DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER: IAN FLEMING

I haven't read a James Bond in close to fifty years, so I thought I would give it a try, picked up one of Flemings earlier James Bond's novels and  found out I quite liked it.  It reads so well. much better than many of today's detective fiction and I find Bond almost believable, much more so than a Jack Reacher, who always, at the end, blows away ten to twenty people.  James Bond never does this, in fact, there is little killing by Bond in this novel, just a bit of blow ups  at the end, which pleased me, that something this popular could also avoid the gratuitous violence we find in many of today's books and television.

It begins in South Africa, with diamond smuggling, leading to England, which gets Bond involved when M. calls him in and gives him the task of stopping the smuggling,  though Bond's getting up their in age.  He is then sent on the trail, which takes him to the United States, as a faux courier of diamonds(the real courier was done away with).  This allows him to get a crack at the diamond smuggling operation.  His first lead, a woman of course, is Tiffany Case, a front for the mob, though she falls for James.  To get his payment for being a courier, he is instructed to go to Saratoga Springs, put money on such and such horse, a fix is on, and he will make his money.  At the Springs, he meets an old CIA buddy, Felix Leiter, who is also on a case involving the mob.  The two hook up, and together, they begin to unravel the knot.  After the races, Bond ends up flying to Las Vega, to see if he is mob material, his way of getting in with the heavy weights who run the show.  The trail leads to a Mr. Spang, Mafia chief, a country western aficionado, who lives on a reconstructed  Old West town, the kind you might see at Tombstone, complete with his own railroad.  He invites Bond to his town, soon realizes that Bond is an agent, ties him up, but Bond escapes, with Tiffany's help,  sets fire to the faux town, and also ends up destroying the train with Mr. Spang aboard. So much for this end of the diamond trail.  He then heads back to England, establishes the Mafia's contact there, follows him to South Africa, and has his helicopter shot down as he ascends in to the sky with the diamonds.

Bond returns to London, to Tiffany Case, and that's the last we hear of them. He never beds her, at least in the novel, too risque I suppose.  A fun read.