Raymond Benson

Raymond Benson is an American author best known as the official continuation novelist for the James Bond literary franchise from 1996 to 2002, the longest tenure of any Bond writer after Ian Fleming and John Gardner. He was the first American author chosen by the Ian Fleming estate to write the series, and his run produced six original novels, three film novelizations and three short stories. His Bond originals include "Zero Minus Ten" (1997), "The Facts of Death" (1998), "High Time to Kill" (1999), "Doubleshot" (2000), "Never Dream of Dying" (2001) and "The Man with the Red Tattoo" (2002). He also wrote the novelizations of the Pierce Brosnan-era films "Tomorrow Never Dies," "The World Is Not Enough" and "Die Another Day." Before being hired to write the novels, Benson published "The James Bond Bedside Companion" (1984), a critical and historical survey of Fleming's books that earned an Edgar Award nomination from the Mystery Writers of America and remains a standard reference for Bond scholarship. After stepping away from the Bond series Benson built a parallel catalog of original crime, thriller and tie-in fiction. His "Black Stiletto" series — beginning with "The Black Stiletto" (2011) and continuing through five novels — follows the dual-timeline story of a 1950s New York vigilante and her present-day adult son. His historical-thriller "Convicted," published in 2012, draws on Cold War espionage and organized-crime material. He has also written novelizations of major video-game and film properties, including "Metal Gear Solid," "Tomb Raider" and several Homefront tie-ins. Benson is a former director of the Ian Fleming Foundation's American branch and a frequent speaker at Bond and thriller conventions. His non-Bond work is often informed by his early career as a theater director and composer in New York and Chicago.