The Mrs Pollifax books by Dorothy Gilman

I know I know- Brooke and Andrea have been telling me to read these books for years- And I meant to really. I just was not a huge mystery reader (other than books supplied by Laura- ans I read those mostly because she brought them to my house and you know I am incapable of not reading a book in my house). But the Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax was this months read for my online reading group so I decided now was a good time to read this oft recommended book. I loved it. It was so different that your average book. And it wasn't really a mystery more like a spy thriller starring a slightly depressed elderly woman in a flowered hat. I loved the idea that she just walks into the CIA because she has nothing better to do with her life and she is bored. She also assumes she is expendable since she is old and she might as well die in the service of her country. She is such a likable spy! I also loved that this was published in the sixties so it is full of evil communists- cold war phobia at its best. I feel like spy novels have greatly suffered from the end of the cold war because is there a better evil doer than the devoted communist party man- be he Albanian, Cuban, Russian, or Chinese. I guess we still have the Chinese and Cubans- but it isn't the same. Mind you this is a totally uneducated opinion as I have read maybe 3 spy novels in my life- I'm just guessing. I checked out The Amazing Mrs Pollifax as well- and liked it to. I plan on reading all of these the library has.