''A Taste for Death'' is the title of an action-adventure novel by

Peter O'Donnell Peter O'Donnell (11 April 1920 – 3 May 2010) was an English writer of mysteries and of comic strips, best known as the creator of ''Modesty Blaise'', an action heroine/undercover trouble-shooter. He was also an award-winning gothic hi ...

which was first published in 1969, featuring the character

Modesty Blaise ''Modesty Blaise'' is a British comic strip featuring a fictional character of the same name, created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963. The strip follows Modesty Blaise, an exceptional young woman with many talent ...

which O'Donnell had created for a

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

several years earlier. It was the fourth novel to feature the character. The book was first published in the United Kingdom by

Souvenir Press Ernest Hecht (21 September 1929 – 13 February 2018)Katherine Cowdrey"'Wise and witty' Ernest Hecht dies, aged 88" ''The Bookseller'', 13 February 2018. was a British publisher, producer, and philanthropist. In 1951, he founded Souvenir Press L ...

Plot summary

Canadian Dinah Pilgrim (blind since 11) and her sister Judy are vacationing in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

. They're attacked on a lonely beach by a pair of gunmen, and Judy is killed and Dinah is taken prisoner. Willie Garvin is nearby and he intervenes, killing the two gunmen, and incidentally determining that they work for Gabriel, the villain from the first Modesty Blaise book. Willie and Dinah go into hiding, knowing that Gabriel can mobilise the entire Panamanian underworld to search for Dinah. Modesty comes to their aid, and a deadly cat-and-mouse game ensues, with both Modesty and Willie barely surviving traps that should not possibly be survivable. Back in England, Modesty encounters Simon Delicata, a huge man with an ape-like build, and strength to match. A friend of Sir Gerald Tarrant is dead, and Simon Delicata is the killer. And Willie knows Simon Delicata from long ago, having been beaten senseless and near-fatally injured by him in a barroom fight. Then Dinah is brutally kidnapped, and it becomes obvious that Gabriel and Simon Delicata are working together. Modesty and Willie travel to

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

and The

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

to rescue Dinah. But they're up against the most formidable opponents they've ever crossed swords with. Literally in fact; Modesty has to defeat the fencing master Wenczel in a duel to the death, and he's wearing a protective steel mesh jacket. The final fight, set in an abandoned Foreign Legion fort, occurs with Modesty incapacitated from a serious sword wound and Willie having to go one-on-one unarmed against the man-ape Delicata.

Aftermath

The final Modesty Blaise comic strip story, ''The Zombie'', published in 2001, ends with Modesty and Willie planning to return to the site of Willie's fight with Delicata, recover the buried treasure they left there, and donate it to the Salvation Army. One frame of the strip #10180 depicts the fight between Willie and Delicata in flashback. As a whole, the novels and comic strips tended to follow different continuities, with the occasional exception, such as this.

Adaptations

The novel was adapted by

Stef Penney Stef Penney (born 1969 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish filmmaker and novelist. She grew up in the Scottish capital and turned to film-making after a degree in Philosophy and Theology from Bristol University. She made three short films before studyin ...

into a five-part serial directed by

Kate McAll Kate McAll is Executive Producer, Radio Drama at BBC Wales. There she is a radio director and producer for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. Her credits include '' How I Live Now'' (Radio 3) and ''The Worst Journey in the World ''The Worst Journey ...

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''15-Minute Drama'' from 17 December 2012 to 21 December 2012. The cast starred

Daphne Alexander Daphne Alexander is a Cypriot/British actress best known for playing Nadia Talianos in the BBC Drama series '' Casualty'' and Modesty Blaise in three BBC radio adaptations. Early life Alexander was born and brought up in Cyprus, living la ...

as Modesty,

Carl Prekopp Carl James Prekopp (born 25 May 1979) is a British actor. He played Richard III at the Riverside Studios (2010) and originated the part of Lawrence in Tim Firth's stage adaptation of ''Calendar Girls''. Prekopp has appeared in BBC Radio 4 adap ...

as Willie,

Alun Armstrong Alan Armstrong, known professionally as Alun Armstrong, is an English actor. He grew up in County Durham in North East England, and first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began ...

as Tarrant,

Sam Dale Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional ...

as Delicata,

Geoffrey Streatfeild Geoffrey Streatfeild (born 1975) is an English actor in film, television, stage and radio. He is a member of the Streatfeild family. Career His notable film and TV roles include ''The Other Boleyn Girl'' and '' Kinky Boots''. He also appeare ...

as Steve Collier,

Samantha Dakin Samantha (or the alternatively Samanta) is primarily used as a feminine given name. It was recorded in England in 1633 in Newton Regis, Warwickshire. It was also recorded in the 18th century in New England New England is a region compris ...

as Dinah,

Alex Fearns Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple ...

as McWhirter,

Jeff Mash Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

as Skeet Lowery and

Nigel Anthony Nigel Anthony (born December 23, 1941) is a theatre, television, and radio actor. His theatre work includes ''Twelfth Night'', ''Dutch Uncle (play), Dutch Uncle'', ''Happy End (musical), Happy End'', ''The Taming of the Shrew'' for the Royal Sh ...

as Sir Howard Presteign. 1969 British novels Modesty Blaise books Souvenir Press books Novels by Peter O'Donnell {{1960s-spy-novel-stub