I Read Books: A Taste For Death

 

A Taste For Death

Willie Garvin is in Panama, diving for pearls*. One afternoon he spots two men attacking two women on a beach; they drown one and the other, blind, is unable to get away. He rescues the blind woman, Dinah Pilgrim, killing the men. Learning they worked for Gabriel, a villain he’s encountered before, he goes to ground, knowing that Gabriel’s connections with the criminal underworld will let him find them if they try to leave. He sends a distress call to his partner in crime, Modesty Blaise.

Modesty is in England relaxing after the events of I, Lucifer, with paranormal investigator Stephen Collier. Sir Gerald Tarrant, who works for British Intelligence asks Modesty to meet an old friend who has some doubts about an archaeological dig in the Sahara. Arriving they encounter a strangely built man outside; inside the friend is dead of a broken neck. Rather than investigate this, Modesty instead takes off for Panama, where they engage in a battle of wits to get Dinah out and rescue Willie from a death trap.

Back in England while recovering from this adventure, they learn that Dinah is a dowser; she can sense things underground. Then she’s kidnapped again and this time Willie recognises the man from the description, Simon Delicata, who beat Willie in a fight once, leaving him broken on the floor and at a psychological disadvantage**. This connects the two capers; clearly Dinah has been kidnapped to find something buried at the dig in the Sahara.

They go out to the Sahara to find a cast of wacky villains with a rather over-complex plan, betrayal, and just possibly some answers. Delicata it turns out is huge, has long arms and short legs, doesn’t feel pain. He’s also educated, quotes Housman “There’s this to say for blood and breath, they give a man a taste for death,” and so finds Collier an amusing companion. If not quite first rate as a villain, it’s good that he is formidable not just in fighting but in smarts as well.

Read This: Stylish 60s thriller with some fun bits and nasty villains
Don’t Read This: Horrible murders, torture, theft, threats – and that’s our heroes

 

* It turns out he’s been doing this for years, going to different pearl reefs in order to collect the pearls for a project.

** This is the more blatant set up for the novel, the other being Modesty’s fencing lesson earlier, which might pass under the radar if we’d not looked at the cover.