Mrs. Pollifax Books in Order

Dorothy Gilman is an American novelist who wrote Mrs. Pollifax, popular spy fiction, and mystery series. It consists of 14 books published between 1966 and 2000. Every novel in this series features the lead character Mrs. Emily Pollifax. She first appears as a grandmother in her sixties, a dutiful member of a gardening club, who works part-time for the CIA. Mrs. Pollifax’s character was well-received by readers as the series’ heroine. She lives in New Jersey, United States, at the start of the series. One day, she decides to leave her apartment and begin working as a part-time agent for the CIA, yet her first assignment comes as a result of a mistake.

Gilman began working on this series in 1966. She published her first novel the same year. After contributing 14 books to the popular series, Gilman decided to wrap it up in 2000 with the final novel, Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled.  

Mrs Pollifax Books in order 

Mrs. Pollifax

1. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1966)
2. The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax (1970)
3. The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax (1971)
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. Pollifax 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)
14. Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled (2000)

Similar authors

• Amelia Peabody by Elizabeth Peters is focused on the female Egyptologist, Amelia Peabody Emerson. It also follows the cast of family, friends, allies, and fictional and historical characters.
• Carolyn G. Hart’s Death on Demand follows Annie and Max Darling. They embark on a high-stakes investigation into a classic-style mystery.

See also: Lord Peter Wimsey Books in Order and Jacqueline Winspear Books in Order.

Most recommended books

1. The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax (Mrs. Pollifax, #3) (4.18 Goodreads score)
2. The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax (Mrs. Pollifax, #2) (4.17 Goodreads score)
3. Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station (Mrs. Pollifax, #6) (4.16 Goodreads score)
4. Mrs. Pollifax on Safari (Mrs. Pollifax, #5) (4.16 Goodreads score)
5. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (Mrs. Pollifax, #1) (4.15 Goodreads score)

Latest releases

The last Mrs. Polifax book in the series, Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled,  was published in 2000.

Movies based on the series

The series was adapted into a movie called Pollifax–Spy. It is a 1971 American comedy film directed by Leslie H.

Book summaries

The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1966)

Mrs. Virgil (Emily) Pollifax of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was a widow with grown, married children. She was tired of attending her Garden Club meetings. She wanted to do something good for her country. So, naturally, she became a CIA agent.She takes on a “job” in Mexico City. The assignment doesn’t sound dangerous at first, but then, as often happens, something goes wrong. Now our dear Mrs. Pollifax finds herself embroiled in quite a hot Cold War—and her country’s enemies find themselves entangled with one unbelievably feisty lady.

The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax (1970)

Once again the irrepressible Mrs. Pollifax, that very special agent with her own very special brand of logic, is off on an incredible escapade of international intrigue . . . from the exotic towns and countryside of Turkey to a mysterious rendezvous with a gypsy caravan.“You are in effect replacing a dead man, Mrs. Pollifax. . . .”When Emily Pollifax answered the phone that Sunday morning she quickly forgot about her Garden Club tea in the afternoon. The last time she had heard the voice on the other end of the line it had sent of her off on a journey that plunged her into a wild tangle of secret agents and high adventure.Now the man from the CIA was asking if she could leave immediately on a mission that would take her halfway across the world. What could Mrs. Pollifax say but yes?

The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax (1971)

If you make it across the border, get us help. Some of us care. Do you understand? Right now we desperately need passports and identity papers. The arrests grow insane. At the very hour this message was en route to the CIA, Mrs. Pollifax was waiting for her night-blooming cereus to do its thing.She hardly got to see it, however, because Mr. Carstairs was already on his way to recruit that gallant lady for another daring mission.Soon the most unlikely of all international spies was sporting a beautiful new hat—perfect for hiding eight forged passports.

A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax (1973)

Mrs. Pollifax was leading a very full life: Garden Club, karate, yoga—and a little spying now and then.This time the mysterious Mr. Carstairs sent her to Switzerland—to a famous health resort where the world’s intelligence agents had gathered.The mission: to track down a missing package of plutonium. Just enough to make a small atom bomb.It was a job that suited Mrs. Pollifax’s talents. She was good with people—and good at sniffing out their secrets.But it was not until she became enchanted with Robin, the young jewel thief, that her new adventure really began

Mrs. Pollifax on Safari (1976)

Now the incredible Mrs. Pollifax has been sent on a safari to smoke out a very clever international assassin whose next target is the president of Zambia. “Just take a lot of pictures of everyone on that safari,” the CIA man told her. “One of them has to be our man.”It sounded simple enough. But it wasn’t. Because shortly after Mrs. Pollifax started taking pictures, someone stole her film. And right after that she was kidnapped by Rhodesian terrorists. And right after that—well, read for yourself.

Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station (1983)

The cheerful Mrs. Virgil (Emily) Pollifax of New Brunswick, New Jersey, is once again plunged headfirst into a hair-raising CIA mission.Posing as a tourist in China, Mrs. Pollifax meets the sinister challenges of the Orient to safeguard a treasure for the CIA . . . and all but loses her life in the bargain.

Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha (1985)

Although recently married, Mrs. Pollifax is packed and ready to go to China, where a young agent, Sheng Ti, holds the answers to goings on at the sinister Feng Imports–a one-time agency front. Only Mrs. Pollifax has earned Sheng’s trust, and only she can possibly stop what turns out to be a frightening and ominous plot involving drugs, smuggled diamonds, a famous cat burglar turned Interpol agent, a mysterious psychic, and, of course, murder…..possibly her own!

Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle (1988)

Although Mrs. Pollifax is determined to give up spying for good, she can’t help but agree to carry a small object to an agent in Thailand, and get one in return. The moment she lands, however, Mrs. Pollifax is horrified to find her contact dead and her husband kidnapped. The next thing she knows, she’s tramping through the ominous Thai countryside, led by a curious fellow who may be trying to help her find her husband. Or he may have other, more sinister plans.

Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish (1990)

Mrs. Pollifax is on hand in Morocco to back up an inept CIA agent, and it’s a good thing. Their first informant is killed, and Mrs. Pollifax begins to get the idea that her colleague is not who he says he is. Still, she forges ahead, checking out suspicious informants, and coming to the conclusion that someone is an imposter and someone wants her dead….

Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief (1993)

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 . .

Mrs. Pollifax Pursued (1995)

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. . .

Mrs. Pollifax and The Lion Killer (1996)

As millions of readers know, that intrepid charmer and part-time CIA agent Emily Pollifax is a joy, with a warm heart, nerves of steel, and manners as impeccable as her karate. In her new adventure, Mrs. Pollifax accompanies her young friend Kadi Hopkirk to the African country of Ubangiba, where Kadi’s childhood friend, Sammat, is soon to be crowned king. This impromptu journey is a response to an S.O.S. from Sammat to Kadi; and Mrs. P., reluctant to allow the girl to venture alone into what she fears may be grave danger, crashes the party.Sunny little Ubangiba is no great shakes as nations go. Under Sammat’s selfless leadership it is recovering from the devastation wrought by two greedy presidents-for-life who preceded him in office. But Sammat has dangerous enemies. Everywhere rumors are springing up that he is a sorcerer and that his evil power is responsible for a rash of shocking murders in which the victims appear to have been clawed to death by a lion. These crimes are especially terrifying because there are no lions in Ubangiba.Without the comforting backup of the CIA, Mrs. Pollifax wades into the fray, hunting for the source of the bloody terrorism that threatens Sammat and Ubangiba. Not to mention Kadi and Mrs. Pollifax. Home has never looked so good, or seemed so far away.

Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist (1997)

This time she’s on loan to her retired CIA friend Farrell. Her bag lady act is the first phase of a mission to the Middle East: to smuggle out of Jordan the final manuscript of the dissident Iraqi novelist, Dib Assen, recently murdered in an Iraqi prison. Allegedly fiction, the script encodes the shocking truth of Saddam Hussein’s reign.Allah willing, Farrell is to rendezvous near Amman with a man called Ibrahim, who will deliver the manuscript. All Mrs. P. has to do is look as much like a tourist as possible to deflect suspicion from her “cousin,” Farrell.But hardly are the two airborne when the coils of Middle Eastern intrigue begin to unwind. Mrs. Pollifax’s seatmate is not the affable Arab businessman he seems and the little carved plaque he secretly stashes in her carry-on bag is not a mere souvenir. It is not imagination that persuades Mrs. P. that wherever they go she and Farrell are followed, even to the old castle where Farrell is to meet the mysteriously elusive Ibrahim.To elude their pursuers in such a politically volatile country isn’t easy. But Mrs. P. takes her challenges straight up *and this one may be our genteel heroine’s stiffest yet.

Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled (2000)

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.