Peter O’Donnell
Modesty Blaise
1965 (1984 reprint, Mysterious Press)
In the 80s, there had to be newcomers to the long-running Modesty Blaise series who picked up the Mysterious Press reprints and were disappointed that the books were not the pornography promised by the outrageous new covers. I don’t think a publisher could put out cover art like this today, which is why I collect them. They’re true relics. I guess the editor just hired a model to stand in a black leather bikini (with holster) while the photographer shot detail images of every hill and valley on her body and then spread out the results over several volumes. Man, from the looks of it, these books must be just full of flesh and fluids, right?
Nope, they’re just regular old spy novels full of gunplay and globetrotting. There’s exactly one sex scene here and it’s short and “she used her splendid body to give joyously and without restraint, ranging from glad submission to urgent demand” is as steamy as the prose gets.
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