Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist (U)

Working with her retired CIA friend John Farrell, Mrs. Pollifax must smuggle a manuscript out of Jordan, a document that encodes the shocking truth of Saddam Hussein's reign.Hardly are the two airborne when the coils of Middle Eastern intrigue begin to unwind. Mrs. Pollifax's seatmate is not the affable Arab businessman he pretends to be. It is not imagination that persuades Mrs. P. that wherever they go, she and Farrell are followed. To elude their pursuers in such a politically volatile country isn't easy. In fact, it can be downright deadly. . . .Publishers WeeklySpunky Emily Pollifax, the occasional CIA operative last seen in Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer (1996), travels to Jordan with former Company agent John Sebastian Farrell to receive a manuscript smuggled from Iraq, written by an executed dissident Iraqi novelist. As Farrell's cover, Mrs. Pollifax poses as his tourist cousin but immediately is up to her flowered straw hat in intrigue. In Amman, she discovers that her airplane seatmate hid a carving in her luggage that contains a mysterious map and key; then her room is searched. Simultaneously, the CIA learns that notorious Jordanian terrorist Suhair Slaman recently sneaked into and out of the U.S. Was he Emily's seatmate? You bet. Farrell's contact doesn't show up for their scheduled meeting at the Crusader castle at Karak, although Emily does find a dead body there. When their guide, Youseff, and his sister, Hanan, invite them to visit their grandfather, a desert sheik, they're trailed by Jordanian terrorists, the Iraqi secret police and Amman police Inspector Jafer. The climax occurs at an ancient desert fort, where Mrs. Pollifax fells the villains with karate. Whatever they lack in subtlety, the reliably delightful Mrs. Pollifax stories make up for in charming, intelligent characters, brisk action and seductive scenery. Author tour. (Feb.)