I originally read this series, probably 30 years ago. I Listened to it on cassette tapes! During the summer when I take my long bike rides and love to listen to audiobooks all day long, I’ve pulled out Mrs Pollifax again by Dorothy Gilman. I love the way she writes the characters, the language that she uses, the actual conversations that people have without all the abbreviations or inferred text. The tenacity of Mrs. Pollifax and all the crazy situation she gets herself into. They have stood the test of time over the last 30 years in our world that hasn’t changed that much. Mrs Pollifax does not have a cell phone, there is no social media, and the world is a little more of a secret then what it is today. Maybe I’m showing my age but I like that.
Dorothy Gilman has written some standalone novels. My favorites are Caravan and her memoir A New Kind of Country.
I too am a fan of Three Pines and the Silva books. I’m looking forward to the new book. It’s hard when we get a new reader, but the stories are so great it’s not too hard to get past that.
Aren’t we lucky to be book lovers?! Books are my constant companion and especially audiobooks. They keep me company through the day. Thanks for sharing your love of books too!
One other thing I love about the Mrs. Pollifax audio books is that they are narrated by Barbara Rosenblat who later narrated both the Elizabeth Peters and Diane Mott Davidson's wonderful series! Looking up your favorite narrators online is a great way to find new audio books.
Love the Mrs. Pollifax series and all of the other Dorothy Gilman books! Many of her audio books are available via Libby at many public libraries. They are dated, but the whole concept of a brave, resourceful older woman is always a good thing to lift a woman's spirit. Her stand alone books are so varied and also worth reading.
Gosh, Sandi, I wrote a long comment yesterday and must have inadvertently deleted it 🙄 I had wrote that I was enjoying the comments here as much as your post and now I have new authors on my audiobooks wish list. Thank you for that! I tend to burn through audiobooks since I enjoy listening while walking, knitting or weaving, housecleaning, and cooking. I recommend Sulari Gentill. She has a series set in 1930s Australia starting with A Few Right Thinking Men, and she also has a few standalone novels (The Woman in the Library for one). I also enjoy Louise Penny’s series. I was devastated when Ralph Cosham died. For me, he was Gamache and I could not imagine any other narrator. I haven’t been happy with Robert Bathurst at all. I forget which novel it was but he was (to my ears) so caricaturist in his narration that I thought I’d have to switch to reading the print books. Bathurst’s accent didn’t bother me; rather, I didn’t hear any sympathy in his voice for the characters. So I’m looking forward to a new narrator with The Grey Wolf. By the way, Cosham is the narrator for Timothy Snyder’s book Blood Lines. That was a difficult book to get through (all the horrors of Russia and Germany’s quest for land and power), but Cosham’s calm, soft voice made it possible. And lovely vest!
Like you, I love Louise Penny! Eagerly awaiting Grey Wolf.
When you mentioned series fiction, my eyes perked up. Love following tge characters as they grow over the years. Another one i like is Donna Leon’s series with inspector Brunetti. They take place in Venice. Her writing is so descriptive that you get a wonderful architectural tour of the city. Also Brunetti and his wife Paola enjoy Italian cusine. Sometimes I want to pop up and make their dinner. Death at La Fenici is the first in the series if over 30.
Thank you for the recommendation! I've added the audio of Death at La Finice to my list. Thank goodness for free audiobooks through Hoopla via my public library!
I enjoy Susan Wittig Albert who has several series and stand alone books. Many of us know her for her China Bayles series about a successful high powered criminal lawyer who decides she's had enough of that life and moves to the Texas hill country and opens an herb shop. Some of the 1st books of that series can be hard to find. But the good news is that each book fills a new reader in on the regular characters and you can quickly get a feel for Pecan Springs wherever you start in the series.. Each book tells a very unique story/mystery. Susan is here on Substack where she drops occasional short series! She also shares her knowledge and love of Texas flora and fauna among many other things. She has many stand alone historical fiction books as well. Her most recent is Someone Always Nearby about Georgia O'Keeffe's life in the SW with Maria Chabot a singularly talented woman who made that life possible.
I'm slowing making my way through Lee Child's books about Jack Reacher. Again. Jack!!! (I'm in love with the new Reacher series with Alan Ritchson playing Jack.) I've been reading these books since about 1998 or '99, not long after the series began. There are nearly 40 books now, and I'm woefully behind.
The Mrs Pollifax stories are a treat! So much fun. I've read most of them.
