Carte Blanche

JEFFERY DEAVER

In 2004, bestselling thriller writer Jeffery Deaver won the Crime Writers’ Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for his book Garden of Beasts, and spoke in his acceptance speech about his life-long admiration of Fleming’s writing and the influence that the Bond books had had on his own career. Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, was in the audience and explained, ‘It was at that point that I first thought that James Bond could have an interesting adventure in Jeffery Deaver’s hands.’

Deaver said, ‘I can’t describe the thrill I felt when first approached by Ian Fleming’s estate to ask if I’d be interested in writing the next book in the James Bond series. My history with Bond goes back fifty years. I was about eight or nine when I picked up my first Bond novel. I was a bit precocious when it came to reading, but I have my parents to thank for that. They had a rule that I was not allowed to watch certain movies, but I could read anything that I could get my hands on. This was ironic since, in the 1950s and early ’60s, you’d never see sex or violence on the screen. So, I was allowed to read every Bond book my father brought home or that I could afford with my allowance.

‘I felt Fleming’s influence early. My first narrative fiction, written when I was eleven, was based on Bond. It was about a spy who stole a top-secret airplane from the Russians. The agent was American but had a British connection, having been stationed, like my father, in East Anglia during WWII.

‘I can still recall the moment when I heard on the news that Fleming had died – I was in my mid-teens. It was as if I had lost a good friend or uncle. Nearly as troubling was the TV anchorman who reported that Bond, too, would die in the final pages of the last book, The Man with the Golden Gun. I was in agony until I could buy it the moment it was released. I read it in one sitting and learned the truth – at least I’d only have to mourn the loss of one of my heroes, not two.

‘I have won or been nominated for a number of awards for my thriller writing but the one that I’m the most proud of is the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. The award is in the shape of a commando knife that Fleming is said to have carried in his days working for the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War. The imposing award sits in the middle of my mantelpiece at home.

‘As far as any parallels between Bond’s life and mine, there are a few, I’ll admit. I enjoy fast cars – I’ve owned a Maserati and a Jaguar, and I now take my Porsche 911 Carrera S or Infiniti G37 to the track occasionally. I’m a downhill skier and scuba diver. I enjoy single-malt scotch and American bourbons – not vodka, though the spy himself drank whisky considerably more often than his “shaken, not-stirred” martinis.’

A former journalist (like Fleming), folksinger and attorney, Jeffery Deaver started writing suspense novels on the long commute to and from his office on Wall Street. He is now the international number-one bestselling author of two collections of short stories and twenty-eight novels. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages.

He is best known for his Kathryn Dance and Lincoln Rhyme books, most notably The Bone Collector, which was adapted for film in 1999, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Standalone novel The Bodies Left Behindwas named Novel of the Year at the International Thriller Writers’ Awards in 2009.

Jeffery Deaver’s latest Lincoln Rhyme thriller is The Burning Wire. His standalone thriller Edgewill be published in paperback in September 2011.

Jeffery Deaver was born near Chicago and now lives in North Carolina.

To find out more, visit

www.007carteblanche.com

or

www.jefferydeaver.com.