| Title | Author | Publisher | Date | Length (first edition) | Plot | Ref. |
| Casino Royale | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 13 April 1953 | 213 pp | James Bond is sent to play against and bankrupt Le Chiffre, the paymaster for a SMERSH-controlled trade union, in a high-stakes baccarat game in France. With help from CIA agent Felix Leiter, Bond wins the game, but is betrayed by Vesper Lynd, a double agent. Lynd falls in love with Bond and, instead of betraying him, commits suicide. | |
| Live and Let Die | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 5 April 1954 | 234 pp | Bond is sent to the United States to investigate "Mr. Big", an agent of SMERSH and an underworld voodoo leader who is suspected of selling 17th-century gold coins to finance Soviet spy operations in America. Bond's friend and CIA ally, Felix Leiter, is captured and fed to a shark while Mr. Big's fortune-telling girlfriend, Solitaire, runs off with | |
| Moonraker | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 5 April 1955 | 256 pp | Bond joins M at Blades to stop a member, Sir Hugo Drax, cheating at bridge. Bond is subsequently seconded onto Drax's staff on the "Moonraker", Britain's first nuclear missile project. Bond discovers that Drax is an ex-Nazi, working for the Soviets; he also establishes that the rocket is not a defence, but is to be used by Drax to destroy London. B | |
| Diamonds Are Forever | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 26 March 1956 | 257 pp | Bond follows a diamond smuggling ring to America and establishes that it is run by an American gang, "The Spangled Mob". He closes down the pipeline by killing one of the heads of the gang, Seraffimo Spang, in a train crash; he then travels to Sierra Leone to kill the other head of the gang, Jack Spang. | |
| From Russia, with Love | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 8 April 1957 | 253 pp | Bond is targeted by SMERSH to be killed in a compromising situation on the Orient Express. He is lured to Istanbul by an attractive young cipher clerk, Corporal Tatiana Romanova, who claims to be defecting and bringing a Spektor, a Russian decoding device much coveted by MI6. Returning to London by train Bond meets SMERSH assassin, Red Grant, prete | |
| Dr. No | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 31 March 1958 | 256 pp | Commander John Strangways, the head of MI6 Station J in Kingston, Jamaica, and his secretary Mary Trueblood both disappear and Bond is sent to investigate the matter. Bond finds they had been investigating the activities of Dr. Julius No, a reclusive Chinese-German who lives on Crab Key and runs a guano mine. Bond suspects a connection to the disap | |
| Goldfinger | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 23 March 1959 | 318 pp | Bond investigates the activities of Auric Goldfinger, a gold smuggler whom M suspects of being connected to SMERSH and financing their western networks with his gold. Bond is captured by Goldfinger and forced to work as a secretary to oversee "Operation Grand Slam", the stealing of the United States gold reserves from Fort Knox. Bond manages to ale | |
| For Your Eyes Only | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 11 April 1960 | 252 pp | "From a View to a Kill" Bond investigates the murder of a motorcycle dispatch-rider and the theft of his top-secret documents by a motorcycle-riding assassin. "For Your Eyes Only" Bond avenges the murder of M's closest friends. "Quantum of Solace" Bond is told a story of a failed marriage with an emotive twist. "Risico" Bond investigates a drug-smu | |
| Thunderball | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 27 March 1961 | 253 pp | An international, non-aligned terrorist organisation, SPECTRE, has hijacked a NATO plane and seized its two nuclear bombs, which it uses to blackmail the western world. Bond is sent to the Bahamas, where he joins forces with Felix Leiter. Bond meets "Domino" Vitali, the sister the pilot who stole the plane with the bombs on board, who is also the m | |
| The Spy Who Loved Me | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 16 April 1962 | 221 pp | A young woman is alone, working at a motel when two thugs, hired by the owner, turn up to burn it down for the insurance. They are about to rape the woman when Bond turns up and stops them. Later that night, Bond is attacked, but kills both the thugs. | |
| On Her Majesty's Secret Service | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 1 April 1963 | 288 pp | Bond continues to search for Ernst Stavro Blofeld after the Thunderball incident. Through contact with the College of Arms in London Bond finds Blofeld based in Switzerland with a co-conspirator, Irma Bunt. After meeting him and discovering his latest plans, Bond attacks the centre where he is based, although Blofeld escapes in the confusion. Bond | |
| You Only Live Twice | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 16 March 1964 | 255 pp | After the murder of his wife, Bond begins to let his life slide. M gives him a last chance of redemption, to persuade the Japanese to share radio transmissions captured from the Soviet Union. The Japanese agree, but only if Bond kills Dr. Guntram Shatterhand, who operates a politically embarrassing "Garden of Death" in an ancient castle. Bond recog | |
| The Man with the Golden Gun | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 1 April 1965 | 221 pp | Bond returns to London having been brainwashed by the Russians and assigned to kill M: the attempt ends in failure. To re-prove his worth, M sends him to Jamaica with the seemingly impossible mission of killing Francisco "Pistols" Scaramanga, a Cuban assassin who is believed to have killed several British secret agents. Bond uncovers a larger plot | |
| Octopussy and The Living Daylights | Ian Fleming | Jonathan Cape | 23 June 1966 | 94 pp | The first edition contained only two stories: "Octopussy" and "The Living Daylights"; subsequent editions have also contained "The Property of a Lady" and "007 in New York". "Octopussy" Bond tracks down a Second World War II officer who had murdered his friend to steal a cache of Nazi gold. "The Living Daylights" Bond is assigned sniper duty, but | |
