I discovered Dorothy Gilman and Mrs. Polifax in a stack of Reader's Digest Condensed Books that I inherited when we moved into our house. Amongst the twenty or so volumes there were three Mrs. Polifax stories, the first three of the series, I believe. After that I checked out the few other books Mrs. Gilman had written from our local library.
Mrs. Polifax was the first "old" character I'd come across that didn't spend her time sitting in a chair knitting. She was out in the world and active. Her simple missions for the CIA always took a turn for the worse and she wound up having to fight her way out with her wits and those lovely Judo chops she learned.
This summer I picked up several of the Polifax books that I hadn't read and was soon immersed in that wonderful world that Dorothy Gilman created. And Mrs. Polifax hadn't missed a beat. She was still at the top of her game.
Thank you, Mrs. Gilman, for all the hours of pleasure you've blessed me with.
http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2012/02/dorothy-gilman-rip.html
4 comments:
I read the same Readers Digest Condensed Books (but I read them when they came out; I'm old).
Now I feel like looking them up. In original form, not RDCB. In my youth, I didn't understand what a terrible thing it was to "condense" a perfectly good novel. (With some notable exceptions; I'm just finishing reading a 700-page novel that could be condensed to 400 pages without losing anything it needs.)
Oh she will be missed...I loved the books and even liked the Angela Lansbury tv movies based on the character of Mrs. Pollifax...
My grandparents had those books and I think it may have been in them I discovered her too.
Some books do need to be condensed, Manuel.
The RDCB were an introduction to many great authors that our tiny library didn't have. They also gave me a great variety of genres. For me they were a blessing.
Yes, she will, Katherine.
Probably where most readers discovered her work, Patti.
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