Emily Pollifax does it again -- oh no, no spoilers! I don't mean whether her assignment was a triumph or not (use your imagination). I mean that I was once again riveted on every page.

I so appreciate these gutsy tour guides to parts exotic and unknown, the tidbits of history, the depth of how she makes me feel like I am really there. And what fun it is to follow along on Google Maps! I especially appreciate Google's contributors' photographs of the regions that are included.

I also savor the craft that Ms. Gilman displays in her character development and plotting. Great stuff! Not earth-shaking; not literary brilliance. But solid, HIGHLY entertaining adventure, and one of my favorite characters in fiction these days.

Thank you Ms. Gilman, for a much-needed, intelligent escape. ( )

2019 reread via Recorded Books audiobook narrated by Barbara Rosenblat ( )

Such a happy ending. And only one book after she meets Cyrus ( )

1980s, historical-places-events, China, spies, history-and-culture, suspense*****

Two things to remember: this is a work of fiction, and it was first published in 1985. Now then. Mrs Pollifax, a widow who always appears to be an innocent tourist of a certain age, has occasionally done courier work for the CIA, but this is her first time in China. The tour is fascinating, the fellow tourists are interesting, and some people are very different than they seem. A VERY enjoyable read!
Voice actor Barbara Rosenblatt always does a wonderful job with all the voices and really acts out the story and not just read it. Her voice brings the characters to life with her inflections entirely suited the situations and characters. ( )

Mrs. Pollifax is off to China in her sixth assignment for the CIA, operating as cover for another agent, unknown to her, that is also in her tour group, and whose mission is to rescue a dissident engineer from a labor camp and smuggle him out of the country. As our gradmotherly heroine gets to know her fellow travelers, she remains watchful, curious as to who this other agent might be. Little does she imagine however, that more than one of the group is hiding a dangerous secret...

I greatly enjoyed Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station when I first read it years ago, as an adolescent, and I greatly enjoyed it upon this recent reread. I seem to be revisiting the entire series, perhaps as a comfort read during this unexpected worldwide crisis and quarantine. What better time to become an armchair traveler? And what better and more entertaining way to do it, than to follow along on Mrs. Pollifax's exciting, humorous and heartwarming trips to various countries, at the behest of Mr. Carstairs of the CIA? Here we have the usual coterie of interesting secondary characters - top marks here to Iris and Peter! - as well as the fascinating geographic locales. Since I was a young girl, I've wanted to visit the tomb of the First Emperor, so that aspect of the story is always quite interesting for me. I was struck, on this reread, by the fact that the trip is to Xinjiang, and features the Uygher people. Published in 1983, it describes a China that is far less developed than it is today, a China that had not yet begun persecuting its Uygher minority with the zeal that it does today. It's rather sad to think that, rather than progressing on issues of human rights and environmental protection, China has actually gotten quite worse in some respects. Leaving these rather melancholy musings aside, this is one I would wholeheartedly recommend to all readers who have enjoyed previous installments of the series. ( )