History Literature / JamesBond

* ''Literature/{{Solo|JamesBond}}'' (September, 2013) by William Boyd. Set in 1969.

* ''On His Majesty's Secret Service'' (May, 2023) by Charlie Higson. Set in 2023.

* EliteAgentAboveTheLaw: James Bond and his license to kill...as well as any number of crimes in the course of his mission.

* CovertGroupWithMundaneFront: Universal Exports. First mentioned in ''Live and Let Die'', [=MI6=] used this fake import-export company as a cover for their activities. Whenever someone needed to contact [=MI6=] over an insecure line, they played the role of a company rep contacting their supervisor (aka M), using corporate lingo to hide the real message. It's later shown in ''Moonraker'' that [=MI6=] uses other fictitious names such as "Radio Tests Ltd.," "Delaney Bros. (1940) Ltd" and the "Omnium Corporation" as covers for their offices in London. By ''OHMSS'', it is noted that ''everyone'', including the KGB and Blofeld, knew who "Universal Exports" truly was, forcing [=MI6=] to use "Transworld Consortium" as a new cover name in ''The Man with the Golden Gun''. John Gardner would return to Universal Exports with his books.

* WelcomeToTheCaribbeanMon: Several of the novels are set in Jamaica. No surprise, as Fleming loved the country so much that he established his summer home there.

* DanBrowned: In real life, SMERSH was a Red Army intelligence unit which ceased to exist in 1946, at which point its duties were assumed by the NKGB, which eventually became the MGB. SMERSH's depiction in the books is more similar to the KGB.

* AdaptedOut: Bond's housekeeper May and his secretary Loelia Ponsonby have yet to appear in any film. Given Bond's actual home has appeared only a handful of times and he's never seen doing office-work, one supposes they might exist. Loelia, in particular, may be redundant as she had many of her characteristics [[CompositeCharacter merged]] into the films' version of Moneypenny.

** ''Literature/RedNemesis'' (May, 2017)
* ''Licence Expired: The Unauthorized James Bond'': In 2015, Fleming's Bond novels became PublicDomain in Canada and other Life+50 countries, leading to the first multi-author short story collection. Contributors include Creator/CharlesStross.

* MeaningfulName: Fleming loved these. In particular, his sexually suggestive names for female characters, like Pussy Galore and Honeychile Rider, have become an iconic and much-parodied part of the franchise.

* NominalHero: James Bond in the novels is a homophobic and sexist character who has no problems showing his disdain towards women doing work associated for men and the existence of lesbians. Ian Fleming noted in an interview that this was intentional.

* HerosClassicCar: Classic cars are frequently described as Bond's "only hobby". From ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'' to ''Literature/{{Moonraker}}'' Bond drives a 1930 battleship-grey Bentley 4.5 litre with an Amherst Villiers supercharger (only 55 of the "Blower Bentleys" were actually made, making it a [[RareVehicles Rare Vehicle]] too.)[[note]]Fleming variously described it as a 1930, '33 and '37 model. Only the first can be true, as no Blowers were made after '31. ''Double Or Die'' splits the difference by establishing it's 1930 model that he bought in '33.[[/note]] A scene in ''Literature/DoubleOrDie'' depicts him buying it, after wrecking the Bamford & Martin he inherited from his Uncle Max. His later cars are 1950s and 60s model Bentleys and Astons -- classics now, but contemporary at the time.

* DisappearedDad: lost his parents in a climbing accident in the French Alps when he was 11. [[AmbiguousSituation It's unknown what happened to his aunt Charmain, but it can be presumed she died sometime before 007 turned 18.]] Bond in ''You Only Live Twice'' fathered a son with Kissy Suzuki (the only one of his ''[[ReallyGetsAround many]]'' lovers within the books whom he impregnated). Initially the son was unnamed, only briefly mentioned, with Bond unaware of him. Then the sequel novel ''Blast From The Past'' in 1997, written by Raymond Benson, which reveals he became aware of his son years later (who'd been named James Suzuki). However they had little contact, with Bond not having a role in James' life aside from his paying child support and for his son to attend a university. [[spoiler:Nonetheless, later in the very same story he avenges [[OutlivingOnesOffspring James' murder]] by [[{{Revenge}} killing Irma Bunt]], his murderer.]]

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Fleming intended James Bond's name to be an aversion as he chose it as the most non-descript and boring name imaginable. As it happened, decades of novels and movies have made the name feel anything but those qualities.

* AbortedArc: Fleming does not continue the SMERSH storyline after ''Goldfinger'', where Auric Goldfinger is its foreign treasurer. By ''Literature/{{Thunderball}}'' they're said to have been disbanded by Khrushchev and subsumed into the greater KGB, and SPECTRE takes over as the villain for three of the next four novels. Other writers brought SMERSH back to tie up loose ends, and they return in (in-universe chronological order):
** In ''Literature/TriggerMortis'' (set in 1957, immediately after ''Literature/{{Goldfinger}}''), they're the GreaterScopeVillain who hired the BigBad [[spoiler:to fake the destruction of an American space rocket in New York.]] It's mentioned that their leader General Grubozaboyschikov has [[YouHaveFailedMe vanished from sight]] since the failed assassination attempt on Bond in ''[[Literature/FromRussiaWithLove From Russia, with Love]]''.