Modesty Blaise (1965)

"Modesty Blaise" is the first book in the series, and one of the best. The story starts with Sir Gerald Tarrant, head of a British secret service unit, recruiting Modesty to do a job for him by helping her to save Willie Garvin, who is in prison in South America. The job Sir Gerald wants Modesty and Willie to do is to prevent the theft of a shipment of diamonds, a theft being planned by a top criminal named Gabriel.

Modesty and Willie have to first locate Gabriel, and this involves adventures in Southern France and Egypt. The ensuing confrontation on a small island in the Mediterranean is violent in the extreme, and Modesty and Willie are in mortal danger.

My review of "Modesty Blaise"

My rating: five stars.
 

Sabre-Tooth (1966)

In this story Modesty and Willie are again given a job by Sir Gerald Tarrant, this time to try to determine why so many mercenaries have been recruited by an unknown force. The trail leads from Monaco to Spain to Portugal to Morocco, and then suddenly into the Hindu Kush Mountains bordering on Afghanistan.

Here Modesty and Willie are confronted with the ultimate heist caper: A plan to take over Kuwait by military force! (This was years before Saddam Hussein got the same idea.) The bad guys are especially nasty and the special bond between Modesty and Willie is presented in a unique way.

My review of "Sabre-Tooth"

My rating: five stars.
 

I, Lucifer (1967)

This book tells a very exciting and rather unusual story about a protection racket based on death threats. Modesty and Willie become involved when their good friend René Vaubois is targeted while they are together with him in Paris. This leads them eventually to the masterminds, two elderly puppeteers, Seth and Regina!

The final confrontation takes place on an island near Indonesia, where we experience Modesty and Willie being forced to fight a duel to the death against each other. A great story except that I have a problem with the plot depending on the supernatural abilities of one of the characters.

My review of "I, Lucifer"

My rating: four stars.
 

A Taste for Death (1969)

This is my favorite of all of the Modesty Blaise books. The story starts in Panama where Willie encounters Gabriel, the top bad guy from the first book. A major confrontation ensues, and both Modesty and Willie barely manage to escape traps that should have been lethal.

From here the story moves to England and then to the Sahara. Modesty encounters Simon Delicata, the best villain I've ever encountered in fiction. It turns out that Gabriel and Simon Delicata are working together, and they manage to capture Modesty and Willie. The final fight scene between Simon Delicata and Willie is something I'll never forget.

My review of "A Taste for Death"

My rating: five stars.
 

The Impossible Virgin (1971)

In "The Impossible Virgin" the story starts with a Russian interpreter of satellite pictures who determines that there is a huge gold deposit to be found in an isolated part of Africa. Later, Modesty happens to be on the spot in an African village hospital when the bad guys who tortured the Russian show up to question the doctor who was present at his deathbed.

Following this run-in there is another confrontation between Modesty and Willie and the bad guys in London. Then Modesty gets captured and is taken to Africa where the bad guys attempt to brainwash her. It's all very exciting and typical Modesty fare, but I have a problem with some story elements that are simply too improbable for me to accept.

My review of "The Impossible Virgin"

My rating: four stars.
 

Pieces of Modesty (1972)

This book is a collection of six short stories: "A Better Day to Die", "The Giggle-Wrecker", "I Had a Date with Lady Janet", "A Perfect Night to Break Your Neck", "Salamander Four", and "The Soo Girl Charity". Four of the stories are very good and two of them are OK.

For Modesty fans this book is especially satisfying because it provides a lot of background information about Modesty and Willie, depicting them in six very different situations. It's also nice that several of the stories are humorous. The most negative factor is that the book is very short, only 183 pages.

My review of "Pieces of Modesty"

My rating: five stars.
 

The Silver Mistress (1973)

"The Silver Mistress" starts with Sir Gerald Tarrant getting kidnapped in S. France, a kidnapping made to look like an accidental death. Modesty and Willie are in grieving. Meanwhile they agree to look into a blackmail case involving the sister of one of Willie's girlfriends.

