Customer Reviews

Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha (Book 7 of the Mrs Pollifx series)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The newly-married Mrs. Pollifax is in the process of fixing up her new home in the country when Bishop appears on her doorstep and offers her another assignment for the CIA. Cyrus is out of town and Mrs. P. must give an immediate answer, so an hour later she is on her way to Hong Kong. Her mission is to contact Sheng Ti, whom she met in an earlier book and find out what is going on at Feng Imports where Sheng Ti is working for an agent named Detwiler. Detwiler's reports to the CIA have proved to be false, so he is suspected of being a counterspy and giving evidence to the enemy. Mrs. Pollifax meets some other interesting characters, including a psychic, and another old friend who is a reformed cat burglar while in pursuit of the truth about Feng Imports. She is captured and suffers from some unnecessarily harsh treatment, probably the reason this is not most people's favorite book of the series.

I remember distinctly that my grandmother did not care for this episode in the Pollifax adventures. "Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha" was a little too violent and disturbing for her. I, on the other hand, love it! Thrilling, exciting, never a dull moment. Not for the squeamish!

Mrs. Pollifax has done it again! This story was wonderfully suspenseful! I did feel sorry for Cyrus, though, I mean coming to Hong Kong thinking his wife is perfectly safe and finds she's been kidnapped by terrorists! I'm glad everything turned out OK. There's one more thing I want to say; these books were reccommended to me by a nice elderly woman at Media Play and I just want to say, where ever you are, thanks.

The biggest thing on newlywed Mrs. Pollifax's mind is making sure the contractor installs the bay window in her new home slightly off center. But then Bishop from the CIA pulls into the driveway and her whole world changes again. Seems that a young man she helped smuggle out of China a year ago is working at a shop in Hong Kong where another CIA agent has been placed, but that agent's reports have grown useless. Carstairs, Bishop's boss, wants Mrs. Pollifax to make contact and figure out what exactly is happening.

But as is always the case with Mrs. Pollifax, things soon spiral out of control, and it starts when she runs into an old friend from a previous assignment. Then the man she met on the plane stumbles into her room with a wound on his head. Slowly, she suspects that her assignment is leading to something much bigger. But just what is it?

It had been so long since I read this book that I'd forgotten much beyond the basics, so I was pulled along for the ride just like it was new. And what fun it was filled with the usual mix of coincidence and deductive reasoning to reach the astonishing conclusion. The characters are charming like always as well.

However, I was disappointed by the climax. Despite attempts to explain things, it felt like the author wasn't sure how to resolve things. It worked, but not seemed improbable, even for a Mrs. Pollifax book. There's also the fact that it was dark, although not as dark as the next book in the series.

Still, I do recommend this book. It's mostly fun although not quite as enjoyable as early books in the series.

Mrs. Pollifax is the most delightful spy I have ever read about. I started reading these books when I was a youngster of 25, and still enjoy them now that I am "over-the-hill"! This book has one of the most startling and unexpected endings I have seen. Don't miss it! I won't tell you more, because I wouldn't dream of spoiling it for you. Enjoy!

Her last experiences in China (in Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station) haven't dimmed the enthusiasm of the CIA's favorite maverick agent for that country. Now officially Mrs. Reed-Pollifax (at the insistence of her new husband Cyrus), she's absorbed in overseeing the construction of their new home while Cyrus is off bird-watching when her friend Bishop arrives with the news that she's needed once again. It seems that the young "nonperson" Sheng Ti whom she helped to escape from the Mainland was placed in Hong Kong with a long-time agent of the Company's--a man it has recently discovered has been feeding it doctored information. Sheng Ti almost certainly knows what's going on--and he trusts Mrs. Pollifax.

Arriving in Hong Kong, Mrs. P soon meets and befriends a psychic--and finds herself reunited with Robin Burke-Jones, one-time jewel thief and now Interpol operative (they met in A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax), who is pursuing the answers to questions of his own: he's looking for a missing police inspector and investigating several diamond thefts. Before long they discover that a notorious international assassin is also in the city. Is he connected to the inspector's fate? And is that in turn somehow related to Mrs. Pollifax's mission? The longer they go on, the more both seem likely--and soon Mrs. P. finds herself in greater peril than she has ever faced. This lighthearted spy series becomes a bit darker and more serious in this seventh outing, though Robin--with help both expected and otherwise--saves the day in the end.

Fast service, well packaged and in good condition and of course the story was great!! Thank you!

I am still reading but am enjoying what I have read. It is as good as the others in the series. Recommend to others who are interested in this type of reading.

My godmother gave me the first book to read because she enjoyed it and it got me hooked so I had to go to amazon.com and order every single book in the Mrs. Pollifax series. Too bad there isn't any more to read! I sent them all to my godmother for her to enjoy after I finished reading them. She was thrilled when she received them.

I haven't missed a single episode in Mrs. Polofax's journeys. This one is every bit the intrepid Mrs. Pollifax at her best. I wondered how she was going to work with a husband at her side. Now I know. GREAT. Wonderfully done. Don't miss it!