American Moneypenny Art

When it rains, it pours! Bond art, in this case. Just a week after we got our first glimpse of the US Devil May Care cover art, and mere days after seeing the new UK Quantum of Solace artwork, CBN has uncovered the American cover for the long overdue (on these shores) first Moneypenny Diaries book on Amazon. (No "Guardian Angel" subtitle to be found, as with the UK hardcover.) The Moneypenny Diaries is a fantastic trilogy of Sixties-set James Bond novels by Samantha Weinberg (writing under the name Kate Westbrook) told from the point of view of M's secretary Miss Moneypenny, here given the Christian name of Jane. The first volume, Guardian Angel (this one) originally came out in 2005 in the UK, followed by the even better second volume, Secret Servant. The last volume, Final Fling, is due out there in May, just as Americans finally get their first taste of Volume 1. As with Devil May Care, America actually gets infinitely superior artwork on the hardcover! Quite a surprise. (It's still nowhere near as good as the excellent retro Stina Persson artwork found on the paperback of Secret Servant and hardcover of Final Fling, though.)

As I've said before, I urge all Bond fans to try this series. It may not sound like a very intriguing premise, but Weinberg has done a terrific job crafting the first ever adult James Bond novels set in the past.