The Silver Mistress is the seventh novel in the series featuring Modesty Blaise and her sidekick Willie Garvin. Modesty and Willie are hot on the trail of Sir Gerald Tarrant who has been kidnapped for the information he has in his mind. But when they confront the peculiar kidnappers consisting of a criminal tycoon, a genteel lady assassin, two inscrutable Chinese killers, and the apparently invincible Mr Sexton both Modesty and Willie begin top doubt they can get out of this latest caper alive.

They are furthered hindered by the fact that Garvin’s aristocratic girlfriend, Lady Janet Gillam and Quinn who were with them have also been taken hostage. Their situation appears hopeless until a piece of wire and a battle between Modesty and Sexton brings matters to a climax.

In The Xanadu Talisman we see Modesty both at her most feminine and also at her toughest. Finding herself trapped in an earthquake with a dying man, she soon finds herself making a promise that will lead her and her faithful ally Willie Garvin into one of the most hazardous predicaments of their lives. Their journey takes them not only from Tangier to Paris but also from the Rivera to Corsica and finally to a stronghold in the heart of the Atlas Mountains where their every move appears to be observed and manipulated by one of the most notorious and dangerous criminal geniuses found in the Mediterranean only known as El Mico.

Unaware that she holds the secret that El Mico desires more than anything else Modesty along with Willie Garvin and her devoted friend Dr Giles Pennyfeather find themselves in Xanadu where they confront death against their opponents Little Krell, a prodigy in combat, the silk brothers, immature adults who enjoy killing and the astounding Nanny Prendergast who has an unhealthy hold over both brothers.

The Silver Mistress was first published in 1973 while The Xanadu Talisman was published in 1981. At one stage both books along with the others in the series were out of print for a very long time. The fact that they are now being re-published is long overdue.

These books are considered to be capers more than anything else and in an age where there is a lot of violence in some books these may also be considered to be unusually timid. No doubt these books will most certainly be read tongue in cheek, but despite this these are excellent novels and should be read by any aspiring "tart". It is no wonder that the founders of "tart city" consider themselves to be younger versions of the delightfully talented Modesty Blaise!

The allure of this series is the way in which you are pulled into the novel with the requisite amount of tension and excitement. As a reader you are always unsure of what will happen next.

For me Modesty Blaise will always be the archetypical female James Bond, however I see her as being a lot smarter but just as deadly and fast. It would be interesting to see whether or not they can now make a proper film version of Modesty Blaise and not that ghastly version featuring Terence Stamp, Dirk Bogarde and Monica Vitti..

Fans of the series will welcome their return I certainly have.