The next author for 007? It's a secret. A new James Bond novel by a mystery writer will be published next year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bond creator Ian Fleming, the late author's family announced Friday. The family-owned Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. announced it had struck a contract with a "very well known and highly respected" author whose identity "will be a closely guarded secret until publication."
"We are delighted to have secured this particular author who we have had in mind for some time now," said Corinne Turner, managing director of the company. "He is the perfect writer for this project and we are greatly looking forward to his take on James Bond, in what we are convinced will be a stunning novel." Fleming, a British spy-turned-novelist, wrote 14 Bond books before his death in 1964.