Pieces of Modesty

Although I have always been a James Bond fan, I am a fanatical Modesty Blaise fan. She is a far more complex, inventive, surprising and fun hero. Each of these short stories is a gem. Get the book and be 100% certain that you will love the experience. Then get Peter O'Donnell's other Blaise books and read them all. You are in for a treat.

A sterling collection of short story adventures featuring the pair of super agent, super rogue, super spy, super cosmopolitan (well, with a rather Cockney accent) super thieves. Really well done, these tales, as a group, nothing ordinary at all to be seen, and lovers of Modesty and company will be well pleased. Pieces of Modesty : 01 A Better Day to Die - Peter O'Donnell Pieces of Modesty : 02 The Giggle-Wrecker - Peter O'Donnell Pieces of Modesty : 03 I Had a Date with Lady Janet - Peter O'Donnell Pieces of Modesty : 04 A Perfect Night to Break Your Neck - Peter O'Donnell Pieces of Modesty : 05 Salamander Four - Peter O'Donnell Pieces of Modesty : 06 The Soo Girl Charity - Peter O'Donnell Modesty is travelling to visit her dying right-hand man Garcia, from the old days, and due to a car breakdown is on a bus. This gets hijacked by guerillas, along with a priest and some schoolgirls. Now unarmed, it is up to Willie to provide a distraction if he can track her down later. 4 out of 5 Fraser has a problem that Tarrant wants to quit over, arranging a defection of a triply-suspect Japanese bacteriologist from East Berlin: 'Bloody hell. The longer I live, the more I sympathize with Guy Fawkes, except that blowing up politicians is too good for them. Do you think I could have a drink?' Modest and Willie, however, have an in: 'You actually go there once a year? You go and spend ten days or so in that God-awful country, just to maintain these identities?' 'It's a chore,' Modesty said, 'but it always seemed potentially useful. Now, a bit of a circus act, with some help, to get the man out. 4 out of 5 A first person Scottish castle rescue for Willie Garvin. 3.5 out of 5 Running an armed hold-up subterfuge gang around Modesty Blaise is not too bright, particularly when she has friends involved she'd like to give a lot of money to. 4 out of 5 Modesty is posing for a sculpture for a friend, the artist a famous Finn. An industrial spy chase manages to turn up at their door. 3.5 out of 5 A wealthy cheapskate, abusive to women, gropes the wrong woman named Blaise, while she is helping out with some charity work. Says Willie, asking for some advice: "I hope we won't have to build a con situation. It's interesting but it takes a long time. What I'd prefer would be a straight steal.' Willie said, 'What d'you know about Leybourn, Sir G?' 'Are you inviting me to subscribe to the commission of a theft.' 'Why not? If you wanted us to do a safe in some Foreign Trade Mission you wouldn't think twice, you bloody old hyena,' Willie said amiably. And that was true, Tarrant reflected." 3.5 out of 5

"Pieces of Modesty" is a collection of six short stories about Modesty Blaise and her loyal sidekick Willie Garvin. It was published in 1972 after Peter O'Donnell had written five novels about Modesty and Willie from 1965 to 1971 and achieved great success with them. All six of these short stories are quite good, with several of them being very good. In the mini-reviews below I've given five stars to four of the stories, and four stars to two of them. But beyond the stories being very good in their own right they also provide a more complete image of Modesty and Willie. For die-hard Modesty fans this is almost as valuable as the enjoyment of the stories as isolated stories. In this rather long review I'll take a closer look at each story. But first a general comment: The strength of these stories (and the whole Modesty series of books) is the character of the persons in the stories. In Modesty stories we find people with unusual personalities, people with some special character trait that is fascinating, people with amazingly strong drives, etc. This, together with the unique relationship between Modesty and Willie, gives the stories their distinctive appeal. On the negative side is the fact that the book, at only 183 pages, is much too short. You can practically read the whole book during a single afternoon. Also, some of the stories are a bit too contrived. Finally, it irritates me that Modesty and Willie are still smoking so much. In summary, highly recommended, even today, although the book is, of course, rather dated. "A Better Day to Die" - 5 stars This story takes place in South America and features a violence-hating British missionary who discovers violence in an unexpected place: his own deepest human nature. Modesty and the missionary fall into the hands of a rag-tag band of guerillas in the jungle. When Willie comes to their rescue there's a pitched battle with machine guns and sniper's rifles, until the missionary decisively ends the fighting in a very unexpected way. The British missionary and his marked personality and the neat twist in the plot based on his character are the best parts of this story. Other good parts include the wonderful teamwork between Modesty and Willie and descriptions of their great fighting abilities. The quote that provides the title for this review ("Tomorrow's always a better day to die.") is uttered by Modesty in a state of post-battle exhaustion, and serves as a nice insight into her way of looking at life. "The Giggle-Wrecker" - 5 stars This is a Cold War spy/agent story occurring in East Berlin, and is thus rather dated. (It's amazing to think that members of the youngest generation today don't realize that Germany and Berlin were divided for many years. Or is it the fact that Germany and Berlin were divided for all those years that's amazing?) A Japanese scientist who has worked for the Russians for 20 years has decided to defect to the West and has made it to East Berlin. Now he's de