Reading order · 14 books · 1953 to 1966
James Bond Books in Order
James Bond, agent 007 of the British Secret Service, with a licence to kill, takes his orders from M, flirts with Miss Moneypenny and works with his CIA friend Felix Leiter. The books are darker, harder and stranger than the films, and from Thunderball onwards Ernst Stavro Blofeld and SPECTRE drive the story.
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Series facts
- Books
- 14
- Published
- 1953 to 1966
- First book
- Casino Royale
- Latest
- Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)
The reading order
Every James Bond book in publication order. Choose a title for its cast and summary.
14 books
- 1Casino Royale1953With James BondJames Bond is sent to the French casino town of Royale-les-Eaux to bankrupt Le Chiffre, a Soviet agent who has lost his masters’ money, at the baccarat table.Buy on Amazon
- 2Live and Let Die1954With James BondBond is sent to New York to investigate Mr Big, a crime boss and Soviet agent who is smuggling pirate gold, and follows the trail to Florida and Jamaica, where he meets the mysterious Solitaire.Buy on Amazon
- 3Moonraker1955With James BondM asks Bond to find out why Sir Hugo Drax, a millionaire hero building a nuclear rocket to defend Britain, is cheating at cards at his club.Buy on Amazon
- 4Diamonds Are Forever1956With James BondBond goes undercover in a diamond smuggling pipeline that runs from the mines of Africa to the casinos of Las Vegas, and meets the smuggler Tiffany Case.Buy on Amazon
- 5From Russia, with Love1957With James BondSMERSH, the Soviet murder agency, plots to kill Bond and humiliate the British Secret Service, using a beautiful cipher clerk, Tatiana Romanova, who says she wants to defect with a valuable decoding machine.Buy on Amazon
- 6Dr. No1958With James BondBond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of the local station chief, and follows the trail to the island of Crab Key, owned by the reclusive Dr No, where he meets Honeychile Rider.Buy on Amazon
- 7Goldfinger1959With James BondBond investigates Auric Goldfinger, the richest man in England, who is smuggling gold, and uncovers a plan for the greatest robbery in history.Buy on Amazon
- 8For Your Eyes Only1960With James BondFive short stories about James Bond, including From a View to a Kill and Quantum of Solace.Buy on Amazon
- 9Thunderball1961With James BondSPECTRE hijacks a plane carrying two atomic bombs and holds the West to ransom, and Bond is sent to the Bahamas, where he meets Domino.Buy on Amazon
- 10The Spy Who Loved Me1962Told by Vivienne Michel, a young Canadian woman alone at a remote motel in the Adirondack mountains when two gangsters arrive.Buy on Amazon
- 11On Her Majesty’s Secret Service1963With James BondBond is hunting Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who is hiding at a research clinic high in the Swiss Alps, and meets Tracy, a reckless young countess.Buy on Amazon
- 12You Only Live Twice1964With James BondA grieving, unravelling Bond is sent to Japan on a diplomatic mission, where the head of the Japanese secret service, Tiger Tanaka, asks him to kill a mysterious foreigner who keeps a garden of poisonous plants.Buy on Amazon
- 13The Man with the Golden Gun1965With James BondMissing for a year, Bond returns to London a changed man.Buy on Amazon
- 14Octopussy and The Living Daylights1966With James BondThe last Bond short stories, including Octopussy, The Living Daylights and The Property of a Lady.Buy on Amazon
Do you need to read them in order?
Read in publication order, starting with Casino Royale. Most books stand alone, but Thunderball, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and You Only Live Twice form a sequence, and The Man with the Golden Gun follows on from them.
Who appears in which book
The series’ main characters, book by book. Lead means the book is told around them; minor covers cameos.
| Book | James Bond | M | Miss Moneypenny | Felix Leiter | René Mathis | Ernst Stavro Blofeld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Casino Royale | LLead | ·Minor | ·Minor | MMajor | MMajor | |
| 2 Live and Let Die | LLead | ·Minor | ·Minor | MMajor | ||
| 3 Moonraker | LLead | ·Minor | ·Minor | |||
| 4 Diamonds Are Forever | LLead | ·Minor | ·Minor | MMajor | ||
| 5 From Russia, with Love | LLead | ·Minor | ·Minor | ·Minor | ||
| 6 Dr. No | LLead | MMajor | ·Minor | |||
| 7 Goldfinger | LLead | ·Minor | ·Minor | MMajor | ||
| 8 For Your Eyes Only | LLead | ·Minor | ·Minor | ·Minor | ||
| 9 Thunderball | LLead | ·Minor | ·Minor | MMajor | MMajor | |
| 10 The Spy Who Loved Me | MMajor | |||||
| 11 On Her Majesty’s Secret Service | LLead | ·Minor | ·Minor | MMajor | ||
| 12 You Only Live Twice | LLead | ·Minor | ·Minor | MMajor | ||
| 13 The Man with the Golden Gun | LLead | ·Minor | ·Minor | MMajor | ||
| 14 Octopussy and The Living Daylights | LLead | ·Minor |
Characters in the James Bond books
14 characters from Ian Fleming’s chart, with the number of James Bond books each appears in.
| Character | Books | First in this series |
|---|---|---|
| James BondAgent 007 of the British Secret Service | 14 | Casino Royale 1953 |
| MHead of the Secret Service | 13 | Casino Royale 1953 |
| Miss MoneypennyM’s secretary | 12 | Casino Royale 1953 |
| Felix LeiterCIA agent and Bond’s friend | 6 | Casino Royale 1953 |
| René MathisFrench intelligence officer | 3 | Casino Royale 1953 |
| Ernst Stavro BlofeldHead of SPECTRE | 3 | Thunderball 1961 |
| Vesper LyndAgent assigned to Bond at the casino | 1 | Casino Royale 1953 |
| Tatiana RomanovaSoviet cipher clerk | 1 | From Russia, with Love 1957 |
| Rosa KlebbSMERSH operations chief | 1 | From Russia, with Love 1957 |
| Major BoothroydArmourer who gives Bond his Walther PPK | 1 | Dr. No 1958 |
| Honeychile RiderShell collector on Crab Key | 1 | Dr. No 1958 |
| Tracy di VicenzoCountess who marries Bond | 1 | On Her Majesty’s Secret Service 1963 |
| Tiger TanakaHead of the Japanese secret service | 1 | You Only Live Twice 1964 |
| Kissy SuzukiJapanese pearl diver | 1 | You Only Live Twice 1964 |