Modesty Blaise (novel)
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| First American edition by Doubleday, 1965 | |
| Author | Peter O'Donnell |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Modesty Blaise |
| Genre(s) | Spy novel |
| Publisher | Souvenir Press |
| Released | 1965 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | First book of series |
| Followed by | Sabre-Tooth |
Modesty Blaise is the title of an action-adventure/spy fiction novel by Peter O'Donnell which was first published in 1965, featuring the character Modesty Blaise which O'Donnell had created for a comic strip in 1963.
This was the first novel to feature the character of Modesty Blaise and her right-hand-man, Willie Garvin, and the series of books (all written by O'Donnell) would run concurrently with the comic strip until 1996 (the comic strip would run until 2001).
Technically, this is a novelisation of a screenplay O'Donnell wrote based upon the character, although it predated the film version by a year. The filmed version of the screenplay bore little resemblance to O'Donnell's original (the author was often quoted as saying only a single, inconsequential line of dialogue remained from his original script). Although the 1966 film version of Modesty Blaise was not a critical success, the book proved popular with fans of both the comic strip and readers of spy fiction (Blaise was promoted on the cover of the first American edition by Doubleday as the feminine answer to James Bond), and O'Donnell followed up with a dozen more novels including two short story collections over the next 30 years. Most would have their first United Kingdom editions published by Souvenir Press, with Pan Books publishing all but the final volume, Cobra Trap, in paperback. A variety of American publishers, meanwhile, took turns issuing the series.
The American first edition by Doubleday (illustrated at right) was featured prominently in the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction (the hit man played by John Travolta is shown reading the book). Reportedly the director used a mock-up of the book for filming, rather than an actual copy.
In the mid-1990s, DC Comics published a one-shot Modesty Blaise graphic novel based upon the novel.
[edit] Plot summary
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This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
| The Modesty Blaise series by Peter O'Donnell |
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| Books Modesty Blaise (1965) | Sabre-Tooth (1966) | I, Lucifer (1967) | A Taste for Death (1969) | The Impossible Virgin (1971) | Pieces of Modesty (1972) | The Silver Mistress (1973) | Last Day in Limbo (1976) | Dragon's Claw (1978) | The Xanadu Talisman (1981) | The Night of Morningstar (1982) | Dead Man's Handle (1985) | Cobra Trap (1996) |
| Films Modesty Blaise (1966) | Modesty Blaise (1982) | My Name is Modesty (2003) |
