Book Launch
7th October 2025
Full report from London at Raymond Benson's launch of The Hook & The Eye
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On Tuesday 7th October 2025, Ian Fleming Publications Ltd launched ‘The Hook and the Eye’, a Felix Leiter standalone thriller, written by former James Bond continuation author, Raymond Benson.
At The Black Horse cocktail bar in Fitzrovia, London, representatives from both the Ian Fleming family and the wider Bond community gathered to raise a glass to Benson and IFPL’s latest publication. The proceedings began with IPFL’s publishing director, Simon Ward, reminding guests of Benson’s incredible 007 journey and how he entered the scene with his groundbreaking non-fiction tome ‘The James Bond Bedside Companion’, first published in 1984, “…and here we are 41 years later celebrating the new novel of our longest serving writer.”
In 1995, Benson was approached by Peter Janson Smith to write an original James Bond novel. Janson-Smith had become Flemings’s foreign rights agent in 1956 and later Chairman of Glidrose – the company that controlled the literary rights to Fleming’s work. Beginning in 1997, Benson penned six original novels, three novelisations and three short stories, “I did it for seven years and I am still pinching myself that I was able to do that.”
‘The Hook and the Eye’ had been a passion project for Benson for many years, “There was one element in the Bond universe that I felt the public was missing out on, and that was one of my favourite secondary characters that Fleming created – Felix Leiter. I especially loved him in the books. I am from Texas, he was from Texas, I sort of identified with the guy as I read those books, and whenever he appeared, there was this breath of fresh air that suddenly appeared on the page. This relationship between Felix and James Bond - you could feel the affection these two guys had for each other. The way they would drink each other under the table, share food, and stories. I never felt we saw Ian Fleming’s Felix Leiter on the screen. For one thing, they never displayed his prosthesis, which I feel is a very important part to his character. I started thinking, ‘What was Felix doing in America while Bond was off [on] these other adventures that he didn’t appear in? Surely, he must have been having his own adventures, right? I wanted to elevate him to more than second banana.’”
Ward recalled how Benson had first pitched the idea to him at a James Bond literary event at Pinewood Studios in 2023, “He sidled up to me and said, ‘Simon let me say this to you – a Felix Leiter standalone adventure -1950s pulp noir. Think about it.’ He then got back on a plane to Chicago, proving he had not lost his flare for the dramatic.”
In the Spring of 2023 Ian Fleming Publications launched its own imprint. The move marked the 70th anniversary of the publication of ‘Casino Royale.’ It was great news for Bond fans with prestige hardbacks and collectors’ editions announced. Best of all was the promise of new original works exploring the Bond universe. Ward said, “As a company, we have always been excited by ideas and authors. What better way to show our fans and loyal readers who we are as a company than by a brand-new story from beloved fan favourite Raymond Benson. Raymond pitched the whole story to me – an atomic age thriller, a road trip through 1950s America, espionage, murder, a femme fatale. It literally had everything you could want, including a hero with a hook. I discussed the idea with the Ian Fleming Publications board of directors. It received an immediate and unanimous yes!”
Ward told the audience how much he had enjoyed the creative process, “While I have to check facts and references, [Raymond] just knows stuff - especially about good food and jazz! Every note, every typo, every technical issue on our side was always met with good humour and trust. And that trust is integral to this relationship. We trusted Raymond to write a thrilling, playful, and human story. He trusted us to publish it. It is not dissimilar to the trust Bond and M have, or perhaps Bond and Felix enjoy. They are colleagues and friends. I believe we can say the same about our small team and Raymond.” Benson echoed, “I’m eternally grateful to the Ian Fleming estate, his family, and the Board of Directors of Ian Fleming Publications for once again trusting me to play in Ian Fleming’s sandbox. I acknowledge the mentorship of the late Peter Janson Smith. I am sorry he is not here to celebrate with us because I think he would have gotten a kick out of my Felix.”
Ward concluded, “Despite all his James Bond adventures…I believe ‘The Hook and the Eye’ is the story Raymond was born to write. I think it is his best book. Raymond is a legend, loved by fans, and now the longest continuous James Bond author. We are so grateful to Raymond for writing this hardboiled mystery, a story only he could have written. Thank you, Raymond, for being our author, our friend, our brother from Langley (or Texas), and our man in America.”
