This thread was established to share the journalism of Ian Fleming, with a special focus on Fleming’s book reviews of thrillers, spy novels, crime stories, and even non-fiction works on those topics. Over the course of a year I posted a review by Fleming approximately every week.
This post will serve as an index of links to each review for ease of access.
Review Listing (in order of original publication):
The White Cheat (review of Gamesmanship, by Stephen Potter)
Books and Authors Abroad: English Laurels in America (round-up of stateside British bestsellers)
Bestsellers in America: “Beautiful, Beautiful Books” (negative reviews of prominent American authors)
Partner! You Have Triumphed My Ace… (review of The Complete Card Player, by Albert Ostrow)
“BANG-BANG, KISS-KISS” (“An American Miscellany,” discussing My Gun is Quick by Mickey Spillane and more)
An Open Letter to the Transport Minister (on the deadly issue of road signs)
West Indian and Island in the Sun (review of Pleasure Island: the book of Jamaica, edited by Esther Chapman, and Jamaica, by Peter Abrahams)
The Deadly Tube (review of One of Our Submarines, by Edward Young)
Eldollarado (“A Transient’s Scrapbook from New York”)
Some Uncollected Authors: Raymond Chandler and Raymond Chandler (Two articles on the great mystery novelist)
Questions of Colour (review of Family and Colour in Jamaica, by Fernando Henriques)
Mountaineering Downwards (review of British Caving: An Introduction to Speleology, by Members of the Cave Research Group)
Mr. Coward Explains (review of Future Indefinite, by Noel Coward)
Mudscape with Figures (review of The Riddle of the Sands, by Erskine Childers)
The Secrets of Interpol (preview of the ill-fated Istanbul conference)
The Great Riot of Istanbul (an eyewitness report)
Delinquents and Smugglers (post-mortem of the Istanbul Interpol conference)
Birth-pangs of a Thriller (“How I Came to Write Casino Royale”)
Dangerous Know-How (review of Scarne On Cards, by John Scarne)
Gangs Cock a Snook at Interpol (report from the organization’s Vienna Conference)
Forever Ambler (review of The Night Comers, by Eric Ambler)
Three Men at the Motor Show (Fleming, Godfrey Smith, and Stirling Moss talk cars)
Wonders of the Deep (review of Man Explores The Sea, by James Dugan)
Girl’s Best Friend (review of Diamond, by Emily Hahn)
Nightmare Among the Mighty (account of Fleming’s performance in a charity gold tournament)
The Sun Went In (review of Man The Ropes, by Augustine Courtauld)
The Tragic Spy (review of The Spy’s Bedside Book. An Anthology, edited by Graham Greene and Hugh Greene)
The Secret of Edgar Hoover (review of The F.B.I. Story, by Don Whitehead)
Introduction to The Education of a Poker Player, by Herbert Yardley
Trouble in Havana (review of Our Man in Havana, by Graham Greene)
Ian Fleming on the film Our Man in Havana (film review for the BBC)
The Thriller Trend (review of A Twist of Sand, by Geoffrey Jenkins)
Full Fathom Five (review of Captain Cousteau’s Underwater Treasury, by Jacques-Yves Cousteau & James Dugan)
One Man’s World (personal column)
If I Were Mr. Marples (what Fleming would do if he was the Minister of Transport)
Adventure in the Haggard-Buchan School (review of The Pass Beyond Kashmir, by Berkely Mather)
The Russians Make Mistakes, Too (“Some Russian Intelligence boners”)
Foreword to Airline Detective, by Ronald Fish and John Pearson
Foreword to The Seven Deadly Sins, by W.H. Auden, Cyril Connolly, Patrick Leigh-Fermor, Edith Sitwell, Eric Sykes, Angus Wilson, and Evelyn Waugh
Gary Powers and the Big Lie (commentary on the U2 spy scandal)
Eton and Brought Up (review of The Fourth of June, by David Benedictus)
How to Write a Thriller (“President Kennedy’s favorite fiction writer, the creator of secret agent James Bond, offers his recipe for best-selling suspense.”)
A Thundering Yarn (review of A Grue of Ice, by Geoffrey Jenkins)
Intrepid: Silhouette of a Secret Agent (introduction to The Quiet Canadian: The Secret Service Story of Sir William Stephenson, by H. Montgomery Hyde)
Connoisseurs’ Choice (Fleming describes his latest car)
Books of the Year, 1959-1962 (selections include Eric Ambler, Len Deighton, John MacDonald, and more)
Introduction to All Night at Mr. Stanyhurst’s, by Hugh Edwards
The Case of the Painfully Pulled Leg (tribute to San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen)
Introducing Jamaica (preface to Ian Fleming Introduces Jamaica, edited by Morris Cargill)
A Malignant Growth in the Fabric of Society (review of The Honoured Society, by Norman Lewis)