Article by Jeff Quest Wolfe, Nero Wolfe. Although now largely forgotten, 40 years ago there was no bigger detective than Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe. Wolfe, who first appeared in 1932 had an unprecedented run with a nearly yearly appearance on bookstore shelves until Stout died in 1975. Wolfe, a gigantic man with a mind just…
This week we sent in one of our top field agents David Craggs, to talk with Crime Writer’s Association winner Mick Herron, about his ‘Slough House’ series of spy novels. Mick’s rise to the top of spy fiction aficionados reading pile is remarkable, so we wanted to find out what his secrets are, if indeed…
In the original typescript to Ian Fleming’s You Only Live Twice, held at the Lily Library in Indiana, there is a very interesting “Author’s note” prefixing the manuscript. Fleming wrote that on his second visit to Japan, he followed “as closely as prudence would allow, in the footsteps of James Bond.” He was accompanied by the…
Article by Frieda Toth For armchair traveling, you can’t beat Bond, and there’s no more delightful pastime than retracing the steps of a fictional hero, especially knowing that there is no bad guy trying to kill you during your vacation. In 1955, Diamonds Are Forever took James Bond to Saratoga Springs, New York. Here, Bond…
Article by Edward Biddulph We tend to associate Ian Fleming with Goldeneye, his winter home in Jamaica, and London, where he spent much of his time, for instance at the Admiralty during the Second World War, at the Sunday Times afterwards, in his Mayfair clubs, or his own office in Mitre Court. Weekends, however, would…
This week, we welcome Dan Holloway to share his thoughts on some of his favourite Bond novels and covers. 1. What is your favorite Chopping cover and why? I’ve always been partial to the OHMSS cover. It was somewhat different from the others, and the the artist’s perspective was intriguing. The red stamp title and…
This week we head Stateside to talk to Frieda Toth, to discuss Ian Fleming’s visits to New England and his inspirations for novels such as The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only. 001: What began your interest in Fleming and Bond? My High School boyfriend–whom I eventually married!– loved James Bond movies and…
It is our honour to welcome in from the cold, Ian Fleming’s nephew James Fleming. James’ Russian Blood trilogy of “Cold Blood”, “White Blood” and “Rising Blood” features the Scottish/Russian character Charlie Doig and we caught up with him about this, his stewardship of The Book Collector and naturally, his Uncle Ian. 001 Could you…
The potency of James Bond novel literature is so strong, that many people have blurred the lines in their imagination between fictional and real life spies. A former naval intelligence man himself, Ian Fleming was able to draw from a rich seam of fellow members of the intelligence community. Here is a roll call of…
Article by David Salter Although his notoriety, today, stems entirely from his creation of Britain’s foremost literary spy, Ian Fleming was, essentially and first-and-foremost, a journalist. It was his skill in reportage, honed in his early years during a period with Reuters and polished in his forties as Foreign Manager at the Sunday Times, that…
You know you are going up in the world when you score an interview with the talented Mr. (Mike) Ripley. His non-fiction reader’s history Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, a survey of the boom in British thrillers 1953-1975 was published in May 2017 and we caught up with Mike in-between book signings to find out more. 001.…
By Matthew Chernov Like the iconic character he created, Ian Fleming has been depicted on screen many times over the years. In 2014, Dominic Cooper was cast in the title role of the BBC miniseries “Fleming,” and just last year Sean Maguire played the author in an episode of the NBC science-fiction show “Timeless.” Others…
Article by Matthew Bellamy On May 25th, 1951, Guy Burgess arrived at the house of Donald Maclean. The two Foreign Office diplomats packed a few bags and boarded the Falaise, a pleasure boat headed to Saint-Malo. Though Burgess shouted “Back on Monday!” to one of the dockworkers as he boarded the boat, neither man would…
First published in 2012 and having rapidly sold out, this award-winning bibliography is available once more! We caught up with the man behind this exquisite book, Jon Gilbert. What can readers expect from this new re-print of the bibliography? The 2017 edition includes occasional new material and there are numerous textual revisions throughout. It is…
KISS KISS, BANG BANG is a reader’s history of the boom in British thrillers 1953-1975 (roughly, Casino Royale to The Eagle Has Landed), a period when Britain lost an Empire, was demoted in terms of global power and status and was economically crippled by debt yet its fictional spies, secret agents, soldiers, sailors and even (occasionally)…
Article by David Salter James Bond lived in Chelsea, a pleasant and, these days very expensive, area south-west of Central London. Beyond that the information provided by Ian Fleming is pretty blurred. The most detailed source of information on this subject is “Moonraker”, possibly the most personal of the Bond books, taking place, as it…
In the run up to the hotly anticipated biography of Maxwell Knight, we caught up with its author Henry Hemming to discuss this enigmatic spymaster. What drew you to write about Maxwell Knight? Initially I was taken by the story of one of Knight’s agents, Olga Gray, but it was my US editor, Clive Priddle,…
Article by Revelator In his foreword The Seven Deadly Sins, published in 1962, Ian Fleming declared that the traditional seven deadly sins — PRIDE, ENVY, ANGER, SLOTH [accidie], COVETOUSNESS, GLUTTONY and LUST — were no longer sufficient. Thereupon, he proposed seven deadlier sins more worthy of a one way ticket to Hell: AVARICE, CRUELTY, HYPOCRISY,…
This week we welcome a fine gentleman in from the cold to discuss his love of Fleming and appreciation of Richard Chopping’s iconic dust jackets. What is your favourite Chopping cover and why? Without a doubt, Thunderball. It incapsulates the world of Fleming’s Bond so perfectly. I remember the first time I saw it in…
We are honoured to welcome our good friend Emily Russell, to talk about her grandmother Maud Russell, whose diaries Emily has recently edited for The Dovecote Press. Maud Russell has hitherto only been a footnote in the story of Ian Fleming, but as her diaries demonstrate, was a far more important figure in Fleming’s life…
Artistic Licence Renewed 