History Literature / ModestyBlaise

* HustlingTheMark: In ''I, Lucifer'', Sir Gerald recruits Willie to teach a lesson to two unpleasant men at his gentlemen's club. They challenge the two to a game of pool, with a friendly wager to keep it interesting, and Willie pretends to be very bad at pool while goading them into increasing the amount of the bet. At the appropriate moment, Willie reveals his true colours and wins the game by potting every remaining ball in a single uninterrupted streak.

** In one novel, Modesty and Willie help an informant escape from forced labour in Yugoslavia by making it look as if he accidentally drove a bulldozer over a cliff.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: This happens at least once in almost every novel. Blaise Big Bads don't like sharing their proceeds or leaving loose ends. For example, near the end of ''I, Lucifer'', when the villains are abandoning their base before the authorities arrive, BigBad Seff casually shoots his underling Bowker and remarks that his usefulness is ended, since his skills were vital for the scam they were running but they won't be able to do it again, and now he is just a loose end that needs tidying up.

* SoLastSeason: The villains of the first novel, Gabriel and [=McWhirter=] appear again in <i>A Taste for Death</i>, working with new villain Simon Delicata. It's explicitly stated early on that being defeated by Modesty badly knocked Gabriel's self-confidence, and [[spoiler:Delicata kills both of them in a YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness mood towards the end of the story]].

* TheAtoner: '''Not''' Modesty or Willie, neither of whom feel any guilt about their criminal past. Quinn in <i>The Silver Mistress</i> is a former airline pilot, who is crippled by guilt because his bungled attempt at heroism during a hijacking led to the deaths of three passengers.

%%* TheCaper

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Jack Fraser, star secret agent wolf in the clothing of a meek and pedantic DeskJockey. The first sentence of the first novel:

%%** Willie, sometimes. (If context is added, please fix indentation and delete this message.)

* SlippingAMickey: In ''The Impossible Virgin'', the heroes are captured by the villain after drinking coffee that was drugged by a character they'd trusted up to that point.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Near the end of ''I, Lucifer'', when the villains are abandoning their base before the authorities arrive, BigBad Seff casually shoots his underling Bowker and remarks that his usefulness is ended, since his skills were vital for the scam they were running but they won't be able to do it again, and now he is just a loose end that needs tidying up.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Modesty Blaise grew up in BarefootPoverty, and still often goes barefoot on country walks because having tough feet helps with her fighting style. She will however wear shoes without complaint when it's socially appropriate or practically necessary to do so.

* HeelFaceMole: One of the short stories features a Soviet defector who turns out to be actually a Soviet agent pretending to defect as a way of flushing out and identifying the West's undercover assets as they helped him on his way.

Modesty Blaise is an orphan with a DarkAndTroubledPast who was head of a criminal syndicate before she was 20, and retired wealthy before she was 30. Willie Garvin is a multi-talented Cockney former [[StreetUrchin street kid]] who became Modesty's trusted right-hand man and followed her into wealthy retirement. Retirement was boring, so now TheyFightCrime.

* SimpleStaff: Quarterstaff combat features in ''The Impossible Virgin''.

* KnifeNut: Willie Garvin is a dead aim with throwing knives, and usually doesn't go into action without his two favourite throwing knives in an underarm sheath.

* MoralDissonance: Lampshaded in the short story "I Had a Date with Lady Janet" when Willie (narrating the story in first person) defends accusations of Modesty being a cold-blooded killer.

* ContemptibleCover: During the 1970s and '80s, most of the books got stuck with covers featuring an array of headless photos of women in {{stripperiffic}} black leather outfits decorated with metal studs. Over multiple editions, each more contemptible than the last, and none bearing any connection to the books' actual contents. You know it's bad when a male reader would rather be seen in public with the first novel's original cover, which is ''bright pink''. Also, Modesty never wears that kind of leather SpyCatsuit in the books because of its impracticality - when she's in stealth mode she wears black denim, cotton, or wool.

* IronicNickname: Her mentor started calling her "Modesty" as a joke (she doesn't know her real name).

* DoesntKnowTheirOwnBirthday: Modesty, because she was orphaned at a young age. In ''The Impossible Virgin'', she tells Sir Giles that she uses it as an excuse to celebrate her birthday three times a year.

* ChekhovsSkill:

* AlternateContinuity: The books are in a separate continuity from the comic strip. This is established straight off; both versions of the series begin with Sir Giles Tarrant approaching Modesty to request her assistance for the first time, but in the novel the problem requiring assistance is different, as is the favour he does her to secure her help. From there, characters and settings from the comic strip show up in the novels but in different contexts and storylines; often a particularly good action sequence from the comic strip will be reprised in a novel surrounded by a completely different plot.

* DisposingOfABody: In ''The Night of Morningstar'', Willie has a show-down in a construction site with two killers sent by the villains. To keep the villains wondering about what happened to them, he uses a mechanical digger to bury the bodies in a patch of ground that's due to be paved over with concrete the next day.