NO! It’s Trigger Mortis, not Tigger Mortis! (With apologies to A.A. Milne)
All of a sudden, Murder on Wheels doesn’t sound so bad: When the new James Bond continuation novel was announced, a big selling point was how it was based, in part, on a treatment Ian Fleming wrote for a never-produced 1950s television series.
Murder on Wheels was the title of the treatment. Author Anthony Horowitz said on Twitter on Oct. 2 it wouldn’t be used as the novel’s title, although it would be a chapter title. So early May 28, the world was told Trigger Mortis was the novel’s title.
Is Trigger Mortis really that much better? Obviously, somebody at Ian Fleming Publications thought so. Trigger Mortis was already used for the title of a 1958 crime novel. (CLICK HERE for details via The Rap Sheet website.) Meanwhile, on social media, the title generated puns, such as the illustration seen here, which was on Facebook. (Shout out to Chris Wright who found it and put it on Facebook.)
One of the most famous Bond women returns: The main surprise that was held under wraps until the May 28 title announcement was the novel is set two weeks after the events of Goldfinger and that Pussy Galore puts in an appearance.
In Ian Fleming’s original novels, James Bond occasionally thought about the women he had met. Examples: there were references to Tiffany Case in From Russia With Love, to Vesper in Goldfinger and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and to Honeychile Ryder in The Man With the Golden Gun. Still, they never showed up again, so Horowitz is trying something different.
Does the villain of Trigger Mortis have a tie to Goldfinger? The PRESS RELEASE for Trigger Mortis says characters include “a brand new Bond Girl Jeopardy Lane and a sadistic, scheming Korean adversary hell-bent on vengeance Jai Seung Sin, a.k.a Jason Sin.”
Oddjob, Auric Goldfinger’s henchman, was Korean and Goldfinger employed other Koreans. Could Jai Seung Sin be seeking revenge for the events of Goldfinger? We’ll see when the novel is published in September.
Filed under: James Bond Books | Tagged: Anthony Horowitz, Goldfinger, Ian Fleming, Ian Fleming Publications, James Bond Films, Oddjob, Pussy Galore, Trigger Mortis |
The Spy Command 
I must admit the title ‘trigger mortis’ doesn’t sound very bond,
but i do like the idea of character pussy galore return’s in the novel
however i still have a issue with the bond film producers not using
any bond novel’s that has been and still being published over the
last decade’s author’s like the late john gardener and raymond benson.
I will continue to keep saying this, what is it worth doing if you as
a writer/author cant see you’re character’s adapted to the
silver screen. not all author’s will agree with me.
but that’s just my opinion.