Pun Salad

A collection of five short stories from Ian Fleming. James Bond appears in all of them, but in varying roles. The Wikipedia page will tell you how much of the stories made it into movies over the years.

"From a View to a Kill"

Bond is sent to France to investigate the murder of a NATO motorcycle courier, and the theft of his "despatch" bag. M and Bond are relatively contemptuous of NATO's investigation. On site, Bond decides to ride the same route to see if he can flush out the evildoers. Turns out he can! He finds himself a little over his head, but is saved by a plucky female spy with a target pistol.

"For Your Eyes Only"

An escaped Nazi wants to buy a Jamaican estate that suits his fancy. When the owners don't want to sell, he has them murdered; maybe their heir will be more agreeable. Bad news for the Nazi: the victims were friends of M. He sends Bond on a freelance mission to take out the bad guy and his crew, who are hiding out in northern Vermont. (I think this is the closest Bond has ever come to my house.)

Trivia: when Bond is packing for his mission, one of the items is a large aluminum flask, which he fills with a 3:1 bourbon-to-coffee ratio. Nothing like being stinkin' drunk when you're trying to sneak up on the evildoers!

"Quantum of Solace"

Here, Bond has just blown up a couple of boats, for some reason, but that's all done before the story starts. He's bored out of his skull at a dinner party put on by the Governor of the Bahamas, but (eventually) gets interested in a story the Governor tells about a nebbish civil servant who gets married to a fetching stewardess. Which doesn't work out well. But there's a surprise twist at the end!

Yes, I think this has nothing at all to do with the movie of the same name; they just used the title. Probably paid millions to the Fleming estate for the title.

"Risico"

Bond is sent to investigate a drug smuggling operation targeting the British. His initial contact is Kristatos. Who points Bond at Columbo, a smuggling rival. But wait, who's the actual bad guy here?

Trivia: I'm pretty sure they'll never title a 007 movie "Risico". Too obscure. But elements of this story made it into the movie For Your Eyes Only.

"The Hildebrand Rarity"

Another title fated to never be attached to a movie, I'm afraid. The "Hildebrand Rarity" is a fish, and Bond has been wangled into helping the millionaire Milton Krest capture a member of the species. It turns out that Krest is a boor, dishonest, and a wife abuser.

The back cover of my copy of the book calls this story "an old-fashioned murder mystery", so I was kind of expecting Bond to do some Holmes-style deduction. Wrong, and a spoiler coming up: the murder doesn't happen until the last few pages of the story, and we never find out for sure who committed it.