Goldfinger (novel) heroin smuggling operation, British Secret Service operative James Bond is asked by Junius Du Pont, a rich American businessman (whom he briefly met and gambled with in "Casino Royale"), to watch Auric Goldfinger, with whom Du Pont is playing Canasta in order to discover if he is cheating. Bond quickly realises that Goldfinger is indeed cheating with the aid of his female assistant, Jill Masterton, who is spying on DuPont's cards. Bond blackmails Goldfinger into admitting it and paying back DuPont's lost money; he also has a brief affair with Masterton. Back in London, Bond's superior, M, tasks him with
Goldfinger (novel) tossing a coin to decide on his tactics in relation to his quarry. Once more (as with "Live and Let Die" and "Dr. No") it is Bond the British agent who has to sort out what turns out to be an American problem and this can be seen as Fleming's reaction to the lack of US support over the Suez Crisis in 1956 as well as Bond's warning to Goldfinger not to underestimate the English. "Goldfinger" was written in Jamaica at Fleming's Goldeneye estate in January and February 1958 and was the longest typescript Fleming had produced to that time.