhat darker than the previous entries in the series, addressing as it does such issues as terrorism, and depicting Mrs. Pollifax being tortured, toward the close of the book. It isn't that the geopolitical realities underpinning the story are more serious than in previous books - after all, in A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax, we met a religious extremist bent on creating his own nuclear bomb! - but somehow the atmosphere here feels decidedly more disturbing. Perhaps that is because Gilman captures the trauma experienced by our heroine after her terrible experience being tortured, and then seeing a confederate murdered before her eyes. Whatever the case may be, although an engrossing adventure, this was a far less amusing entry in the series, and didn't have any of the hilarity I associate with the first few titles. I enjoyed meeting Sheng Ti and Robin Burke-Jones again, and of course, Cyrus Reed also appears, just in the nick of time. Recommended to anyone who has read and enjoyed previous entries in the Mrs. Pollifax series.
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to help a former student find his missing father - is connected to her own. Something very strange is going on at Feng Imports, and as Mrs. Pollifax struggles to discover just what that is, she reconnects with some old friends. Sheng Ti, the young Chinese man she helped to flee his oppressive homeland in Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station, is working at the import shop, while Robin Burke-Jones, the jewel thief turned Interpol agent she befriended in A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax, is also in town. Soon our grandmotherly heroine finds herself confronting a terrible terrorist plot, and one of the most physically and spiritually taxing experiences of her career as an unlikely spy...As other reviewers have noted, Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha is somewhat darker than the previous entries in the series, addressing as it does such issues as terrorism, and depicting Mrs. Pollifax being tortured, toward the close of the book. It isn't that the geopolitical realities underpinning the story are more serious than in previous books - after all, in A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax, we met a religious extremist bent on creating his own nuclear bomb! - but somehow the atmosphere here feels decidedly more disturbing. Perhaps that is because Gilman captures the trauma experienced by our heroine after her terrible experience being tortured, and then seeing a confederate murdered before her eyes. Whatever the case may be, although an engrossing adventure, this was a far less amusing entry in the series, and didn't have any of the hilarity I associate with the first few titles. I enjoyed meeting Sheng Ti and Robin Burke-Jones again, and of course, Cyrus Reed also appears, just in the nick of time. Recommended to anyone who has read and enjoyed previous entries in the Mrs. Pollifax series.
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LibraryThing member Olivermagnus
7
Two books after going on safari, Mrs. Pollifax is now married. Marriage, however, doesn't slow her down. One day while discussing the position of her bay window with her contractor, Mr. Bishop from the CIA pulls into the driveway. He says they urgently need her to fly to Hong Kong. It seems that
She soon meets and befriends a psychic and then unexpectedly finds herself reunited with Robin Burke-Jones, one-time jewel thief and now Interpol operative. He's pursuing the answers to questions of his own and is looking for a missing police inspector and investigating several diamond thefts. Then the man she met on the plane stumbles into her room with a wound on his head. Before long, as is always the case with Mrs. Pollifax, things soon spiral out of control.
I'm a big fan of the Mrs. Pollifax cozy mysteries. This wasn't my favorite of the seven I've read but I still found it enjoyable. I'm halfway through the series and absolutely intend the finish the final seven this year.
Two books after going on safari, Mrs. Pollifax is now married. Marriage, however, doesn't slow her down. One day while discussing the position of her bay window with her contractor, Mr. Bishop from the CIA pulls into the driveway. He says they urgently need her to fly to Hong Kong. It seems that
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Sheng Ti, the young man she helped smuggle out of China a year ago, is working at a shop in Hong Kong under the guidance of another CIA agent, Mr. Detwiler. Detwiler's reports to the CIA have proved to be false, so he is suspected of being a double agent. Carstairs, Bishop 19s boss, wants Mrs. Pollifax to make contact and figure out what is going on. Sheng Ti almost certainly knows and he trusts Mrs. Pollifax.She soon meets and befriends a psychic and then unexpectedly finds herself reunited with Robin Burke-Jones, one-time jewel thief and now Interpol operative. He's pursuing the answers to questions of his own and is looking for a missing police inspector and investigating several diamond thefts. Then the man she met on the plane stumbles into her room with a wound on his head. Before long, as is always the case with Mrs. Pollifax, things soon spiral out of control.
I'm a big fan of the Mrs. Pollifax cozy mysteries. This wasn't my favorite of the seven I've read but I still found it enjoyable. I'm halfway through the series and absolutely intend the finish the final seven this year.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jetangen4571
historical, 1980s, espionage, terrorism, murder, psychics, family, friendship, Hong Kong, thriller, suspense, reread, torture*****
The publisher's blurb is a good hook for those of us who are addicted to enjoying Mrs Pollifax's adventures as a CIA courier. She is sent to inquire after an agent in
Reread via Recorded Books audiobook narrated by Barbara Rosenblat
Voice actor Barbara Rosenblatt always does a wonderful job with all the voices and really acts out the story and not just read it. Her voice brings the characters to life with her inflections entirely suited the situations and characters.
The publisher's blurb is a good hook for those of us who are addicted to enjoying Mrs Pollifax's adventures as a CIA courier. She is sent to inquire after an agent in
Show More
Hong Kong, and also hopes to connect with a young Chinese man she met in China. She finds the agent and sort of finds her young man, but also finds an old friend now working for Interpol as well as a man who is psychic and is working for one of his college students whose father is a missing police detective. Then things get messy!Reread via Recorded Books audiobook narrated by Barbara Rosenblat
Voice actor Barbara Rosenblatt always does a wonderful job with all the voices and really acts out the story and not just read it. Her voice brings the characters to life with her inflections entirely suited the situations and characters.
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Language
Original publication date
1985
Physical description
224 p.; 6.88 inches
ISBN
0449209830 / 9780449209837
Local notes
Mrs. Pollifax, 07
DDC/MDS
| Fic Mystery Gilman |