In an interview with The Guardian earlier this year, bestselling author Anthony Horowitz stated that he’d love to write an adult James Bond novel. Looks like his wish came true, as IFP today announced him as exactly that: the author of the new adult James Bond novel. A worldwide release date has been fixed for September 8th 2015, and it’ll be based on “previously unseen material written by Ian Fleming” – an unused screen treatment for an episode of Ian Flemings planned James Bond TV series named “Murder on Wheels”.

The full IFP press release:

Anthony Horowitz to write new James Bond novel inspired by original unseen Fleming material

Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. and the Ian Fleming Estate are delighted to announce that bestselling and award-winning author Anthony Horowitz has been invited to write the next James Bond novel, due for worldwide release on 8th September 2015.

Horowitz is one of the UK’s most successful authors and has over forty books to his name including his recent Sherlock Holmes novel, The House of Silk, and his enormously successful teen spy series featuring Alex Rider. As a TV screenwriter he created both Midsomer Murders and the BAFTA-winning Foyle’s War, and is looking forward to taking on his next project:

‘It’s no secret that Ian Fleming’s extraordinary character has had a profound influence on my life, so when the Estate approached me to write a new James Bond novel how could I possibly refuse? It’s a huge challenge but having original, unpublished material by Fleming has been an inspiration. This is a book I had to write.’

Set in the 1950s, Horowitz’s story will be unique among the modern James Bond novels, in that a section will contain previously unseen material written by Ian Fleming. Fleming’s great niece, Jessie Grimond explains:

‘In the 1950s Ian Fleming wrote several episode treatments for a James Bond television series. But it never came to be made and he ended up turning most of the plots into the short stories that are now in the collections For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy and The Living Daylights. However, there are a few plot outlines which he never used and which, till now, have never been published, or aired. Given that Anthony is as brilliant a screenwriter as he is a novelist, we thought it would be exciting to see what he would do with one of them.’

The treatment which will act as a starting point for Anthony Horowitz’s Bond novel is titled Murder on Wheels, and follows Bond on a mission in the world of motor racing. Other familiar Fleming characters which feature in the TV treatment include ‘M’ and Miss Moneypenny.

The novel will be published in the UK and Commonwealth by Orion Publishing Group and simultaneously by HarperCollins Publishers in USA & Canada.

To find out more about Anthony Horowitz please visit www.anthonyhorowitz.com