Boyd Does Bond

Yesterday’s news that William Boyd has been enlisted by the Ian Fleming estate to compose the next “official” new James Bond novel is being followed today by word from Boyd himself, who says that his story “will be set in 1969.”

The Book Bond’s John Cox adds:

For those who are surprised that IFP is sending Bond back to the past after rebooting 007 as a contemporary hero in Jeffery Deaver’s Carte Blanche, recall what Corinne Turner, managing director of Ian Fleming Publications, told me back in 2010 when I asked if Carte Blanche meant an end to period Bonds (at that time represented by the Young Bond series):

“Don’t worry we haven’t left the past behind entirely, but it’s nice to do something different--and keep everyone guessing!”

So it looks like IFP is living up to their promise.

Personally, I’m looking forward to reading Boyd’s still-untitled Bond outing, which is to be published in the fall of 2013 by Jonathan Cape in the UK and HarperCollins in the United States and Canada. The Africa-born Boyd put together one of my favorite historical espionage thrillers, Restless (2006). I hope he can bring the same sort of character development and intrigue from that novel to Bond’s world.

READ MORE: “William Boyd to Write the Next James Bond Continuation Novel,” by Tanner (Double O Section); “Could Boyd’s Bond Novel Be Set in Africa?,” by John Cox (The Book Bond).