Pieces of Modesty

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Pieces of Modesty is a short story collection by Peter O'Donnell featuring his action heroine, Modesty Blaise, first published in 1972. It was O'Donnell's first such collection of stories.
The stories featured in this collection are:
"A Better Day to Die"
"The Giggle-Wrecker"
"I Had a Date with Lady Janet"
"A Perfect Night to Break Your Neck"
"Salamander Four"
"The Soo Girl Charity"
Elements from some of these stories would appear in the Modesty Blaise comic strip which O'Donnell wrote concurrent with his book series. "I Had a Date with Lady Janet" is distinguished as the only Modesty Blaise tale to be told in the first person by Modesty's right-hand man, Willie Garvin.
The stories in this collection predate the publication of the book by several years. In the 1960s they were planned for publication in a book that would have been illustrated by O'Donnell's comic strip artist, Jim Holdaway who died in 1970. That edition was never produced. Holdaway's illustrations for the stories exist and have been reprinted in various magazines.