Modesty Blaise Books in Order

How to Read the Modesty Blaise Series

Step into the thrilling world of Modesty Blaise, where a fierce heroine with a shadowy past outsmarts villains with style and grit! Created by Peter O'Donnell in 1963, Modesty Blaise and her fiercely loyal sidekick, Willie Garvin, bridged the gap between campy swinging-sixties espionage and gritty, modern action. Whether you want to read the prose novels, track down the original comic strips, or explore the graphic novels, navigating this massive universe is easier than it looks.

The Recommended Starting Point

The best way to read the Modesty Blaise series is in publication order. Because the publication order aligns perfectly with the internal chronological timeline of the characters' adventures, you do not need to worry about jumping back and forth through time. Starting with the first novel, Modesty Blaise (1965), is highly recommended. It establishes Modesty and Willie's retirement from their criminal syndicate, The Network, and explains how they are recruited by Sir Gerald Tarrant of the British Secret Service.

The Core Prose Novels and Collections

Peter O'Donnell wrote 11 full-length prose novels and two short-story collections featuring Modesty. While the books are largely episodic and can be read as standalones, reading them in sequence lets you appreciate the slow evolution of Modesty and Willie's platonic partnership. Here is the recommended reading order for the prose books:

1. Modesty Blaise (1965): The debut novel that introduces the duo's transition from crime lords to secret service operatives.
2. Sabre-Tooth (1966): Modesty and Willie face a mercenary army planning to invade Kuwait.
3. I, Lucifer (1967): The duo protects high-profile targets from a blackmailer who claims to predict death.
4. A Taste for Death (1969): A highly rated thriller involving a kidnapped young woman with psychic abilities.
5. The Impossible Virgin (1971): Modesty is captured in East Africa and Willie must stage a rescue.
6. Pieces of Modesty (1972): The first short-story collection, containing six stories including the fan-favorite 'I Had a Date with Lady Janet'—notable for being the only story in the franchise narrated from Willie Garvin's first-person perspective.
7. The Silver Mistress (1973): A rescue mission in the Himalayas that showcases Modesty's compassion.
8. Last Day in Limbo (1977): A rescue attempt targeting a slave-labor plantation in the South American jungle.
9. Dragon's Claw (1978): A mystery surrounding a missing artist on a remote island.
10. The Xanadu Talisman (1981): A quest for a missing artifact across Europe and North Africa.
11. The Night of Morningstar (1982): The duo deals with a terrorist organization plotting a massive threat.
12. Dead Man's Handle (1985): A deeply personal story where Willie is brainwashed into viewing Modesty as his enemy.
13. Cobra Trap (1996): The final short-story collection containing five tales. It should be read last, as the final story provides a poignant, definitive conclusion to Modesty and Willie's lives.

The Original Comic Strips and Titan Books Collections

Before she was a novelist, Modesty was the star of a daily comic strip in the London Evening Standard starting in 1963. Peter O'Donnell wrote the strips alongside legendary illustrators like Jim Holdaway, Enric Badia Romero, and others. Between 1978 and 2017, publisher Titan Books collected these strips into graphic novel volumes. They are arranged chronologically to match the newspaper strip's original run, starting with the very first strip, 'La Machine'.

Titan Books Graphic Novel Collections

If you want to read the comic strips as graphic novels, they are collected across 34 main volumes:

• The Black Pearl (1978)
• The Gabriel Set-Up (1986)
• Mister Sun (2004)
• Top Traitor (2004)
• Bad Suki (2005)
• The Hell-Makers (1986 / 2005)
• The Green-Eyed Monster (2005)
• The Gallows Bird (2006)
• Cry Wolf (2006)
• The Inca Trail (2007)
• Death Trap (2007)
• Yellowstone Booty (2008)
• Green Cobra (2008)
• The Lady Killers (2009)
• The Scarlet Maiden (2009)
• Death in Slow Motion (2009)
• Sweet Caroline (2010)
• The Double Agent (2011)
• Million Dollar Game (2011)
• The Girl in the Iron Mask (2013)
• The Young Mistress (2013)
• The Grim Joker (2014)
• The Killing Distance (2015)
• Ripper Jax (2015)
• The Murder Frame (2016)
• The Children of Lucifer (2017)
• The Killing Game (2017)

Note: The local catalog lists many of these volumes under their Titan publication dates, which ran all the way through the final collection in 2017. For fans of the visual arts, there is also the companion non-fiction book The Art of Modesty Blaise (2014), which details the artistic history of the strip and the style of its various illustrators.

What to Know Before You Start

Modesty Blaise is a unique hero in spy fiction, and knowing a few key details will enrich your reading experience:

• No Romance: One of the most refreshing aspects of the series is the bond between Modesty and Willie Garvin. O'Donnell insisted their relationship remain strictly platonic, built on absolute trust, mutual respect, and shared history.
• The Age Freeze: The characters do not age throughout their runs. Modesty remains in her late twenties, and Willie is a few years older.
• The 1966 Movie Disconnect: The 1966 film directed by Joseph Losey was a campy Bond-style parody that O'Donnell thoroughly disliked. He wrote the first novel as a novelization of his original, rejected screenplay to show audiences how the story was actually meant to be told.
• Prequel Movies: The 2003 film My Name Is Modesty (produced by Quentin Tarantino) serves as a prequel, exploring Modesty's early years in The Network before she retired to England.