007 Book: Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)
June 27, 2014Author: Ian Fleming
Publication date: 23 June 1966
Octopussy and The Living Daylights
(sometimes published as Octopussy) is the fourteenth and final James Bond book written by Ian Fleming in the Bond series. The book is a collection of short stories published posthumously in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 23 June 1966.
The two original stories, “Octopussy” and “The Living Daylights”, were both adapted for publication in comic strip format in the Daily Express in 1966–1967.
“Octopussy“
Secret Service operative James Bond, code name 007, is assigned to apprehend a hero of the Second World War implicated in a murder involving a cache of Nazi gold. Bond appears briefly in this story, which is told mostly in flashback and from the point of view of Major Dexter Smythe, the villain.
“The Living Daylights“
An unusually morose James Bond is assigned sniper duty to help British agent 272 escape from East Berlin. Bond’s duty is to prevent a top KGB assassin codenamed “Trigger” from killing 272 by eliminating the sniper.
“The Property of a Lady“
James Bond investigates a Secret Service employee, Maria Freudenstein, who is a double agent about to be paid by her Russian keepers by auctioning a clock crafted by Peter Carl Fabergé at Sotheby’s in her name. The Russians have sent the Resident Director of the KGB in London to attend the auction and underbid for the item to push the price to the necessary value to pay for her services as a double agent. Bond attends the auction in hopes of spotting this man; after doing so the man is expelled from London as persona non grata.
“007 in New York“
A brief tale in which Bond muses about New York City and his favourite recipe for scrambled eggs, during a quick mission to the titular city to warn a female MI6 employee that her new boyfriend is a KGB agent. It is notable for including a rare humorous conclusion and for its mention of Solange, a young lady of Bond’s intimate acquaintance who works in a shop, Abercrombie’s, “appropriately employed in their Indoor Games Department”.
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