In a typical Modesty story plot twist it turns out the two stories are actually one. An American crook living in S. France is running a world-wide blackmailing racket, and his right-hand man is none other than Mr. Sexton, who prides himself as the world's greatest unarmed combat fighter. Modesty and Willie fall into a trap and Mr. Sexton prepares to kill Modesty and Willie, one at a time, to put further pressure on Sir Gerald.

My review of "The Silver Mistress"

My rating: four stars.
 

Last Day in Limbo (1976)

Modesty and her good friend John Dall are vacationing in the American wilderness when two armed men try to kidnap them. Later, in Switzerland, we meet Paxero, a rich businessman from Guatemala, and learn of his crazy old Aunt Benita who runs a secret slave plantation hidden in the jungles of Guatemala.

Modesty and Willie determine that their old friend Danny Chavasse is being held prisoner in Paxero's slave camp and set out to infiltrate and attack the camp in two different ways. Unfortunately, the whole idea of the slave camp is a bit too ludicrous, and Paxero and Aunt Benita come across more as crazies than serious opponents for Modesty and Willie.

My review of "Last Day in Limbo"

My rating: three stars.
 

Dragon's Claw (1978)

Modesty is sailing a small yacht single-handed from Australia to New Zealand when she rescues the famous painter Luke Fletcher from drowning. But Luke Fletcher is supposed to be dead, having disappeared in the Mediterranean two months ago!

There's a bad guy who's kidnapping people with special knowledge or talent from the world of the arts. His purpose is very unusual, but it does make some sense in a weird way. Modesty and Willie decide to bring him down, and they end up in a pitched battle on Dragon's Claw Island. Unfortunately, with the exception of a gun-toting priest, the bad guys seem more silly than scary.

My review of "Dragon's Claw"

My rating: three stars.
 

The Xanadu Talisman (1981)

My review of "The Xanadu Talisman"

My rating: three stars.
 

The Night of Morningstar (1982)

We start with a flashback to the final days of "The Network". Hugh Oberon was being evaluated as a possible member, but gets rejected. Modesty infiltrates a rival gang's white slave operation and puts it down, and saves the life of CIA agent Ben Christie.

Back to the present, and Modesty runs into Ben Christie in San Francisco, with disastrous consequences. Ben had been trying to infiltrate "The Watchmen", a new international terrorist organization staffed by top mercenaries, including Hugh Oberon. The Watchmen's next target: the President of the United States. It's a very good plot, presaging international terrorism on the scale of 9/11-2001, but Peter O'Donnell's writing style has lost it's edge somewhat.

My review of "The Night of Morningstar"

My rating: three stars.
 

Dead Man's Handle (1985)

Once again we start with a flashback, this time to when Modesty met Willie in Bangkok and gave him a test mission to see if he could be used in "The Network". Willie runs into huge obstacles, and ends up having to enter China undetected, free a political prisoner, and smuggle him out again! All on his own! Modesty is of course extremely impressed, and this is the start of Willie's new life.

All that happens in chapter one, and is the best part of the book. The rest of the story is about a criminal group based on a Greek island who provide illegal services in the guise of being a religious organization. But the top bad guy is more disgusting than scary and his henchmen are not very believable. In my opinion this is the poorest book in the series.

My review of "Dead Man's Handle"

My rating: three stars.
 

Cobra Trap (1996)

"Cobra Trap" is a collection of five short stories: "Bellman", "The Dark Angels", "Old Alex", "The Girl with the Black Balloon" and "Cobra Trap". These stories span Modesty's life from around 20 to around 52 years of age. The first two stories are rather boring but fortunately the last three are good, although all of them suffer from being too contrived.

This book was published after a long pause, and Peter O'Donnell has indicated that it is the last book in the series. My recommendation is that you should not read this book until you have read the others, or at least the first six in the series.

My review of "Cobra Trap"

My rating: four stars.