Mrs. Pollifax (franchise): Difference between revisions

'''''Mrs. Pollifax''''' is a series of fourteen books written by the late [[Dorothy Gilman]] between 1966 and 2000. A mix of [[Spy Fiction]] and [[Mystery Fiction]], they expertly blend suspense, thrills and no small amount of comic relief here and there. They take place in a world with rare but genuine psychic powers but is [[Like Reality Unless Noted|otherwise (mostly) identical to ours]], acrossspanning nearly forty years of history, starting in the mid-1960s. Over the course of the series, Mrs. Pollifax's assignments and travel reflect the changing sociopolitical challenges of the world, ranging Iron Curtain nations and Communist opposition, through African unrest, to Mideast terrorism. Despite this, one of the constant themes of the series is how Mrs. Pollifax is drawn to help people in need who seem unconnected to her assignments. These either turn out to be unexpectedly related to her task, or become invaluable help in accomplishing it. Another is defying the marginalization and disempowerment of the elderly -- in her sixties, Emily Pollifax is just as capable as, and sometimes ''more'' so than, the experienced agents she works with and against.