Modesty Blaise is back

The 1960s crime-fighting icon Modesty Blaise is making her return as this December BBC Radio 4 will be serialising the Peter O’Donnell novel A Taste for Death. Daphne Alexander will be voicing the character in a story that sees Blaise and her partner facing up to Simon Delicta and Swordmaster Wenczel, in an adventure that takes them from London to Panama and on to the Sahara.

Originally published in 1969, A Taste for Death was reprinted a few years ago by Souvenir Press. The character herself dates back to 1963, when she first appeared in a comic book penned by O’Donnell. The success of the comic led to a 1966 film, and with such increased interest in the character O’Donnell also wrote 11 novels based on her, as well as two collections of short stories.

Modesty Blaise has remained popular in comic and novel formats ever since, and our contributor Eva Dolan (aka loiteringwithintent) nominated the original novel for our list of 25 books on World Book Night earlier this year.

Keep an eye on Radio 4’s programming to find out when it’s airing, or grab yourself a copy of the book below.