1526 ( )

A trio of fine Modesty Blaise stories, illustrated by (sigh) Enric Badia Romero. Good stories nonetheless, and maybe Romero is growing on me. "The Vanishing Dollybirds" is about a woman friend of Willie's efforts to rescue her sister, who is in a desert sheik's harem. Interesting twist at the end that is taken from one of O'Donnell's books. "The Junk Men" illustrates Modesty's and Willie's ingenuity and patience at breaking out of a clever death trap, and "Death Trap", the most intriguing story, shows a bit of Modesty's private life away from the dangerous stuff, and her effort to honor her peaceable dead lover's memory by refusing to go after the assassin who killed him in front of her. ( )

Three stories, starting with The Vanishing Dollybirds (a very dated title!). Nice to see Jassim and his sheik again - though no mention of Kerima. Dolores is a bit of an idiot in several ways, but I suppose I can see her point. Through all three stories Modesty and Willie are determined not to get involved in trouble, but trouble finds them sooner or later. This time it's Dolores, and Bubbles' team. A very elegant handling of the situation - and Carmen's reaction echoes a book (actually, a short story, I think). Not wonderful, but cute. And Modesty having trouble recognizing and then not recognizing Willie is neat. Next is The Junk Men - again and explicitly, they're trying to stay out of trouble and not managing it. If the Junk Men had waited 24 hours, they would have got away clean - or just shot them, but they had to go for an artistic death. Silly. Watching them work out how to escape was fun, though. I suppose they sent someone to collect Mae West.... Then the last story is the title one, Death Trap - a foreign country going to great lengths to lure Modesty into trouble. She tries really hard not to step into it (even not knowing their intent).... Then coups and counter-coups and prison breaks and the circus gets involved - lots of fun. The last scene is wonderful. Unfortunately, Roberto and Skedi sort of overshadow the whole thing, so that even with all those wonderful bits it's just a trifle depressing. Ah well. Good but not great. ( )