Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station by Dorothy Gilman

Mrs. Pollifax is a charming older woman who happens to be a CIA agent.  There are many books highlighting her adventures, but in this one she is sent to China. Her mission is to help another agent who is trying to free a man from a work camp who has information crucial to American interests in the area.  Mrs. Pollifax's job is to obtain information about the whereabouts of the work camp from a former inmate.  Of course, nothing goes quite as planned and Mrs. Pollifax is called upon to use her best secret weapon, her innocent and trustworthy appearance, to get the job done. 

This is another older mystery series.  The first in the series (which I haven't read, but should) was published in 1966.  This one came two decades later, and the last in the series was published in 2000.  It is kind of like what would happen if Miss Marple was a spy instead of an amateur detective. Mrs. Pollifax is super nice, but a shrew judge of character.  She has internal struggles to find her courage, and justify certain actions, but manages to get results.  She is thoroughly endearing, and Gilman surrounds her with other interesting personalities as well.  I will probably go back and read more of this series next time I need an emotional break.  

I read this one and the Rabbi Small one as fillers as I was waiting for something else that was on hold.  I think if I were not a library director with the need to keep up on the latest things, I would read more of this older, quaint, clean, literature. (1983, 184 p)