Books like Mrs. Pollifax and the whirling dervish by Dorothy Gilman

Dan Brown’s thriller follows symbologist Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu as they race through Paris to solve a murder at the Louvre, uncovering a conflict between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over a controversial religious secret.

A locked‑in murder on the Orient Express forces detective Hercule Poirot to unravel a mystery among a diverse group of passengers during a snowbound night.

A charming and clever women detective, Precious Ramotswe, solves mysteries in Botswana's small town of Midsomin, South Africa, from 1986 to 1997, facing dangers and love in the process. The novel is beloved by readers worldwide for its clever dialogue and characters who are as flawed as the rest of us. The book is a bestseller and has been translated into 45 languages, including Polish, German, and Japanese, among others. It was also voted one of the International Books of the Year and the Millennium by the Times Literary Supplement.

Colonel and Mrs Bantry find a dead young woman in their library, and her body may be linked to another murder. With their own detective skills stalled, they turn to Miss Marple to unravel the mystery.

Former CIA agent Emily Pollifax is dispatched to Africa to aid in the coronation of King Sammat of Ubangiba, where a rampaging lion threatens the enthronement and casts ominous rumors—are the killings truly the work of a wild beast?

Emily Pollifax, a seemingly harmless tourist, partners with detective Paul Farrell on a mysterious Middle‑Eastern expedition to recover a valuable manuscript, revealing her unexpected talents as a resourceful spy.

Cable Malone, a retired justice operative turned rare‑book dealer, must race against time to rescue his kidnapped son and stop a ruthless cartel from uncovering the legendary Library of Alexandria.

A widowed matron turns into a CIA‑recognized spy, undertaking a globe‑spanning mission from New Jersey to Mexico City and Albania.

Nick and Nora Charles navigate a New York murder mystery with wit and charm, turning a hard‑boiled investigation into a sophisticated comedy of manners.

An unassuming American widow, Mrs. Pollifax, impersonates a CIA widow to rescue her niece in Damascus after a hijacking, navigating souks and deserts while fending off foes who threaten Middle‑East stability.

Emily Pollifax, a bored homemaker with a love for gardening, unexpectedly joins the CIA and embarks on a surprising espionage adventure, blending humor, travel, and mystery.

An unsuspecting grandmother with karate skills teams up with the CIA to recover stolen plutonium.

In his wickedly brilliant first novel, Debut Dagger Award winner Alan Bradley introduces one of the most singular and engaging heroines in recent fiction: eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. It is the summer of 1950--and a series of inexplicable events has struck Buckshaw, the decaying English mansion that Flavia's family calls home. A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath. For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. "I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn't. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life."To Flavia the investigation is the stuff of science: full of possibilities, contradictions, and connections. Soon her father, a man raising his three daughters alone, is seized, accused of murder. And in a police cell, during a violent thunderstorm, Colonel de Luce tells his daughter an astounding story--of a schoolboy friendship turned ugly, of a priceless object that vanished in a bizarre and brazen act of thievery, of a Latin teacher who flung himself to his death from the school's tower thirty years before. Now Flavia is armed with more than enough knowledge to tie two distant deaths together, to examine new suspects, and begin a search that will lead her all the way to the King of England himself. Of this much the girl is sure: her father is innocent of murder--but protecting her and her sisters from something even worse....An enthralling mystery, a piercing depiction of class and society, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a masterfully told tale of deceptions--and a rich literary delight.From the Hardcover edition.

When Mrs. Pollifax reluctantly accepts an assignment to deliver a small object to a contact in Thailand, she discovers the mission has turned deadly—her contact is dead and her husband is missing. The intrigue unfolds as she navigates the Thai countryside, aided by a mysterious guide with unclear motives.