The Golden TypewriterIan Fleming's books
Ian Fleming wrote seventeen books between 1953 and 1966. Fourteen are James Bond books; the others are a children's classic and two books of reporting.
Fleming wrote seventeen books: twelve Bond novels, two collections of Bond short stories, one children's book and two works of non-fiction. The official bibliography from Ian Fleming Publications is the basis for this list.
The fourteen James Bond books
- 1
Casino Royale
Bond plays a dangerous baccarat game against a Soviet-linked paymaster in Fleming's first novel. Its casino setting and vulnerable hero make it the natural starting point.
Paperback · Audiobook 5 hours 44 minutes
- 2
Live and Let Die
Bond follows smuggled gold from New York to Jamaica in his second novel. Felix Leiter returns, while the book's period portrayals call for care.
Paperback · Audiobook 7 hours 48 minutes
- 3
Moonraker
A London card game leads Bond to a guarded rocket project on the Kent coast. Fleming's earthbound thriller differs sharply from the later space film.
Paperback · Audiobook 8 hours 14 minutes
- 4
Diamonds Are Forever
Bond goes undercover in a diamond-smuggling network that reaches New York and Las Vegas. The novel leans into organised crime and its American settings.
Paperback · Audiobook 7 hours 4 minutes
- 5
From Russia with Love
A Soviet operation lures Bond to Istanbul with the promise of a cipher machine. The trap unfolds across an extended train journey and leads into Dr. No.
Paperback · Audiobook 8 hours 32 minutes
- 6
Dr. No
Bond investigates a missing station chief in Jamaica and follows the clues to a guarded island. It also inspired the first Eon Bond film.
Paperback · Audiobook 8 hours 27 minutes
- 7
Goldfinger
Bond encounters the gold-obsessed Auric Goldfinger and follows his plans across Britain and America. The film keeps key characters but changes the scheme.
Paperback · Audiobook 9 hours 21 minutes
- 8
For Your Eyes Only
Five Bond stories take the series through distinct missions and settings. The collection offers shorter entries and supplied titles or scenes for several films.
Paperback · Audiobook 6 hours 29 minutes
- 9
Thunderball
Stolen nuclear weapons send Bond to the Bahamas in a race against SPECTRE. The novel begins the sequence involving Blofeld that continues in two later books.
Paperback · Audiobook 8 hours 34 minutes
- 10
The Spy Who Loved Me
Vivienne Michel narrates an unusual Bond story set largely at an isolated American motel. Its voice and plot differ from the film of the same name.
Paperback · Audiobook 5 hours 32 minutes
- 11
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Bond follows Blofeld to a clinic in the Swiss Alps. This middle volume of the Blofeld sequence rewards reading Thunderball first.
Paperback · Audiobook 8 hours 41 minutes
- 12
You Only Live Twice
Bond travels to Japan in the last Bond novel published during Fleming's life. It concludes threads from the earlier Blofeld books and works best in sequence.
Paperback · Audiobook 7 hours 10 minutes
- 13
The Man with the Golden Gun
Bond returns to Jamaica on a mission involving the gunman Scaramanga. Published after Fleming's death, the novel follows the Blofeld sequence.
Paperback · Audiobook 5 hours 22 minutes
- 14
Octopussy and The Living Daylights
This final Bond collection appeared with two stories and later grew to four. Check an edition's contents if you want the complete set.
Paperback · Audiobook 2 hours 44 minutes
Fleming's other books
Talk of the Devil is a later anthology of his shorter writing, not an eighteenth original book.
- –
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Fleming's children's story follows the Pott family and their remarkable car. It stands apart from Bond and also has a David Tennant audiobook.
Paperback
- –
The Diamond Smugglers
Fleming investigates the international diamond trade in this work of reporting. Its subject also informs the fictional smuggling route in Diamonds Are Forever.
Paperback · Audiobook 3 hours 38 minutes
- –
Thrilling Cities
Fleming visits fourteen cities in this collection of travel journalism. Read it for his observations and period perspective, with its dated attitudes in mind.
Paperback · Audiobook 9 hours 7 minutes
- –
Talk of the Devil
This later anthology gathers Fleming's journalism, letters and early fiction. It is a collection to browse by subject after the original books.
Hardback
Bond books by other writers
Many authors have written Bond novels since Fleming died, with the estate's permission. They are listed separately on continuation novels, so they are never confused with Fleming's own books.