Four high-profile public figures have been assassinated in the space of a week. A fifth murder, which takes place in the Swiss Alps, brings 007 into the field and onto the case of MI5's now very much deceased, former agent. Not that MI6 is in the business of helping out "blundering" MI5--far from it, according to Sir Miles Messervy ("M").To Bond's rotten luck, he is forced to work with an opposite number in the Swiss Intelligence Service--Frauleine Freddie von Grusse or simply "Flicka"- -a five foot eleven inch "sexual knockout". Not that Flicka is all legs and smiles--she also happens to be a very effective agent who travels with Bond through Switzerland, Germany and Milan on the trail of the assassins. The finale takes Bond to Eurodisney in Paris, where he faces the killer himself, mano e mano (shades of Scaramanga in The Man With Golden Gun?).
The strength of the main support characters, Flicka von Grusse and the furtive Dragonpol, an ex-actor who resides in a Castle in Rheineland, contribute significantly to the strength of this novel. The plot is an unusual one and somewhat slow to get off the ground, with Bond himself admitting that he is acting merely as a "super-detective" for much of the time. However, the finishing chapters are suitably interesting and make Never Send Flowers a worthy read for those who enjoy a hearty 007novel--despite its terrible title. --Julian Broster
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