Modesty Blaise books

Modesty Blaise Reading Order

Modesty Blaise Collections Reading Order

Modesty Blaise Comic Strip Reading Order

Modesty Blaise Non-Fiction

Modesty Blaise is a fictional character created by Peter O’Donnell, who first appeared in a daily comic strip in the London Evening Standard in 1963. O’Donnell went on to write eleven novels featuring the character between 1965 and 1985, starting with Modesty Blaise and ending with Dead Man’s Handle. Two short story collections, Pieces of Modesty (1972) and Cobra Trap (1996), round out the prose fiction.

The comic strip ran for decades and has been collected in thirty-four volumes, published between 1978 and 2017 by various publishers. The strip was drawn by Jim Holdaway (until his death in 1970) and then by Enric Badia Romero and other artists, all from O’Donnell’s scripts. The Art of Modesty Blaise (2014) is a non-fiction companion to the strip, covering its visual history.

Modesty Blaise, the character, is a former criminal turned freelance operative who works alongside her partner Willie Garvin. The novels and strips follow them through missions that mix espionage, combat, and problem-solving, with settings that range from the English countryside to remote corners of the world.