''Last Day in Limbo'' is the title of the eighth novel chronicling the adventures of crime lord-turned-secret agent

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 ...

. The novel was first published in 1976 and was written 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 ...

, who had created the character 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 ...

in the early 1960s. 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

Maude Tiller, one of the few female agents in Sir Gerald Tarrant's secret service, is miserable. Her last assignment involved her having to submit to sexually degrading treatment by Paxero, the man she had been sent to spy on. And she hadn't even learned anything about the rich and enigmatic Paxero to justify the disgusting things she had let herself be subjected to. Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin discover how their good friend Maude has been mistreated, and they decide to teach Paxero a lesson. But when they break into his villa on the outskirts of

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

they unexpectedly find a Breguet watch that was a gift from Modesty to Danny Chavasse, a very close friend of Modesty's. Everyone thought Danny had died when a cruise ship sank two years ago along with some 30 other people, but finding his watch indicates that Danny's fate was not as simple as that. Modesty confirms that Danny is alive with a visit to insane, but verifiably clairvoyant Lucifer (last featured in the novel, '' I, Lucifer''), who has the ability to predict when someone is about to die; although he indicates Danny still lives, he warns her that one of her other friends may soon be killed. This is the start of the journey that leads to Limbo, Paxero's secret and hidden plantation in the jungles of

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. Limbo is a bizarre community led by Paxero's domineering aunt Benita, farmed by slaves, very special slaves, rich and famous men and women who have been selected by Aunt Benita and kidnapped and will now spend the rest of their lives at hard labour, watched over by armed Special guards. The "last day in Limbo" occurs when Paxero decides to shut the plantation down, and orders the guards to kill all of the slaves – who now include Modesty, who has let herself be captured so as to infiltrate Limbo. Modesty leads a slave uprising, and Willie and Maude arrive just in time, after having hacked their way through the jungle. A final battle ensues, with Paxero and his heavily armed guards holed up in the big house, waiting for reinforcements to arrive by aircraft.

Radio adaptation

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

produced a six-part ''Thirty Minute Theatre'' adaptation of the novel in 1978 starring

Barbara Kellerman Barbara Rose Kellerman (originally spelt Kellermann; born 30 December 1949) is an English actress, known for her film and television roles. She trained at Rose Bruford College. Kellerman was born in Manchester, Lancashire. Her Jewish father, ...

as Modesty Blais

with

James Bolam James Christopher Bolam (born 16 June 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in ''The Likely Lads'' and its sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', Jack Ford in ''When the Boat Comes In'', Roy Fig ...

Willie Garvin Willie Garvin is a character in the long-running British comic strip series ''Modesty Blaise'', as well as a series of novels based upon the strip. The character was created by Peter O'Donnell in 1963 and, alongside Modesty Blaise, made his firs ...

and

Richard Vernon Richard Evelyn Vernon (7 March 1925 – 4 December 1997) was a British actor. He appeared in many feature films and television programmes, often in aristocratic or supercilious roles. Prematurely balding and greying, Vernon settled into playi ...

as Sir Gerald Tarrant. This was recorded in April and broadcast weekly on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

between 12 June and 17 July.

References

1976 British novels Modesty Blaise books Souvenir Press books Novels by Peter O'Donnell {{1970s-spy-novel-stub