EXTRACTS: The Modesty Blaise Companion Expanded Edition © 2018 The Book Palace (425 PAGES in Full edition)

E X P A N D E D E D I T I O N T H E M O D E S T Y B L A I S E C O M P A N I MODESTY BLAISE First published 1965 by Souvenir Press Ltd., London and simultaneously in Canada by the Ryerson Press. Sir Gerald Tarrant is a highly placed civil servant in charge of a rather vaguely defined Foreign Office Department. He has long been familiar with the exploits of Modesty Blaise and The Network and his file on her is comprehensive. Now that she and her right hand man Willie Garvin had retired, rich from a life of crime, he set about the difficult task of inducing her to work for him. Using the knowledge that Willie, unable to cope with the quiet life, had been captured while fighting in a South Americn revolution and was facing the death penalty in a South American jail, he is able to achieve his aim. By giving the information to Modesty as a gift rather than using it to blackmail her he creates an obligation she is bound to honour. His assessment that she, too, was finding retirement unrewarding and simply needed an excuse to return to a more active life, proved correct. Having rescued Willie she returns to England and awaits events. When Tarrant is given the job of ensuring the safety of ten million pounds worth of diamonds being taken from South Africa to the Middle East to meet the first payment to an oil sheik, he also starts hearing rumours that they might be stolen. When his agents investigating these rumours end up dead or simply disappear, Modesty is the perfect choice to step into the breach. It is an inspired choice as the diamonds are going to Shiek Abu-Tahir, an old and dear friend of Modesty and Willie. Early leads take them to the south of France where they are teamed up with Paul Hagan, one of Tarrant’s best agents. When their initial efforts prove fruitless they ditch Hagan and set up the “live bait caper”. They make it appear that the exceptional value of the prize has tempted them to return to crime. This is to draw the real villain who they both suspect is the international master criminal Gabriel, into the open. Their suspicions are correct and when a freak accident to a key man in Gabriel’s team jeopardises his brilliant plan to steal the diamonds the one person who might be able to replace his man and save the plan is Willie. When it becomes clear that Gabriel is after them Modesty and Willie allow themselves to fall into his hands and Willie does the job and steals the diamonds. Modesty keeps them alive by pretending to have a more lucrative method of disposing of them than Gabriel, so they are taken to his base on a remote island in the Aegean where he has taken over a monastery. Pre-planning and some special gadgets made by Willie enable them to get a signal off to the waiting Sir Gerald Tarrant giving their location. They find the diamonds and “steal them back” from Gabriel and try to get away to await rescue but are spotted. A furious and deadly battle follows, Willie is wounded and they are very nearly beaten. They are saved in the nick of time by the arrival of Tarrant, Hagan and Sheik Abu-Tahir and his men. 403