Peter O'Donnell

I've just received word that one of my favorite authors has died. I know I know, he was 90, after all. And he'd quit writing. But still, it was nice to know that he was there.

Modesty Blaise is his greatest creation. He started writing about her in the early 1960s, in a story strip in newspapers, and continued it for 40 years. In between doing the daily strip, he also managed to write eleven books about her. And he wrote nine books of "gothic" suspense under the name Madeleine Brent, all with strong heroines and set in exotic locales.

Pay no attention to either of the Modesty Blaise movies or the tv pilot. The first movie was a tongue-in-cheek comedy with Monica Vitti starring (she was sleeping with the director); the second was a serious attempt but the star has toothpick arms totally unsuited for a combat expert like Modesty. And in the tv pilot, they'd moved the action to southern California, wholly losing the British flair and humor that O'Donnell had supplied.

The books are great fun, and best read in order, though they can be read alone. Modesty is an ex-criminal (with a male sidekick Willie Garvin), newly retired at the beginning of the books (and the strips). But, of course, she's not even 30 years old and retirement palls. Somehow or other, she (or Willie) manages to get involved in intricate plots that require the use of all the skills they've acquired over the years.

And Titan is collecting the 40 years of strips into handsome large softcovers, which I am collecting.

I'm going to miss Mr. Donnell but at least I have the fruits of his efforts. RIP