Casino Royale

Casino Royale, published by Jonathan Cape on 13 April 1953, is Ian Fleming's first novel and the book that introduced James Bond, agent 007 of the British Secret Service.

Bond is sent to the casino at Royale-les-Eaux in northern France to ruin Le Chiffre, the paymaster of a Soviet-influenced French trade union, who has gambled away his organisation's money and needs to win it back at baccarat. If he fails, his masters will have him killed. If Bond can beat him at the table, Le Chiffre is finished, and the Soviet network behind him is damaged.

Bond is partnered with Vesper Lynd, a fellow agent from London, and is backed by Felix Leiter of the CIA and René Mathis of French intelligence. The game is played in tight, technical detail, and the novel then turns on what each side is willing to do once the cards stop deciding things.

It is short, quick and hard-edged, and it sets the template for the series: a British agent, a vivid villain, a glamorous setting and a cost that stays with the hero. It is the first novel in the James Bond series.