Black and white photograph of author John Gardner, an older white man wearing glasses.

John Gardner | Author

John Gardner, described as ‘the consummate thriller writer‘ by The Guardian, produced more than 50 books during his lifetime. His first novel, published in the year of Fleming’s death, was The Liquidator. Written as a spoof of the James Bond books, it centred on the cowardly spy Boysie Oakes and was the start of a series that would also be adapted into films.

In the mid-1970s Gardner wrote The Moriarty Journals, two well-received Sherlock Holmes continuation stories. A few years later he was approached by Harry Keating, crime novelist and president of the Detection Club, on behalf of The Fleming Estate, and was given the task of reinventing the Bond story for the 1980s.

Licence Renewed (1976) was the first in a franchise that lasted 20 years, with a total of 16 books. Gardner’s personal favourite of the series was The Man from Barbarossa.

Alongside his Bond books, Gardner wrote a series of gritty espionage thrilers starring ‘Big’ Herbie Kruger, six stand-alone thrillers and more. John Gardner died in 2007 at the age of 80.