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Thrilling Cities

‘On November 2nd armed with a sheaf of visas… one suitcase… and my typewriter, I left humdrum London for the thrilling cities of the world.’

In 1959, Ian Fleming was commissioned by The Sunday Times to explore fourteen of the world’s most exotic cities. Fleming saw it all with a thriller writer’s eye. From Hong Kong to Honolulu, New York to Naples, he left the bright main streets for the back alleys, abandoning tourist sites in favour of underground haunts, mingling with celebrities, gangsters and geishas. The result is a series of vivid snapshots of a mysterious, vanished world.

Take an adventure to Hong Kong, Macau, Tokyo, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, New York, Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna, Geneva, Naples and Monte Carlo. Enjoy an unforgettable and uniquely personal journey through the sights, sounds, food and drink of some of the thrilling cities in the world.

The Diamond Smugglers

‘One day in April 1957 I had just answered a letter from an expert in unarmed combat writing from a cover address in Mexico City, and I was thanking a fan in Chile, when my telephone rang.’

The Diamond Smugglers is the true story of an operation responsible for smuggling millions of pounds worth of precious gems out of Africa. Ian Fleming draws on interviews with the reluctant hero of the diamond companies’ counter-attack to explore the world of the real master criminals of his time. The result rivals Fleming’s greatest spy novels.

Discover an essential piece of reporting, written in Ian Fleming’s own clear and vivid prose.

Casino Royale

Meet James Bond, the world’s most famous spy.

In the novel that introduces Bond to the world, agent 007 is dispatched to a French casino in Royale-les-Eaux. His mission? Bankrupt a ruthless Russian agent who’s been on a bad luck streak at the baccarat table. Le Chiffre has been a prime target of the British Secret Service for years. If Bond can wipe out his bankroll, Le Chiffre will likely be “retired” by his paymasters in Moscow. But what if the cards won’t cooperate?

Taut, tense, and effortlessly stylish, the inaugural James Bond adventure has all the hallmarks that has made the series a global sensation.

Live and Let Die

James Bond is not a superstitious man, but it’s hard not to feel unnerved in the presence of Mr. Big. A ruthless Harlem gangster who uses voodoo to control his criminal empire, he’s also one of SMERSH’s top American operatives. Mr. Big has been smuggling British pirate treasure to New York from a remote Jamaican island – and funneling the proceeds to Moscow.

With help from Solitaire, Mr. Big’s beautiful and enigmatic Creole fortune-teller, and his old friend Felix Leiter, 007 must locate the crime lord’s hideout, sabotage his operation, and reclaim the pirate hoard for England.

From the jazz joints of Harlem to the shark-infested waters of the Florida Everglades, Live and Let Die sends Bond headlong into the exotic.

Moonraker

As the super patriot and war veteran who’s bankrolling Britain’s top-secret Moonraker rocket program, Sir Hugo Drax should be above reproach. But there’s more to this enigmatic millionaire than he lets on. When M suspects Drax of cheating at cards in an exclusive gentleman’s club, he sends Bond in to investigate. But exposing the deception only enrages Drax – and now 007 must outwit an angry man with the power to loose a nuclear warhead on London.

The mysterious death of the head of security at Drax’s missile base gives Bond the perfect opportunity to go undercover to find out the secret agenda of the supposed British war hero. With the help of another agent, the lustrous Gala Brand, 007 learns the truth about Drax’s battle scars, his wartime allegiances – and his murderous plans for the deployment of Moonraker.

Diamonds are Forever

An international diamond-smuggling pipeline has opened up and the British Treasury wants to know who’s controlling it. Impersonating a captured courier named Peter Franks, Bond infiltrates the criminal ring and finds an unlikely ally in Tiffany Case. As the ring’s stateside go-between, she may be just another link in the chain, but Tiffany is also Bond’s best shot at finding the elusive figure at the head of the operation – a syndicate boss known only by the initials “ABC.” But if Bond’s cover gets blown, he’ll find that the only thing harder than a diamond is surviving the payback of a pair of murderous henchmen.

With a sparkling trail of smuggled gems as bait, Diamonds are Forever leads Bond on a globe-hopping mission where deadly assassins lurk behind every corner.

From Russia with Love

Ian Fleming’s fifth James Bond novel.

007 is marked for death by the Soviet counterintelligence agency SMERSH in Ian Fleming’s masterful spy thriller, and the novel that President John F. Kennedy named one of his favourite books of all time.

SMERSH stands for ‘Death to Spies’ and there’s no secret agent they’d like to disgrace and destroy more than 007, James Bond. But ensnaring the British Secret Service’s most lethal operative will require a lure so tempting even he can’t resist. Enter Tatiana Romanova, a ravishing Russian spy whose ‘defection’ springs a trap designed with clockwork precision.

Her mission: seduce Bond, then flee to the West on the Orient Express. Waiting in the shadows are two of Ian Fleming’s most vividly drawn villains: Red Grant, SMERSH’s deadliest assassin, and the sinister operations chief Rosa Klebb-five feet four inches of pure killing power.

Bursting with action and intrigue, From Russia with Love is one of the best-loved books in the Bond canon – an instant classic that set the standard for sophisticated literary spycraft for decades to come.

Dr. No

Dispatched by M to investigate the mysterious disappearance of MI6’s Jamaica station chief, Bond is expecting a holiday in the sun. But when he discovers a deadly centipede placed in his hotel room, the vacation is over.

On this island, all suspicious activity leads inexorably to Dr. Julius No, a reclusive megalomaniac with steel pincers for hands. To find out what the good doctor is hiding, 007 must enlist the aid of local fisherman Quarrel and alluring beachcomber Honeychile Rider. Together they set out to combat a local legend the natives call “the Dragon,” before Bond faces the most punishing test of all: an obstacle course – designed by the sadistic Dr. No himself, that measures the limits of the human body’s capacity for agony.

Goldfinger

Auric Goldfinger is the richest man in England – though his wealth can’t be found in banks. He’s been hoarding vast stockpiles of his namesake metal, and it’s attracted the suspicion of 007’s superiors at MI6.
Sent to investigate, Bond uncovers an ingenious gold-smuggling scheme, as well as Goldfinger’s most daring caper yet: Operation Grand Slam, a gold heist so audacious it could bring down the world economy, and put the fate of the West in the hands of SMERSH.

To stop Goldfinger, Bond will have to survive a showdown with the sinister millionaire’s henchman, Oddjob, a tenacious karate master who can kill with one well-aimed toss of his razor-rimmed bowler hat.

For Your Eyes Only

A collection of classic intrigue and intrepid self-examination, For Your Eyes Only packs full, vibrant worlds into five classic tales.

From a View to a Kill whisks Bond to the French countryside where he must go undercover to expose a deadly secret-intelligence plot. In For Your Eyes Only, 007 is absorbed into a private vendetta of M’s, blurring the lines between the personal and professional.

In Quantum of Solace, Bond attends a dinner party in the Bahamas and learns how passion can soon twist into cruelty, while Risico forces the secret agent to fight for the lesser of two evils in a smuggling war set in the Mediterranean. Finally, The Hildebrand Rarity lands 007 in an old-fashioned murder mystery at sea, where even he has a secret to keep.