Published in 1963, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service follows James Bond as he continues the search for SPECTRE leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld. After meeting Teresa “Tracy” di Vicenzo, Bond receives help from her father, Marc-Ange Draco, in locating Blofeld. Posing as a representative of the College of Arms, Bond travels to Blofeld’s Alpine headquarters at Piz Gloria, where Blofeld is seeking formal recognition of a noble title.

Bond discovers that Blofeld is using a group of young women undergoing supposed allergy treatment as unwitting agents in a plan to spread biological contamination across British agriculture. After escaping from Piz Gloria, Bond joins Draco in an assault on the facility. Alongside the espionage plot, the novel gives unusual prominence to Bond’s personal life through his relationship with Tracy. Their marriage brings the story to an emotional climax, followed by a sudden act of violence that leaves Bond bereaved.