A Murder of Quality: A George Smiley Novel

John le Carré

Penguin, Oct 2, 2012 - Fiction - 176 pages

From the New York Times bestselling author of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Our Kind of Traitor; and The Night Manager, now a television series starring Tom Hiddleston. John le Carré’s new novel, A Legacy of Spies, is now available.

"Fielding and Jebedee were dead, Steed-Asprey vanished. Smiley—where was he?"

John le Carré's second novel, A Murder of Quality, offers an exquisite, satirical look at an elite private school as it chronicles the early development of George Smiley.

Miss Ailsa Brimley is in a quandary. She's received a peculiar letter from Mrs. Stella Rode, saying that she fears her husband—an assistant master at Carne School—is trying to kill her. Reluctant to go to the police, Miss Brimley calls upon her old wartime colleague, George Smiley. Unfortunately, it's too late. Mrs. Rode has just been murdered. As Smiley takes up the investigation, he realizes that in life—as in espionage—nothing is quite what it appears.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - bevok - LibraryThing

Another well read audio book from Michael Jayston. A more 'pure' murder mystery than its predecessor, A Murder of Quality is a simple, sometimes plodding story that reveals little about Smiley. After ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Crazymamie - LibraryThing

This is a very good little mystery, and the second entry in the George Smiley series. What makes it slightly disappointing is that there is no espionage involved, and of course, that's what we want ...

About the author

New York Times bestselling author John le Carré (A Delicate Truth and Spy Who Came in from the Cold) was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton and served briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For the last fifty years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Murder of Quality: A George Smiley Novel; Volume 2 of George Smiley novels
• Author: John le Carré
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Penguin, 2012
• ISBN: 1101603763, 9781101603765
• Length: 176 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Crime; Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Traditional; Fiction / Thrillers / Espionage