Octopussy & The Living Daylights: Discover two of the most beloved James Bond stories (James Bond 007, 14)

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Bond's duty is to safeguard his crossing into West Berlin by eliminating a top KGB assassin codenamed "Trigger", who has been dispatched to kill him.

Mild wear; a little rolled; boards lightly rubbed; spine heel lightly softened; text block edges lightly toned. Once again the artist Richard Chopping provided the cover art, although his fee rose, to 350 guineas. So this is an odds and sods collection of leftover James Bond stories published after Ian Fleming died, and a few years into the movie series.Bond himself, as said before, is hardly his usual self - instead of reading Eric Ambler, he settles for a cheap sleazy paperback when waiting for the moment to arrive and, needless to be said, is far from certain of not missing his mark.

Whether it is tracking down a wayward major who has taken a deadly secret with him to the Caribbean or identifying a top Russian agent secretly bidding for a Fabergé egg in a Sotheby’s auction room, Bond always closes the case—with extreme prejudice. The Living Daylights has a much more serious tone throughout and I actually loved Bond in this piece more than the other short stories and even the previous two books that I read in the series. Instead, I started on Agatha Christie mysteries and Perry Rhodan sci-fi serials and read dozens of them. Before his death, Ian Fleming reportedly had intended to compile a second book of short stories in the same vein as For Your Eyes Only.Bond feels that the top Russian agent in London, identity unknown, will be present at the auction, attempting to artificially raise the bidding, and so 007 goes there to try to pick him/her out. Fleming was so unhappy with the final piece, he wrote to Wilson and refused payment for something he considered so lacklustre. The hardback edition of the book contained only the two stories mentioned in the title, although when the paperbacks editions were published, "The Property of a Lady" was also included. The genre itself became synonymous with the Christian Dior style of 1950's glamour thanks to titles like 'Diamonds are Forever', 'The Man with the Golden Gun' and 'Casino Royale'.