1978 reprint by Panther Books of the first and only James Bond novel by "Robert Markham".
Robert Markham is a pseudonym created by Glidrose Publications in the mid-1960s. By 1967, Glidrose, the publishers of the James Bond novel series created by Ian Fleming, had exhausted all available material written by Fleming before his death in 1964. Desiring to continue the high-selling James Bond book franchise, Glidrose decided to commission a series of new novels, which would be written by different authors but all credited to "Robert Markham." Similar pseudonym-driven series include Nick Carter, The Executioner, and later books featuring The Saint.
The first author so commissioned was Kingsley Amis, who was a close friend of Fleming's and had written a number of Bond-related books, including the popular James Bond Dossier. It's also been suggested that Amis assisted in finishing Fleming's last Bond novel, The Man with the Golden Gun, which was published after Fleming's death, although James Bond historians and Ian Fleming biographers have debunked this rumor in recent years.
Amis wrote Colonel Sun under the Markham pseudonym and the book was published in 1968 to generally good reviews and moderate sales. Despite this, no further Markham novels were commissioned, although some sources suggest that Per Fine Ounce, a Bond novel by Geoffrey Jenkins that had been commissioned by Glidrose c.1966 but never published, might have been intended as a Robert Markham release.
With the exception of an apocryphal "biography" and two film novelizations published in the 1970s, the next serious attempt to relaunch the James Bond literary franchise would not occur until the early 1980s.
Though generally the last to cause a stir, and most often vigilent to Captain Faustus' requests, Markham was, by later accounts of his mates, "swept under a spell by the girl, though she was abundant in beauty." In either case, it is confirmed that Marham set straight away to her rescue.
Markham rarely speaks of the battle that ensued. Many friends were lost in the conflict and all four ships were sorely damaged. While he and his main mates fared well (Kronin being locked below deck at Faustus' order), Captain Faustus suffered a broken nose ;his 2nd apparently.
To Markham's, and his shipmates' surprise, the captain seemed little worried by the turn of events, though he was constant at the wheel.
In the chancel of the church is the alabaster tomb of Judge Markham, who died in 1409, and near it was found a stone coffin with a lid level with the pavement.
Judge Markham drew up the legal instrument for the deposition of Richard II., and was one of the commissioners appointed to receive the crown which Richard resigned in favour of his rival.
Markham, the authoress of the ‘History of England,’ was the daughter of Dr. Cartwright, who was born in the adjoining village of Marnham, and was the inventor of the power loom.
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