Before his death, Ian Fleming reportedly had intended to compile a second book of short stories in the same vein as For Your Eyes Only. After his death, Glidrose Productions followed this plan.
Initially, the book contained only two short stories: (i) The final James Bond short story to be published, "Octopussy", which was first serialised in the March and April 1966 issues of Playboy magazine, some two years after Ian Fleming's death; and (ii) "The Living Daylights", considered by some critics to be the best James Bond short story, which was first published in The London Sunday Times colour section on February 4, 1962. It was later printed in the American publication Argosy in the June 1962 issue under the title "Berlin Escape" and again under the same title in the November 1965 issue of Intrigue Magazine.
First Pan Books paperback edition, 1967. Note shortened title.
When the first paperback edition of the collection was published in 1967, it was expanded with a third short story, "The Property of a Lady" which Fleming wrote, in 1963, for inclusion in The Ivory Hammer, the annual publication of Sotheby's auction house. In the second edition, the collection's title was shortened to Octopussy; most paperback reprints of the 1970s and 1980s used the abbreviated title. The third edition of the collection appeared in 2002, expanded with a fourth short story, "007 in New York". Originally titled "Reflections in a Carey Cadillac", it was however first published under the name "Agent 007 in New York" in the New York Herald Tribune in October 1963. In 1964 it was retitled simply "007 in New York" when published in the American edition of Thrilling Cities. The short story was written as a consolation to readers in New York City due to Fleming's grim opinion of the city. The story was not published in Britain until the late 1990s.
Editions of the collection published since the mid-1990s have used the original full title, Octopussy and the Living Daylights.
It is not known for certain whether any of these stories were ever actually earmarked by Ian Fleming for his never-completed collection, though it is likely "The Living Daylights", at the very least, would have been a strong contender since it (unlike the others) had already been widely published by 1964.
"Octopussy" provided the title of the eponymous 1983 film, and the background for the movie character Octopussy, who in the short story is an Octopus whom the villain attempts to befriend, but who in the film is said to be the villain's daughter. The film also used most of the plot of "The Property of a Lady". In 1987, "The Living Daylights" was closely adapted for part of Timothy Dalton's eponymous first James Bond film of the same title. According to some sources (such as The Bond Files by Andy Lane and Paul Simpson), The Property of a Lady was to have been the title of Dalton's third James Bond film to be released in 1991, but it went unfilmed; little of the original short story would have been available for use, given its having been used in the Octopussy film. As for "007 in New York", some aficionados feel that, though unfilmed, the story's spirit is in the New York City segment of the 1973 film, Live and Let Die. The name of Bond's girlfriend in "007 in New York" whom he spends time with while in the city was later used in the 2006 adaptation of Casino Royale.
Following the publication of this book, Glidrose attempted to launch a continuation series of novels written by different authors using the pseudonym Robert Markham. The first of these, 1968's Colonel Sun, was written by Kingsley Amis but no further Markham books were published.
At the start of You Only Live Twice, Bond complains about the meaningless assignments he had undertaken since the death of his wife (Tracy Bond) at the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. It has been suggested that the stories in this collection may well have taken place during this dark period of Bond's career.
\"Octopussy\"
Bond is assigned to apprehend a hero of the Second World War implicated in a murder involving a cache of Nazi gold. Agent 007 appears briefly in this story, which is told mostly in flashback and from the point of view of Major Dexter Smythe, the villain. (The later 1983 film of the same name introduced a female protagonist who is said to be the major's daughter.)
\"The Living Daylights\"
An unusually morose James Bond is assigned sniper duty to help a defector known as "272" escape East Berlin. Bond's duty is to prevent a top KGBassassin codenamed "Trigger" from killing 272 by eliminating the sniper. However, the assignment becomes difficult when Bond discovers that Trigger is a beautiful female cellist whom he had earlier admired. Bond, never wishing to kill anyone in cold blood, decides to instead shoot the butt of her rifle, preventing her from making the kill. The mission, while successful, is also considered a failure due to Bond's last second decision, and it ends with Bond hoping that M fires him for it.
\"The Property of a Lady\"
James Bond investigates a Secret Service employee, Maria Freudenstein, who is a double agent about to be paid by her Russian keepers by auctioning a Fabergé egg by Carl Fabergé at Sotheby's in her name. The Russians have sent the Resident Director of the KGB in London to attend the auction and underbid for the item in order to push the price to the necessary value to pay for her services as a double agent. Bond attends the auction in hopes of spotting this man; after doing so the man is expelled from London as persona non grata.
Maria Freudenstein was hired by the British Secret Service with prior knowledge that she was a double agent. She is essentially tasked with sending phony SITREPS to Washington D.C., which she copies and sends to Moscow unknowing that they are fake. Her unpleasant fate is revealed in Fleming's novel, The Man with the Golden Gun, though as it happened most readers did not get to see this story, in which she first appeared, until several years after the novel came out.
The short story also includes Kenneth Snowman as an ally of Bond. Snowman, in reality, was a master jeweller and one of the leading experts on Carl Fabergé. "The Property of a Lady" features a number of notes on the items for auction, one of which references a book by Kenneth Snowman.
\"007 in New York\"
A brief tale in which Bond muses about New York City, and his favourite recipe for scrambled eggs, during a quick mission to the Big Apple to warn a female MI6 employee that her new boyfriend is a KGB agent. It is notable only for including a rare humorous conclusion, and for its mention of Solange, a young lady of Bond's intimate acquaintance who works in a shop, Abercrombie's, "appropriately employed in their Indoor Games Department".
Comic strip adaptations
Two of Fleming's short stories were adapted as daily comic strips which were published in the British Daily Express newspaper and syndicated worldwide.
Both comic strips were reprinted by Titan Books in the early 1990s, and again in 2004. To date, "The Property of a Lady" and "007 in New York" have not been adapted as comic strips. Along with "Quantum of Solace" from For Your Eyes Only, these remain the only Ian Fleming Bond stories not yet adapted in this form.
