Pieces of Modesty (Modesty Blaise Series)

by Peter O'Donnell

Overview

Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin are legendary names and in the 6 stories in this collection it is non - stop adventure as they travel and fight their way around the world. From South America to Berlin, Finland to London they use everything that comes to hand, from a circus cannon to human kite - flying, to survive against the odds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459643741
Publisher:	ReadHowYouWant
Publication date:	07/19/2012
Series:	Modesty Blaise Novel Series
Edition description:	16th ed. Large Print
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Peter O'Donnell started as a professional writer in 1937, he created the character of Modesty Blaise for a strip cartoon in 1963 and the series was eventually syndicated in over 42 countries and produced 13 novels.

Editorial Reviews

Modesty Blaise attracts adjectives as honey draws bears: beautiful, smart, sexy, tough, not-to-be-messed-with and, of course, totally unconventional. Those who don't know her will probably enjoy this collection of short capers more than her longer adventures. (After three or four manic stunts, the longer pieces often get too outrageous.) Here we're treated to romps involving South American guerrillas and a cricket bowl (``A Better Day to Die''); a novel way to get over the Berlin Wall (``The Giggle-Wrecker''); Willie Garvin's own tale of derring-do (``I Had a Date with Lady Janet,'' happily not narrated in Cockney); jewel thieves on the Riviera (``A Perfect Night to Break Your Neck''); vicious industrial spies in Finland (``Salamander Four''); and a rich man's kinkiness (``The Soo Girl Charity''). Disbelief isn't so much suspended as flouted. Some readers will lap up all the derring that's done and leave it at that. Connoisseurs of James Bond's high seriousness and snobbery, though, will howl in delightespecially since under it all, Modesty really is a nice girl. (November 19)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Six stories (that)... are complete and complex adventures in themselves... Modesty is still perfect, still beautiful, still iconic... If you have not discovered Modesty, either because she passed you by or, let's face it, because you were too young, then do get hold of these.,Lighter in tone than Fleming's (James Bond) novels, the Modesty stories are especially rich in characterisation, with the sparring between Modesty and Willie Garvin always a highlight... No self-respecting Modesty fan should be without it.

From the Publisher

The fantastic elements of the Modesty novels were tempered by O'Donnell's superb physical writing.

New York Times Book Review

Before Buffy, before Charlie's Angels, before Purdy and Emma Peel, there was Modesty Blaise. For almost 40 years, Peter O'Donnell's iconic heroine drop-kicked her way through a swath of villains and into a unique place in popular culture.

Observer

The stories of Modesty . . . are better than James Bond and funnier.

Tribune

These books are the finest escapist thrillers ever written.

Times