Ian Fleming

English author Ian Fleming was the author of fourteen James Bond stories. Charming, intelligent, and ambitious, Fleming was also a hard-drinking womanizer who worked as a journalist and a stockbroker before joining British Naval Intelligence, eventually achieving the title of Commander. Fleming retired from intelligence work and wrote the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952. (Some biographers have suggested that Fleming began writing fiction because the married woman with whom he had been having an affair was pregnant with his child and he was in need of ready cash while they waited for her divorce to finalize.) Unfortunately, Fleming never met a drink, cigar, or gourmet meal he didn’t like, and died of a heart attack at 56.

Note: Fleming also wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the famous children’s story about a flying car, for his son Caspar (who died of an apparent drug overdose at the age of 23).

Aftertaste:
None. These books are what they are, so you can't get into a tizzy over lines like "Bond saw luck as a woman, to be softly wooed or brutally ravaged, never pandered to or pursued". You'll just give yourself indigestion.

Availability:
Everywhere, with awesomely retro cover art!

Other Recommendations:
Anything by Raymond Chandler

Anything by Dashiell Hammett

Anything by Cornell Woolrich

And, if you prefer your hard-boiled action with a dose of weird, try the books of Isaac Adamson

Website:
http://www.ianflemingcentre.com/# -