17f: The Life of Ian Fleming

His authorship of the James Bond series so overshadowed everything else about Fleming (1908-1964) in the public mind that an intriguing life has been largely overlooked. McCormick, who knew Fleming during WWII and later as a newspaperman, has put together a workmanlike account that clears up erroneously reported details. A man of action and of high organizational skills, easily bored and perpetually restless, Fleming was making a name for himself as an international journalist before the war. A stint in the Navy turned into a key wartime role in British Naval Intelligence, and after the war he helped organize a syndicate of foreign correspondents, some of whom doubled as agents. The novels were written almost as a joke, and to help maintain an expensive wife, but they developed a life of their own that bemused and often amused Fleming, according to McCormick. Eventually, the movies took them over, and the books continued after Fleming's death under John Gardner's byline. There is much interesting and well-researched information here, but Fleming the man remains as elusive as he might well have wished. (Dec.)