Whatever Happened to Adam Diment?

August 3, 2012 7:22 AM

Adam Diment was once considered the heir to Ian Fleming with his wildly successful series of novels (The Dolly Dolly Spy, The Great Spy Race, The Bang Bang Birds, Think, Inc.) about the spy Philip McAlpine. Diment, writing in the swinging ‘60s and ‘70s, was known for his debonair lifestyle and casual flirtation with drugs. He had it all: success, wealth, sex. Then he disappeared.

It appears Diment may have confused his novels for real life. He is purported to have taken part in a ‘currency swindle’ related to the filming of an adaption of his first book, The Dolly Dolly Spy. No one knows for sure, but there are assertions that Diment is still alive and simply choosing to remain out of the spotlight. He has not published anything (nor been seen in public) since 1971—at least, not under the name Adam Diment.

posted by librarylis (10 comments total)

That's fascinating. Partly for the real crime aspect, and partly because I had no idea that there was a serious(ish) version of Austin Powers.
posted by codacorolla at 7:33 AM on August 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

I bet Lord Lucan knows where he is.
posted by chavenet at 7:41 AM on August 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

Obscure authors for a thousand Alex!
posted by pdxpogo at 7:47 AM on August 3, 2012

There are more than just assertions - that "disappeared" link seems to have lots of people mentioning seeing him and just knowing he's no longer a fiction author, just like someone might no longer be a member of NWA and just a real estate appraiser.
posted by jscott at 7:50 AM on August 3, 2012

N***az With Appraisals?
posted by spicynuts at 9:01 AM on August 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

No one knows for sure, but there are assertions that Diment is still alive and simply choosing to remain out of the spotlight.

In the second link it says " married with two children, he now lives a quiet family life in Kent."

Can somebody explain to me what a "dolly dolly spy" might be, now that the assy book cover in that has made abundantly clear the meaning of "ban bang birds"?
posted by milk white peacock at 9:42 AM on August 3, 2012

Fantastic post. I remember the books well. Thanks librarylis.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:23 AM on August 3, 2012

milk white peacock -- in the 1960's, a fashionable, attractive young woman was often referred to as a 'dolly bird', so a 'dolly, dolly spy' would be a spy who was a young, attractive, fashionable woman.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:26 AM on August 3, 2012

My dad had all of these and I devoured them alongside the Bond books. Thanks for this post!
posted by vickyverky at 11:09 AM on August 3, 2012

I really want to read these books now. Maybe it would inspire me to actually finish my romantic thriller set in the mid '60s. (Or maybe not.)

Thanks to the power of the internetz, I actually discovered more proof that Adam Diment is Not Dead. Here's a somewhat pissy livejournal comment submitted by his brother a few years ago.
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 4:36 AM on August 5, 2012