He might have been drowned and fished out of the pool and laid out on the grass to dry while the police or the next-of-kin were summoned.' 'The naked man who lay splayed out on his face beside the swimming pool might have been dead.

In the howling speed-turmoil of a BSA M20 doing seventy, the were the only quiet things in the hurtling flesh and metal.' 'The eyes behind the wide black rubber goggles were cold as flint. 'With its two fighting claws held forward like a wrestler’s arms the big pandinus scorpion emerged with a dry rustle from the finger-sized black hole under the rock.' Then the soul-erosion produced by high gambling – a compost of greed and fear and nervous tension – becomes unbearable and the senses awake and revolt from it.'

'The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. Only M and his Chief of Staff know absolutely everything there is to know.' 'The Secret Service holds much that is kept secret even from very senior officers in the organization. Throughout his career he produced 12 James Bond novels plus a collection of short stories and although many Bond novels were written post-Fleming, such as the new novel Carte Blanche (read the exclusive extract here), we thought this would be a great excuse to honour the legendary and original Bond-scribe, with a look at the best covers and first lines from his much-loved books.Ĭarte Blanche, the new James Bond novel by Jeffery Deaver, is published in hardback by Hodder & Stoughton on 26 May, priced £19.99 And while we don’t ever imagine that Fleming ever owned a flying car (if he did we’re jealous) we do know that his experience led him to create the most renowned spy in the world of fiction. One is that he wrote kids' classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (thank you Wikipedia) the other is that he was a Naval Intelligence Officer during World War II.

There are two facts about Ian Fleming we particularly like.

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