J J Marric's Gideon books are quite fun, if you like Scotland Yard type mysteries. Marric is one of John Creasey's many pseudonyms.
As much as I love detective fiction, I also love light fantasy. I'm currently a little more than half way through Mercedes Lackey's many books about Valdemar. She has written them usually 2 or 3 at a time, and other than these mini-series sticking together, the books are pretty randomly placed in the world that contains Valdemar, so when I first read them it was a bit confusing. It's been long enough since I first found her that she's written a ton more books, and I'm reading them (mostly) in chronological order. The stories as a whole make so much more sense, and are much more fun to read this way.
There are quite a few other series of books on my shelves, and I love rereading all of them! Such fun.
I, too, have a bit of a crush on Jack Reacher. But I stopped reading the series when Lee Child turned it over to his brother Andrew. And yes, the TV series is terrific. I was deeply disappointed in the Jack Reacher movie with Tom Cruise as Reacher (such terrible casting), so I'm delighted the TV series is turning out so well.
I think that the Reacher books written by Andrew are about 20 ahead of anything that I have (yet), so I'm good so far. Thanks for the warning! And yes, the film with Cruise as Reacher was a joke. Jack Reacher is 6'5" tall, not 5'7", and that's just the most obvious bit. <eye roll>
Thanks for the new book review, I look forward to trying out Daniel Silva's book series. I too love a good series and have also fallen in love with Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and the Louise Penny books, having read all 18 of them! Can't wait for the next one.
Also, I wasn't aware of the Wool Channel, thanks for the info.
I hope you enjoy the Gabriel Allon books as much as I do. And I'm glad you checked out the Wool Channel. Clara Parkes is a brilliant woman and she is doing terrific work advocating for the use of the ancient material in our modern world.
I love a series! May I please recommend Lindsey Davis’ books about Marcus Didius Falco - Falco being a private investigator working in First Century Rome. Falco is such a fun character, and they are oh so entertaining. She started publishing the series in 1989 and there are 20 of them. Every one is a treat.
I enjoy Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series. Ruth is a forensic anthropologist who gets involved in murders the police are investigating... & a policeman himself. She also has a series, The Magic Men, which is also good, but I love Ruth best. I'm still trying to think of any other series I read that hasn't already been mentioned.
This is #5 in the series, but Elly's good at keeping you caught up with all that's happened before. Hope you like it. I always get nervous when I recommend a book. What if they don't like it? (I'd put a nervous face emogie here, but I don't know how. lol!)
Yes, unfortunately neither Hoopla nor Libby had books 1–4 on audio. I'm happy to pay for a series I already love, but I'm hoping to use the free-with-a-library-card services while I sample the recommendations.
I love both of those book series! I’m eagerly awaiting the new Louise Penny as well. When the first reader changed I felt like I lost part of inspector Gamache, now another new one. Oh well at least we keep getting new titles. I also have listened to Maisie Dobbs and the Thursday Murder Club, both good reads.
Oh yes.. I love the audiobooks from the library. I will warn you… my least favorite reader was the reader for this series. I shall give him another listen 😊
Good to know. I'll give it a try on audio (since I can get much more reading in if I do audio instead of paper), but I'm willing to go with paper if the audio is unsatisfying.
Thanks for the recommendation of Danial Silva-I’ve read The Collector and now will start at the beginning of the series. I’ve just finished the Maisie Dobbs mystery series, The Thursday Murder Club series, and Martin Walker’s Bruno series. Am reading Cara Black mysteries which are set in Paris. Dona Leon has a mystery series set in Venice. Louise Penny’s books are always on my preorder list! I love a good series!
I second Donna Leon's books featuring Brunetti. I just finished her memoir, Wandering Through Life. So good. Also, Bruno Chief of Police. Food, history, crime, good writing. I don't do these on audiobooks, though, so no recommendations on readers.
The vest is gorgeous. Such a great color choice too. And thanks for all the book suggestions. I hear you when you say the voice actor didn't sound like your Gabriel. It happens! :)
I originally read this series, probably 30 years ago. I Listened to it on cassette tapes! During the summer when I take my long bike rides and love to listen to audiobooks all day long, I’ve pulled out Mrs Pollifax again by Dorothy Gilman. I love the way she writes the characters, the language that she uses, the actual conversations that people have without all the abbreviations or inferred text. The tenacity of Mrs. Pollifax and all the crazy situation she gets herself into. They have stood the test of time over the last 30 years in our world that hasn’t changed that much. Mrs Pollifax does not have a cell phone, there is no social media, and the world is a little more of a secret then what it is today. Maybe I’m showing my age but I like that.
