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* RapeAsDrama:
** In "Sabre-Tooth", Modesty intentionally allows herself to be raped several times by the villains as part of an ISurrenderSuckers ploy. It's made clear that she needs some help recovering from the trauma after the adventure is over, and Willie takes satisfaction in personally killing all the men responsible.
** A toned-down example in the short story "The Soo Girl Charity" -- the inciting incident of the plot is Modesty being sexually groped hard enough to leave bruises on her body by a sadistic and misogynistic villain who [[MuggingTheMonster didn't know who his random target was]].
** In "Sabre-Tooth", Modesty intentionally allows herself to be raped several times by the villains as part of an ISurrenderSuckers ploy. It's made clear that she needs some help recovering from the trauma after the adventure is over, and Willie takes satisfaction in personally killing all the men responsible.
** A toned-down example in the short story "The Soo Girl Charity" -- the inciting incident of the plot is Modesty being sexually groped hard enough to leave bruises on her body by a sadistic and misogynistic villain who [[MuggingTheMonster didn't know who his random target was]].
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* {{Foreshadowing}}: In "I, Lucifer", Modesty and Sir Gerald discuss Willie having seduced a villain's on/off girlfriend in order to get information on him, and Sir Gerald is a bit shocked when she calmly tells him that she'd be willing to have sex with a man if it helped a mission. Later in the book, she does.
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General clarification on work content
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* 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.
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* 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, snooker, 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.
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** 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.
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** In one novel, ''I, Lucifer'', 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.
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* RedFlagRecreationMaterial: In ''I, Lucifer'', the villains Mr. and Mrs. Seff like putting on puppet shows with extremely dark and sexual subject matter (supposedly their profession before they turned DiabolicalMastermind). One of their senior minions muses that the shows are even more creepy because of their tendency to manipulate other people psychologically as they physically manipulate the puppets.
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* TrainingFromHell: Modesty's and Willie's regular sparring sessions involve them fighting no-holds-barred and just barely restraining themselves from killing or seriously injuring each other. In ''Sabre-Tooth'' the far-from-squeamish Tarrant is disturbed by seeing Willie hit Modesty in the head so hard that she forgets what's happening due to concussion, and then has to be talked down to stop her from killing or maiming him.
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* QuestionableConsent: When Modesty sleeps with Lucifer in ''I, Lucifer''. He probably would qualify as competent to consent to sexual intercourse by the standards of modern British law (which concentrates on whether the person understands the nature of the sexual act and its potential biological consequences) but on the other hand, he's completely psychotic and delusional.
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* SexFaceTurn: Played with in ''I, Lucifer'', in that while sleeping with Lucifer helps Modesty suborn him, he [[TokenGoodTeammate was never all that evil]].
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* GirlOfTheWeek: Modesty tends to have a specific boyfriend in each individual novel, who may already be a couple with her at the start, or may be a case of FlirtingUnderFire. Subverted in [[spoiler:''Sabre-Tooth'']], in which Modesty's boyfriend-of-the-book turns out to be one of the bad guys.
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* 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.
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* 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
** 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 tidyingup.up.
** In ''The Silver Mistress'', Tarrant's chauffeur is part of the plot to kidnap his employer. The other villains murder him before the end of the first chapter of the novel.
** 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
** In ''The Silver Mistress'', Tarrant's chauffeur is part of the plot to kidnap his employer. The other villains murder him before the end of the first chapter of the novel.
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* DeathFakedForYou:
** 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.
** In ''The Silver Mistress'', the villains kidnap Modesty's usual British intelligence boss Sir Gerald Tarrant, and fake his death in a car accident, so that they can torture secrets out of him. Not for espionage reasons, but so they can use his knowledge of the British establishment's secrets to blackmail people.
** 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.
** In ''The Silver Mistress'', the villains kidnap Modesty's usual British intelligence boss Sir Gerald Tarrant, and fake his death in a car accident, so that they can torture secrets out of him. Not for espionage reasons, but so they can use his knowledge of the British establishment's secrets to blackmail people.
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* 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]].
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* SoLastSeason: The villains of the first novel, Gabriel and [=McWhirter=] appear again in <i>A ''A Taste for Death</i>, Death'', 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]].
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* 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.
