1444 ( )

A trio of Peter O'Donnell's excellent Modesty Blaise stories, unfortunately illustrated by Romero, but you can't have everything. The first story, familiar to me, is "Butch Cassidy Rides Again", and features Modesty and Willie in a western setting, rescuing a nice older couple and their daughter from land-grabbers. The second, "Million Dollar Game", is set in Africa and pits Modesty and Willie against big-time big game poachers. This one is notable for the flashback to Modesty's early days after winding up the Network, and a quirky sort of romance between her and a veterinarian. The most interesting is "The Vampire of Malvescu", and mainly because of the intriguing response by both Modesty and Willie to an innocent young woman who is engaged to one of their former Network employees. Both are thoroughly captivated by the young lady's natural innocence, Willie to the point that he thinks to himself "This girl is special...unworldly...makes me feel old and wicked..." Quite an unusual response from the worldly Willie, and it adds poignant interest to an otherwise standard battle against a small terrorist group. ( )

Three stories. No book-intro here, unlike some of the others - just the story intros, written by Lawrence Blackmore, a "Modesty Blaise expert". Butch Cassidy Rides Again - I've read this before, somewhere. Fun, and a very plausible way for them to get involved. I love Modesty's answer to "one bedroom or two?", and the final line is great - poor Willie. A nice glimpse of John Dall; I like the Freemans and Joe Walk-Alone. And nice fights, somewhat oddly narrated. The title story, Million Dollar Game - nice. I like Greg Lawton. It's neat seeing a bit of Modesty back at the end of the Network, and the later events are great. The notes are silly, though. Oh, the villain gets his name changed for a while in the middle of the story - sigh. And The Nailer is mis-used - it's supposed to be surprise, not trusting in the enemy's lust (what if he'd gone ahead and shot?). Finally, The Vampire of Malvescu - weird. Modesty and Willie are a bit hampered, from the inside. Hilde's strange. The vampire trick is nasty, but they got their comeuppance - especially the last, caught by their own snare. Terrorists keep forgetting that their victims and tools are people too, with their own choices to make. Nice. Three good stories. ( )