Never Send Flowers- John Gardner 1993
Summary- Five murders have taken place within a small time frame. The last of these murders involved Laura March, a member of the Swiss Secret Service. Bond is called in to help in the investigation, and is given a partner, Flicka von Grusse. The two soon discover that the killing were all perpetrated by the same man, whose calling card is a white rose with the petals tipped in blood red sent to the funerals.
Bond and Flicka connect the killings with David Dragonpol, a very well known actor. It turns out that he is mentally disturbed, and gets joy from "staging" murders. To complicate things even more, David has a twin brother, Daniel. It appears as though Daniel, the good brother, kills David, the murderer, to save Bond. However, Daniel is really the one who was killed by David. Now David plans on killing Princess Di and her two children during their trip to EuroDisney. Bond manages to stop the plot, killing David in the very explosion meant for the royal family. Flicka is assigned as Bond's partner, and M tells Bond of a "promotion" coming in a few weeks. These two facts will play out in the next novel, Seafire.
My Grade- A After two so-so novels, Gardner pulled off a very good one. The idea of Bond hunting down a serial killer is thrilling, and Gardner uses Flicka very well. I think it will be interesting to see how a few aspects of this novel are continued into the next one.
Best Moment- The best moment in this novel is very simple. Bond goes to EuroDisney, and before planning on ways to stop Dragonpol, he rides some of the rides. I like this moment simply because Bond is having fun. So often, Bond's life is filled with trouble and suffering. It is good to see Bond's inner child coming out to play.Back to Novels Page
