His, as yet undetected, misappropriation of a vast amount of SMERSH funds presents the British Secret Service with an ingenious opportunity to turn killer into sacrificial lamb. In a characteristic Fleming twist, however, le Chiffre is compromised from the start-a deadly agent in the service of his masters but with a deadly secret to hide from them. SMERSH, the most powerful and feared organisation in the USSR, and one of its operatives, the French communist le Chiffre, are blamed for the deaths of a number of British agents and the British Secret Service wants justice. Whatever his reasons, his first attempt at fiction started a global cultural phenomenon.Ĭasino Royale takes place on a smaller stage than later Bond adventures, as if Fleming wanted to familiarise himself with his spy before setting him loose on the world but it fizzes with intensity.
Ian Fleming created the character of James Bond, he said, to overcome the shock of getting married.
