James Bond Literary Wikia
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James Bond Literary Wikia
"007 in New York"
007-in-new-york
Author: Ian Fleming
Publication date: 1963
Published in: New York Herald Tribune
Alternate title: "Reflections in a Carey Cadillac"
Collected in: Octopussy and The Living Daylights
Publication order
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"The Living Daylights" "The Property of A Lady"

"007 in New York" is a short story written by Ian Fleming featuring his fictional secret agent James Bond. It wasn't until 2002 that "007 in New York" had been published in a Bond book. It was added to the end of the collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights by Penguin Books.

Plot[]

James Bond, traveling as David Barlow, is going through customs and immigration at New York's Idlewild airport. He has flown in on BAOC's Monarch flight from London and estimates that the FBI or the CIA will not detect him in the twenty-four hours he will be spending in New York. His mission is to warn a young woman, who used to be a first class staff officer for the Secret Service, that the American authorities are getting close to finding out that she is cohabiting with a KGB agent.

The agent is attached to the UN and M sent Bond to tell her that the CIA is close to identifying her. Of course it would be very embarrassing if the CIA were to find out about Bond and his mission. Bond's rendezvous with the woman is scheduled for three o'clock outside the Reptile House at the Central Park Zoo.

Bond knows that it's just a meeting at the Zoo's Reptile House and then he's free to enjoy the glorious city of New York for a day, and the substance of the story is Bond planning out his day, savoring all the little details of what he's going to eat and where, what he'll do, and his girl in town, Solange, whom he'll pick up for the evening.

At the end of the story, a simple paragraph postscript reveals that the Central Park Zoo doesn't have a Reptile House. They assumed New York has everything, but not that. So there was a panic to get work back to the girl, reschedule at a new meeting place, and Bond's entire day was ruined, and the whole plan just turned into one great mess.

Background[]

In 1959 Fleming was commissioned by The Sunday Times to write a series of articles based on world cities, material for which later was collected into a book entitled Thrilling Cities; whilst travelling through New York for material, Fleming wrote "007 in New York" as a inner monologue from Bond's point of view.

"007 in New York" was originally titled "Reflections in a Carey Cadillac" and it contains a recipe for scrambled eggs which came from May Maxwell, the housekeeper to friend Ivar Bryce who gave her name to Bond's own housekeeper, May. The story was first published in the New York Herald Tribune in October 1963 as "Agent 007 in New York", but was subsequently renamed as "007 in New York" for the 1964 US editions of Thrilling Cities.

References[]



James Bond Short Stories
Fleming Quantum of Solace (1959) · The Hildebrand Rarity (1960) · From a View to a Kill (1960) · For Your Eyes Only (1960) · Risico (1960) · The Living Daylights (1962) · 007 in New York (1963) · The Property of a Lady (1963) · Octopussy (1966)
Benson Blast From the Past (1997) · Midsummer Night's Doom (1999) · Live at Five (1999) · The Heart of Erzulie (2001, unpublished)
Collections For Your Eyes Only (1960) · Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)
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