License Renewed - James Bond Author:John E. Gardner Bond is back and he's better than ever. Miss Moneypenny thinks so. And it's only a matter of time before Lavender Peacock, the beautiful ward of the Laird of Murcaldy, will heartily agree. Bond is drinking noticeably less these days; he's perhaps more diligent about exercise and has a special low-tar tobacco blended for his cigarette... more »s at Morelands of Grosvenor Street. But the 1980s have reached the department as well. Political restraints are squeezing in on the service. The elite Double-O status, for example, conveying its authority to kill, is being abolished. But M takes little notice of these restrictions when it comes to Bond. In M's words,"There are moments when the country needs a troubleshooter -- a blunt instrument -- and by heaven it's going to have one."
One of these moments has indisputably arrived. There is something very ominous about the meeting between the international terrorist known as Franco and the renowned nuclear physicist, the Laird of Murcaldy. Someone must infiltrate the Laird's castle, and only Bond could so deftly extract an invitation on Gold Cup Day at Ascot. Then with Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum in its secret compartment and an impressive selection of Q's latest gadgetry ingeniously dispersed throughout his luggage, Bond points the Saab 900 Turbo toward the northwest highland and the fun begins.« less