Secret Servant: The Moneypenny Diaries
Encyclopedia
Secret Servant: The Moneypenny Diaries is the second in a trilogy
of novels chronicling the life of Miss Moneypenny
, M
's personal secretary in Ian Fleming
's James Bond
series. The diaries are penned by Samantha Weinberg
under the pseudonym
Kate Westbrook, who is depicted as the book's "editor." Published by John Murray
publishers, Secret Servant was released on November 2, 2006 in the UK following the first instalment, subtitled Guardian Angel
that was released in 2005. No North American release has been announced as of October 2008.
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
of novels chronicling the life of Miss Moneypenny
Miss Moneypenny
Jane Moneypenny, better known as Miss Moneypenny, is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. She is secretary to M, who is Bond's boss and head of the British Secret Service...
, M
M (James Bond)
M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. The head of MI6 and Bond's superior, M has been portrayed by three actors in the official Bond film series: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and since 1995 by Judi Dench. Background =Ian Fleming...
's personal secretary in Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
's James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
series. The diaries are penned by Samantha Weinberg
Samantha Weinberg
Samantha Fletcher is a British Green politician, and under her maiden name of Samantha Weinberg, a novelist, journalist and travel writer. Educated at St Paul's Girls' School and Trinity College, Cambridge, she is the author of books such as A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth and...
under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Kate Westbrook, who is depicted as the book's "editor." Published by John Murray
John Murray (publisher)
John Murray is an English publisher, renowned for the authors it has published in its history, including Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Melville, and Charles Darwin...
publishers, Secret Servant was released on November 2, 2006 in the UK following the first instalment, subtitled Guardian Angel
The Moneypenny Diaries: Guardian Angel
The Moneypenny Diaries: Guardian Angel is the first in a planned trilogy of novels chronicling the life of Miss Moneypenny, M's personal secretary in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. The diaries were authored by Samantha Weinberg under the pseudonym Kate Westbrook, who is depicted as the book's...
that was released in 2005. No North American release has been announced as of October 2008.
Plot introduction
From saving spies to private passions, this book covers the secret adventures of James Bond's right-hand woman. Jane Moneypenny may project a cool, calm and collected image but her secret diaries reveal a rather different story. In the grip of an uncertain love affair and haunted by a dark family secret, the last thing she needs is a crisis at work. But the Secret Intelligence Service is in chaos. One senior officer is on trial for treason, another has defected to Moscow and her beloved James Bond has been brainwashed by the KGB. Only a woman's touch can save them. Moneypenny soon finds herself embroiled in a highly-charged adventure infused with the glamour of the Cold War espionage game. Alone on a dangerous Russian mission she turns, with breathless intimacy, to writing a truly explosive private diary.Production
- In order to write the book Weinberg met up with ex Secret Service agents and even traveled to Moscow to meet Kim PhilbyKim PhilbyHarold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a spy for and later defected to the Soviet Union...
's widow.