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Jan 1, 1920 — May 3, 2010· 90 yrs

UNITED KINGDOM AUTHOR · FICTION · INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

O'Donnell, Peter

Also known as: Peter O'Donnell, Madeleine Brent

27
BOOKS
4.3
AVG RATING (33)
28
READERS

Peter O'Donnell was born on 11 April 1920 in Lewisham, London, UK. He was interested in writing as a child, and began writing professionally at the age of 16. During World War II he served in the Royal Signals Corps, and was stationed in Persia, Syria, Egypt, the Western Desert, Italy, and Greece. After the war, he worked as a comic strip writer, and scripted the Daily Express adaptation of the James Bond novel Dr. No. He was most famous for inventing the character Modesty Blaise, an undercover agent who first appeared in comic strips in 1963. In 1965, he published his first novel, Modesty Blaise, which was based on the screenplay he had written for the motion picture of the same name. He also wrote short stories, plays, television and film scripts, and nine romance novels published under the pseudonym Madeleine Brent. In 1978, his novel Merlin's Keep won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association. In 2001, he retired from writing. He passed away on 03 May 2010.

Lewisham, United Kingdom
Wikipedia

Everyone who lives in our town La Paz, or along the far coasts or among the high mountains of Baja California, has heard of the Manta Diablo.

— from The black pearl

Most acclaimed

#2

The Xanadu Talisman

1987

4.0 (1)

In this classic return we see Modesty both at her most feminine and at her toughest. Trapped in an earthquake disaster with a dying man, she makes a promise that is to lead her and her faithful friend Willie Garvin into the most perilous crisis of their careers. Their quest takes them from Tangier to Paris, from the Riviera to Corsica, and finally to a stronghold in the heart of the Atlas Mountains, their every move observed and manipulated by El Mico, the most notorious and dangerous criminal genius in the Mediterranean. Unknown to Modesty, she holds a secret that El Mico covets above all else, and she is brought to a final confrontation with death in the stronghold of Xanadu. As in all the Modesty Blaise stories, this book is peopled with a host of eccentric characters: the engaging Dr. Giles Pennyfeather, Modesty's devoted friend, and her opponents Little Krell, a prodigy in combat, the Silk brothers, juvenile adults who deal in death, and the astonishing Nanny Prendergast.

#1

The Capricorn Stone

4.3 (3)

Bridie Chance has been brought up in luxury, but her world is shattered when she is told that for thirty years her much loved father has been a highly successful criminal -- and is now dead. With no home, no friends, and almost no money, Bridie finds herself responsible for a helpless mother, a younger sister and an elderly nanny -- a crushing burden for a girl of twenty at the turn of the century. Then come the new friends and the enemies, and how can she know which is which amid the mysterious events which gradually close in about her? Bridie holds a secret she does not know she possesses, a secret that both friends and enemies are anxious to discover. As she struggles, in an astonishing way, to support herself and her family, Bridie meets with failure and success, finds love and heartbreak and danger -- until at last the masks are cast aside and the true facts revealed to her in a nightmare ordeal under the shadow of the Capricorn Stone.

#3

Merlin's Keep

1989

5.0 (2)

From far-off Tibet to England's rich countryside, this marvelously enchanting novel unfolds the incredible saga of a beautiful, young half-caste whose strange destiny pulls her into a world of love and terror--a worlds a mysterious power moves slowly toward her, threatening her sanity...and her life.

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