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* TheAtoner: '''Not''' Modesty or Willie, neither of whom feel any guilt about their criminal past. Quinn in <i>The ''The Silver Mistress</i> Mistress'' 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.
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* AnimalisticAbilities: In ''A Taste for Death'', Simon Delicata has a body shape like a gorilla's, and comparable extreme strength.
* 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.
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%%* TheCaper
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* ObfuscatingStupidity: Jack Fraser, star secret agent wolf in the clothing of a meek and pedantic DeskJockey. The first sentence of the first novel:
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* ObfuscatingStupidity: ObfuscatingStupidity:
** Jack Fraser, star secret agent wolf in the clothing of a meek and pedantic DeskJockey. The first sentence of the first novel:
** Jack Fraser, star secret agent wolf in the clothing of a meek and pedantic DeskJockey. The first sentence of the first novel:
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%%** Willie, sometimes. (If context is added, please fix indentation and delete this message.)
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* 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.
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* SlippingAMickey: SlippingAMickey:
** In ''Modesty Blaise'', Modesty drugs and abandons her BoyOfTheWeek and fellow agent Paul Hagan, because his protective feelings and chauvinism towards her make him a liability.
** 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.
** In ''Modesty Blaise'', Modesty drugs and abandons her BoyOfTheWeek and fellow agent Paul Hagan, because his protective feelings and chauvinism towards her make him a liability.
** 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.
* 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]].
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* 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.
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* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Near 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.
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trope is renamed Prefers Going Barefoot. Dewicking old name
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* 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.
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* PrefersGoingBarefoot: 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.
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Heel Face Mole is no longer a trope
* FakeDefector: 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.
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* 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.
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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.
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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.
they fight crime.
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Simple Staff has been disambiguated
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* SimpleStaff: Quarterstaff combat features in ''The Impossible Virgin''.
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* ImprobableAimingSkills: 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.
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* 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.
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cut trope
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* 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.
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* SexyPackaging: 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.
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* 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.
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* IronicNickname: Her mentor started calling her "Modesty" as a joke (she doesn't know her real name).
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* IronicNickname: Her mentor started calling her "Modesty" as a joke (she doesn't know her real name).name); in the comic panel in which he does so, she's a young teenager nonchalantly changing her top in the open.
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* 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.
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* DoesntKnowTheirOwnBirthday: Modesty, because she was orphaned at a young age. In ''The Impossible Virgin'', she tells Sir Giles Gerald that she uses it as an excuse to celebrate her birthday three times a year.
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* ChekhovsSkill:
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* ChekhovsSkill:ChekhovsSkill: Most of the novels have some variation of the trope:
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Eeek, get the damn name right!
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* 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.
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* 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 Gerald 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.
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* DeathFlight: In ''The Impossible Virgin'', Modesty and Willie are captured by the villain and loaded onto a private plane to be flown to the villain's base. Mid-flight, over mountainous wilderness, the villain has Willie thrown out, still strapped to a chair. By a great stroke of luck, Willie lands on something soft and survives.
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* CriminalCravesLegitimacy:
** Part of Modesty's backstory is that she successfully pulled this off: as head of the Network, her personal goal was specifically to amass enough wealth to live comfortably off for the rest of her life and then pass over the reins and retire.
** The villain in ''The Xanadu Talisman'' is her EvilCounterpart, pursuing the same goal but more erratically and violently.
** Part of Modesty's backstory is that she successfully pulled this off: as head of the Network, her personal goal was specifically to amass enough wealth to live comfortably off for the rest of her life and then pass over the reins and retire.
** The villain in ''The Xanadu Talisman'' is her EvilCounterpart, pursuing the same goal but more erratically and violently.
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new subtrope
* ConstructiveBodyDisposal: 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.
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* 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.
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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/modesty_blaise_cover_300px.jpg]]
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* MacGuffin: The plot of ''The Impossible Virgin'' is driven by a classic [=MacGuffin=], in the form of the secret imparted to Dr Giles Pennyfeather by the dying Novikov. The villains will stop at nothing to learn it, which powers the story, but beyond that the precise nature of the secret (the location of a valuable patch of unexploited mineral wealth in a remote part of Africa) has no effect on the plot; the one villain who learns the secret gets to trade on the fact that he has the [=MacGuffin=] now, but dies before he has a chance to actually ''do'' anything with it, and in the end the heroes decide it's best just to let it lie undisturbed.