Dorothy Gilman has written some standalone novels. My favorites are Caravan and her memoir A New Kind of Country.
I too am a fan of Three Pines and the Silva books. I’m looking forward to the new book. It’s hard when we get a new reader, but the stories are so great it’s not too hard to get past that.
Aren’t we lucky to be book lovers?! Books are my constant companion and especially audiobooks. They keep me company through the day. Thanks for sharing your love of books too!
I don't know Mrs Pollifax, and haven't read Dorothy Gilman. Adding the audio to my list now! Thanks for the recommendation.
One other thing I love about the Mrs. Pollifax audio books is that they are narrated by Barbara Rosenblat who later narrated both the Elizabeth Peters and Diane Mott Davidson's wonderful series! Looking up your favorite narrators online is a great way to find new audio books.
Golly, I haven’t thought of Mrs Pollifax in ages! What a fun series that was. Thanks for the smile
Love the Mrs. Pollifax series and all of the other Dorothy Gilman books! Many of her audio books are available via Libby at many public libraries. They are dated, but the whole concept of a brave, resourceful older woman is always a good thing to lift a woman's spirit. Her stand alone books are so varied and also worth reading.
I listen on Hoopla. So lucky to have them all at my finger tips!
Gosh, Sandi, I wrote a long comment yesterday and must have inadvertently deleted it 🙄 I had wrote that I was enjoying the comments here as much as your post and now I have new authors on my audiobooks wish list. Thank you for that! I tend to burn through audiobooks since I enjoy listening while walking, knitting or weaving, housecleaning, and cooking. I recommend Sulari Gentill. She has a series set in 1930s Australia starting with A Few Right Thinking Men, and she also has a few standalone novels (The Woman in the Library for one). I also enjoy Louise Penny’s series. I was devastated when Ralph Cosham died. For me, he was Gamache and I could not imagine any other narrator. I haven’t been happy with Robert Bathurst at all. I forget which novel it was but he was (to my ears) so caricaturist in his narration that I thought I’d have to switch to reading the print books. Bathurst’s accent didn’t bother me; rather, I didn’t hear any sympathy in his voice for the characters. So I’m looking forward to a new narrator with The Grey Wolf. By the way, Cosham is the narrator for Timothy Snyder’s book Blood Lines. That was a difficult book to get through (all the horrors of Russia and Germany’s quest for land and power), but Cosham’s calm, soft voice made it possible. And lovely vest!
Thanks, Marie! I, too, have audiobooks as an almost constant companion. Now I'm off to track down Sulari Gentill!
Me, too on burning thru audio books and finding Sulari Gentill!
Like you, I love Louise Penny! Eagerly awaiting Grey Wolf.
When you mentioned series fiction, my eyes perked up. Love following tge characters as they grow over the years. Another one i like is Donna Leon’s series with inspector Brunetti. They take place in Venice. Her writing is so descriptive that you get a wonderful architectural tour of the city. Also Brunetti and his wife Paola enjoy Italian cusine. Sometimes I want to pop up and make their dinner. Death at La Fenici is the first in the series if over 30.
I am enjoying your writing very much. Thank you
Thank you for the recommendation! I've added the audio of Death at La Finice to my list. Thank goodness for free audiobooks through Hoopla via my public library!
I enjoy Susan Wittig Albert who has several series and stand alone books. Many of us know her for her China Bayles series about a successful high powered criminal lawyer who decides she's had enough of that life and moves to the Texas hill country and opens an herb shop. Some of the 1st books of that series can be hard to find. But the good news is that each book fills a new reader in on the regular characters and you can quickly get a feel for Pecan Springs wherever you start in the series.. Each book tells a very unique story/mystery. Susan is here on Substack where she drops occasional short series! She also shares her knowledge and love of Texas flora and fauna among many other things. She has many stand alone historical fiction books as well. Her most recent is Someone Always Nearby about Georgia O'Keeffe's life in the SW with Maria Chabot a singularly talented woman who made that life possible.
Thank you for this - I'm off to look for Someone Always Nearby, since I'm a big Georgia O'Keeffe fan.
I'm slowing making my way through Lee Child's books about Jack Reacher. Again. Jack!!! (I'm in love with the new Reacher series with Alan Ritchson playing Jack.) I've been reading these books since about 1998 or '99, not long after the series began. There are nearly 40 books now, and I'm woefully behind.
