Mrs. Emily Pollifax is the heroine of a series of spy-mystery novels by Dorothy Gilman. Mrs. Pollifax is a widow and senior citizen who decides one day to leave her comfortable apartment in New Brunswick, New Jersey and join the CIA. Through an initial misunderstanding, Mrs. Pollifax is given what is supposed to be a simple courier assignment by Operations Chief, Mr. Carstairs, and her ensuing adventure leads her to a career in espionage. The Emily Pollifax novels frequently employ comic relief and suspense. A consistent theme throughout the series is Mrs. Pollifax's tendency to take an interest in people who seem disconnected with her mission, but who either become part of the investigation and/or who prove to be of invaluable assistance to resolving the case. Recurring characters include Bishop, Carstairs' assistant; John Sebastian Farrell, an agent turned art dealer; and in later books, Cyrus Reed, a man with whom Mrs. Pollifax finds romance in the book Mrs. Pollifax on Safari. Most of the novels take place in existing countries and include authentic details; however, characters in the stories sometimes originate from fictional places that resemble groups of real-life countries. An example of this trait is evidenced by a character in A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax who is from Zabya, a fictional Middle Eastern monarchy described as one of "those Arabian oil-producing countries." In addition, as is common in the spy fiction genre, many of the stories taking place in the Cold War era are set in Iron Curtain countries or include rival spies from communist countries. Books in the Mrs. Pollifax series The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1966) Mrs. Pollifax is an elderly widow who has come to find life dull and is almost ready to end it all out of sheer boredom. Inspired by a newspaper profile of an actress who began her career in later life, she decides to fulfill a childhood ambition and apply for a job as a spy at the CIA. Meanwhile, Carstairs at the CIA is looking for an agent who can pass as a tourist in order to pick up an important package in Mexico. Due to a slight confusion, he thinks Mrs. Pollifax is one of the candidates and decides that Mrs. Pollifax is ideal; Carstairs decided this assignment carries so little danger that even one who is relatively untrained may be sent. So with minimum explanation, Pollifax is ushered off to