Pussy Galore, the lesbian gangster in Ian Fleming's Goldfinger, is to return to Anthony Horowitz's new James Bond tale Trigger Mortis. Pussy was last seen drifting off the coast of Canada.

Anthony HorowitzAnthony Horowitz has penned the new Bond novel, Trigger Mortis

The Foyle's War creator unveiled the title, the plot outline and the cover or his new Bond thriller on Thursday morning. Set in 1957, the story takes place two weeks after the events of Goldfinger, placing Bond in the middle of the Soviet-American Space Race as the US prepares for a critical rocket launch.

More: First footage from James Bond Spectre is something special

As well as bringing back Pussy Galore, Horowitz has also dreamed up a new Bond girl, Jeopardy Lane, as well as a "sadistic, scheming Korean adversary hell-bent on vengeance."

The plot for Trigger Mortis includes Fleming's own treatment for an unfilmed episode of a television series, Murder on Wheels, in which Bond gets involved in a Formula One race in Germany. This is thought to be the opening scene of Trigger Mortis.

"It was great fun revisiting the most famous Bond girl of all - although she is by no means the only dangerous lady in Trigger Mortis," said Horowitz. "I hope fans enjoy it. My aim was to make this the most authentic James Bond novel anyone could have written."

Lucy Fleming, the niece of Ian Fleming, said "it was almost as if Ian had written [Trigger Mortis] himself".

"It does feel like a Fleming book," she said. "It takes place a couple of weeks after Goldfinger - Pussy's back, which is fantastic, and we've got a particularly good villain in Sin - he's absolutely horrible, a megalomaniac type, but fascinating as well . Pussy Galore is one of the iconic characters from the films and the books . It will be interesting to see what the public make of that."

More: Pierce Brosnan: "Next Bond should be Idris Elba or Colin Salmon"