Bond4

As I said back in June, Diamonds are Forever next, and here we are. Bond is up against the mob (The Spangled Mob to be precise) and the majority of the action takes place in the US. This is the second time in four books that he gets to deal with the American underworld. Perhaps a bit early for the cold war? In any case, one is left with the impression that Fleming is excited by, and yet looks down his nose at, America. Certainly he has very little time for mob-controlled Vegas, and the 'nursery' game of blackjack, which he clearly thinks isn't a patch on the proper casinos of Europe. 

Recurring characters are starting to make their mark. Vallance (of the Yard) had made an impression in Moonraker, and is back here, helping with the Peter Franks set up at the beginning. And of course Leiter - he'd been left in pretty awful shape in Live and Let Die, having been thrown to the fishies, but Fleming clearly liked him, and saw a future in him, so gave him a new leg, a hook for a hand, a job working for Pinkertons detective agency, and a spectacular coincidence of working a similar case enabling him to be in cahoots with Bond for much of the time.

And this time round Bond does get the girl, Tiffany Case. So much so that at the end we are told that she is left installed at his London flat. So, what will happen at the opening of From Russia With Love?