Live and Let Die characters

Appears from the start

A British Secret Service officer sent to the United States to investigate the movement of old gold coins linked to Soviet espionage. He works under American jurisdiction and must adapt to a criminal network with reach from Harlem to the Caribbean.

Appears from the start

An American intelligence officer and Bond's friend, assigned to work beside him in New York and Florida. Informal but highly capable, he supplies local knowledge and shares the physical risks of the investigation.

First appears in chapter 2

Bond's superior in the British Secret Service. He sends Bond to investigate whether a cache of pirate treasure is financing Soviet operations in the Americas.

First appears in chapter 2

The representative of the American authorities who briefs Bond on the case and the limits under which a British officer may operate in the United States.

Also known as Mr Big

First appears in chapter 3

A powerful American criminal who controls an extensive organisation and is suspected of moving seventeenth-century gold to finance Soviet activity. He uses fear, surveillance, and a cultivated association with Caribbean spiritual belief to reinforce his authority.

First appears in chapter 7

Mr Big's close enforcer, physically imposing and marked by a metal hook replacing part of one arm. He supervises prisoners at the Harlem club and treats violence as routine business.

First appears in chapter 7

A softly spoken member of Mr Big's organisation who acts as an intermediary and guard within the Harlem operation.

First appears in chapter 7

A young woman kept under Mr Big's control and presented as a reader of cards with unusual intuitive ability. She is expected to detect deception for him, but her guarded responses suggest that her loyalty is constrained rather than freely given.

First appears in chapter 16

A Cayman Islander and skilled fisherman whom Bond knows from Jamaica. Strong, disciplined, and familiar with local waters, he becomes Bond's guide and partner for the approach to Mr Big's island base.

First appears in chapter 16

The head of the British station in Jamaica. He provides Bond with local intelligence and helps organise the covert reconnaissance of the island used by Mr Big's organisation.