John Gardner (British writer)

John Edmund Gardner (20 November 1926 – 3 August 2007) was an English spy and thriller novelist. He was best known for his James Bond novels, but also for his series of Boysie Oakes books and three continuation novels containing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional villain, Professor Moriarty.
Gardner went on to write over fifty works of fiction, including fourteen original James Bond novels, and the novel versions of two Bond movie. He died from suspected heart failure on 3 August 2007.