The Mrs Pollifax stories are a treat! So much fun. I've read most of them.
J J Marric's Gideon books are quite fun, if you like Scotland Yard type mysteries. Marric is one of John Creasey's many pseudonyms.
As much as I love detective fiction, I also love light fantasy. I'm currently a little more than half way through Mercedes Lackey's many books about Valdemar. She has written them usually 2 or 3 at a time, and other than these mini-series sticking together, the books are pretty randomly placed in the world that contains Valdemar, so when I first read them it was a bit confusing. It's been long enough since I first found her that she's written a ton more books, and I'm reading them (mostly) in chronological order. The stories as a whole make so much more sense, and are much more fun to read this way.
There are quite a few other series of books on my shelves, and I love rereading all of them! Such fun.
I, too, have a bit of a crush on Jack Reacher. But I stopped reading the series when Lee Child turned it over to his brother Andrew. And yes, the TV series is terrific. I was deeply disappointed in the Jack Reacher movie with Tom Cruise as Reacher (such terrible casting), so I'm delighted the TV series is turning out so well.
I think that the Reacher books written by Andrew are about 20 ahead of anything that I have (yet), so I'm good so far. Thanks for the warning! And yes, the film with Cruise as Reacher was a joke. Jack Reacher is 6'5" tall, not 5'7", and that's just the most obvious bit. <eye roll>
Thanks for the new book review, I look forward to trying out Daniel Silva's book series. I too love a good series and have also fallen in love with Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and the Louise Penny books, having read all 18 of them! Can't wait for the next one.
Also, I wasn't aware of the Wool Channel, thanks for the info.
I hope you enjoy the Gabriel Allon books as much as I do. And I'm glad you checked out the Wool Channel. Clara Parkes is a brilliant woman and she is doing terrific work advocating for the use of the ancient material in our modern world.
I love a series! May I please recommend Lindsey Davis’ books about Marcus Didius Falco - Falco being a private investigator working in First Century Rome. Falco is such a fun character, and they are oh so entertaining. She started publishing the series in 1989 and there are 20 of them. Every one is a treat.
A private investigator in Ancient Rome? Fabulous! I've added this series to my list. Thanks for the recommendation.
I enjoy Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series. Ruth is a forensic anthropologist who gets involved in murders the police are investigating... & a policeman himself. She also has a series, The Magic Men, which is also good, but I love Ruth best. I'm still trying to think of any other series I read that hasn't already been mentioned.
Thank you for the recommendation! I've just added the audio of Dying Fall from the Ruth Galloway series to my list.
This is #5 in the series, but Elly's good at keeping you caught up with all that's happened before. Hope you like it. I always get nervous when I recommend a book. What if they don't like it? (I'd put a nervous face emogie here, but I don't know how. lol!)
Yes, unfortunately neither Hoopla nor Libby had books 1–4 on audio. I'm happy to pay for a series I already love, but I'm hoping to use the free-with-a-library-card services while I sample the recommendations.
I love both of those book series! I’m eagerly awaiting the new Louise Penny as well. When the first reader changed I felt like I lost part of inspector Gamache, now another new one. Oh well at least we keep getting new titles. I also have listened to Maisie Dobbs and the Thursday Murder Club, both good reads.
Less than two months until the next chapter of Gamache arrives! Counting the days...
Oh yes.. I love the audiobooks from the library. I will warn you… my least favorite reader was the reader for this series. I shall give him another listen 😊
Good to know. I'll give it a try on audio (since I can get much more reading in if I do audio instead of paper), but I'm willing to go with paper if the audio is unsatisfying.
Thanks for the recommendation of Danial Silva-I’ve read The Collector and now will start at the beginning of the series. I’ve just finished the Maisie Dobbs mystery series, The Thursday Murder Club series, and Martin Walker’s Bruno series. Am reading Cara Black mysteries which are set in Paris. Dona Leon has a mystery series set in Venice. Louise Penny’s books are always on my preorder list! I love a good series!
I hope you enjoy the Gabriel Allon series as much as I do! Going to look up the Cara Black mysteries now...
I second Donna Leon's books featuring Brunetti. I just finished her memoir, Wandering Through Life. So good. Also, Bruno Chief of Police. Food, history, crime, good writing. I don't do these on audiobooks, though, so no recommendations on readers.
The vest is gorgeous. Such a great color choice too. And thanks for all the book suggestions. I hear you when you say the voice actor didn't sound like your Gabriel. It happens! :)