Collard explained that the IDSO was set up at the instigation of the Chairman of De Beers, Sir Philip Oppenheimer, after an Interpol report stated that £10 million of diamonds were being smuggled out of South Africa each year, as well as additional amounts from Sierra Leone, Portuguese West Africa, the Gold Coast and Tanganyika.

As well as providing a history of the IDSO's operations, Collard relates a number of illustrative vignettes concerning the diamond smuggling cases he and the organisation dealt with.

[5] Whilst in MI5 he played a major role in the capture and conviction of the atomic spy Klaus Fuchs,[5] before Sillitoe had approached him in 1954 to work for the International Diamond Security Organisation.

[7] The pair spent two weeks discussing the issue of diamond smuggling,[8] with Collard explaining what happened in South Africa and Sierra Leone.

[9] When the drafts of the books were shown to De Beers they objected to a number of areas and threatened an injunction against Fleming and The Sunday Times, which resulted in much material being removed.

[12] The Diamond Smugglers was published in the UK in November 1957, by Jonathan Cape, was 160 pages long and cost 12 shillings 6d.

[17] Reviewing for The Observer, Anthony Sampson thought the book had "sparkle", adding that "it is often difficult to remember that we are not listening to his old hero Mr. James Bond.

[14] Shortly after publication, The Rank Group offered £13,500 (£411,118 in 2025 pounds[1]) for the film rights to the book, which Fleming accepted, telling them he would write a full story outline for an extra £1,000.

[20] British producer George Willoughby subsequently obtained the rights for the book from Rank and tried to make a film with the actor Richard Todd, eventually commissioning a screenplay from Australian writer Jon Cleary, who finished a script in October 1964 that remained faithful in spirit to Fleming's book while also featuring elements familiar from the James Bond films.