A Murder of Quality
Ratings42
Average rating3.3
John le Carré makes smooth writing look easy. It's not needlessly florid, nor is it noticeably sparse and hardboiled. It it very Smiley-like: unassuming but effective.
As others have said, this isn't a spy novel, it's a mystery George Smiley happens to be in. But a good mystery!
I enjoyed a nice meander through class politics and academic culture alongside the murder mystery. My only gripe is that the ending wrapped up a bit too quickly. All the build up was great, and then a three page “so here's what actually happened” speech and it was over.
Excited to plough ahead to the actual spy novels!
Enjoyed this one better than the first. I really liked the resolution of the mystery.
This is Smiley as amateur sleuth rather than as a spy master.
It feels far more dated in style than something like The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, which was written only shortly afterwards.
Not Le Carré's best. Some of the satire was decent and amusing moments were sprinkled in nicely. But this is your standard murder mystery (with a rather unsatisfying ending), and I didn't enjoy the lack of real suspense or espionage which features in most of his other books.
John le Carre's second novel, which also features George Smiley. Not as good as his first novel, “Call for the Dead”, as it lacks the black humour as the first, and also nothing to do with espionage, which is what le Carre/George Smiley are associated with. Smiley is asked by a friend and an ex-colleague to investigate a murder at a public school, in which we learn about the snobbery of the British public school system, and a little of Smiley's failed marriage and his connections in the Secret Service. Plot wise, it builds up, then falls flat at the end, by which time I didn't care about who murdered who, though le Carre admits this book wasn't his best. Looking forward to reading “The Spy who came in from the Cold”, which made his name.