Let me explain how this book came about.
I was delighted when the Ian Fleming estate approached me in the summer of 2014 and invited me to follow some very distinguished authors in writing a new James Bond novel. But from the very start, I had something that they didn’t.
Searching through Ian Fleming’s papers at the time of the fiftieth anniversary of his death (12 August 1964), his family had rediscovered a number of outlines for a television series which he had been discussing in America. The worldwide success of the first Bond film, Dr No, in 1962 had made the television series redundant and Fleming subsequently used some of the stories in two collections – For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy. But five remained. I was allowed to see them and one of them immediately leapt out at me.
The episode was called ‘Murder on Wheels’ – I have used the same title for Chapter Seven of this book – and it placed Bond in the extremely dangerous world of Grand Prix. Reading it, I was actually quite surprised that although Bond had memorably played bridge in Moonraker, golf in Goldfinger and baccarat in Casino Royale, he had never, in any of the novels, taken part in the much more lethal world of Grand Prix. Better still – and this was really exciting for me – Fleming’s treatment contained a scene with Bond meeting Bill Tanner and M at the Secret Service HQ. This means that some of the description and the dialogue in Chapter Two is actually Fleming’s own work. It only adds up to four or five hundred words, but for me it was both an inspiration and a springboard. The truth is that trying to capture Fleming’s style was not easy and I was grateful for any help I could get.
As has been reported, Fleming’s original story makes Stirling Moss the target of SMERSH at Nürburgring. ‘Switch to an English racetrack. Bond is getting instruction from Moss and we get various racing instruction sequences with Moss, or whoever might be chosen for the role, giving some real inside gen on top-class motor racing.’ As much as I admire Sir Stirling, I decided not to use him in the story – real celebrities do not tend to make appearances in the Bond novels and anyway, he might not have been amused.
A great many people have helped me with Trigger Mortis – without their time and expertise, writing it would have been impossible. (That said, of course, any technical mistakes are entirely my own.) First of all, my friend Nick Mason introduced me to the world of Grand Prix, gave me access to his superb library and allowed me to visit his amazing collection of vintage cars at Ten Tenths near Cirencester. While I was there, I was looked after by Mike Hallowes and Ben de Chair who showed me Nick’s own Maserati 250F in action and helped me to understand what makes this car such a classic.
I travelled to Nürburgring with Marino Franchitti, one of the world’s fastest sports-car racers and a winner of the Sebring 12-Hours, said to be the second toughest race after Le Mans. He gave me a fantastic insight into professional racing and drove me twice round the 20.8 km circuit – an experience I will not forget!
Doug Miller at the National Science Museum and Dave Wright, an expert on the technical aspects of missile defence and a co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists, both introduced me to rocket science. Dr Tony Yang at the University of British Columbia gave me his thoughts on structural and earthquake engineering. I visited the impressive display at the New York City Transport Museum and the staff kindly allowed me access to their archive.
And then there were the books. I often wonder if nonfiction writers and academics are annoyed when people like me use their expertise for the sake of a thriller. Well, the least I can do is acknowledge some of the titles that helped me.
War and Peace in the Space Age – James Gavin
Countdown: A History of Space Flight – T.A. Heppenheimer
Vanguard: A History – NASA Historical Series
Space Race: The Battle to Rule the Heavens – Deborah Cadbury
The Limit – Michael Cannell
Maserati 250F, Owner’s Manual – Ian Wagstaff
The Technique of Motor Racing – Piero Taruffi
Remembering Korea 1950: A Boy Soldier’s Story – H.K. Shin
The Bridge at No Gun Ri – Charles J. Hanley
The Korean War – Max Hastings
Working Class New York – Joshua B. Freeman
Ian Fleming – Andrew Lycett
James Bond: The Man and His World – Henry Chancellor
The James Bond Dossier – Kingsley Amis
Finally, a few personal acknowledgements.
At a charity auction to raise funds for London’s Air Ambulance, two bidders – Nigel Wray and Bernardo Hertogs – each paid a very large sum of money to appear as a character, the proceeds going towards the purchase of a much-needed second helicopter. It’s actually shocking that this superb, life-saving service needs to be a charity at all. Nigel Wray subsequently donated his appearance to Henry Fraser who turns up in Chapter Two.
I am, of course, very grateful to Ian Fleming Publications Ltd and The Ian Fleming Estate for entrusting me with this iconic character – and in particular to Corinne Turner who first approached me. This has been a very happy collaboration, helped by Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown who represents the estate and by the ever-watchful Jonathan Lloyd who represents me. I am very fortunate to have had my own Miss Moneypenny in Lauren Macpherson, my assistant, and once again I have to thank my publishers, Orion Books; Kate Mills (my editor), Jon Wood and Malcolm Edwards.
Anyone who has read my work will know how much James Bond has meant to me throughout my life and so finally I have to acknowledge the genius of Ian Fleming, who got a teenaged boy reading and imagining and who has been influencing me ever since. In writing Trigger Mortis, I have tried to stay true to his original vision and to present the character as he was conceived back in the fifties, whilst hopefully not upsetting too many modern sensibilities. It’s been – and I must be honest – a pleasure to write.