Xanadu Talisman

These books are the finest escapist thrillers ever written * The Times *Before Buffy, before Charlie’s Angels, before Purdy and Emma Peel there was Modesty Blaise. For almost 40 years, Peter O’Donnell’s iconic heroine drop-kicked her way through a swath of villains and into a unique place in popular culture * Observer *One of the great partnerships in fiction, bearing comparison with that of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson – Kingsley AmisO’Donnell is one of those rare popular writers, like Josephine Tey or P.G. Wodehouse, who inspire not just fandom but love * New York Times *Modesty Blaise was the comic-strip criminal genius, turned occasional secret service operative, who managed to combine timeless beauty and elegance with the ability to break every bone in your body… there’s never been a better time to become acquainted * The Crack *In the beginning there was Modesty. Cooler than the pretentious James Bond, tougher than the brain-dead Mike Hammer – Lauren Henderson, author of Dead White FemaleThe continuing renaissance of the immortal heroine: thrilling, humorous and timeless adventures, the Modesty Blaise series are seminal British crime novels * Crime Time *The stories of Modesty are better than James Bond and funnier * Tribune *

Peter O’Donnell began his career working on several major pre-war comics, Tiger Tim, Chips and Captain Moonlight. During the 1950s he became involved in strip cartoons and eventually created his revolutionary Modesty Blaise, syndicated in more than 42 countries. The strip led to a series of bestselling novels about Modesty and her faithful lieutenant, Willie Garvin: Modesty Blaise, Sabre Tooth, I, Lucifer, The Impossible Virgin, Pieces of Modesty, A Taste for Death, The Silver Mistress, Dragon’s Claw, The Xanadu Talisman, The Night of the Morningstar, Dead Man’s Handle and Cobra Trap.