Editions

A Murder of Quality

  • Imprint: Penguin Classics

  • ISBN: 9780141196374

  • Length: 192  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 11mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 145g

  • RRP: £9.99

A Murder of Quality

Stella Rode has twice disturbed the ancient cloisters of Carne School: firstly by being the wrong sort, with her doilies and china ducks, and secondly by being murdered. George Smiley, who has his own connection with the school, is asked by an old Service friend to investigate. Smiley knows that Stella feared her husband would murder her, but as he probes further beneath Carne's respectable veneer, he uncovers far more than a simple crime of passion. In his second novel, le Carré moves outside the world of espionage to reveal the secrets at the heart of another particularly English institution. The result is a pitch-perfect murder mystery, with George Smiley as master detective.

THE SECOND GEORGE SMILEY NOVEL

'Beautifully intelligent, satiric and witty' Daily Telegraph

  • Imprint: Penguin Classics

  • ISBN: 9780141196374

  • Length: 192  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 11mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 145g

  • RRP: £9.99

Reviews

  • Beautifully elegant, satiric and witty

    Telegraph

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About the Author

John le Carré

John le Carré was born in 1931 and died in 2020. He attended the universities of Bern and Oxford, and taught at Eton before serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For more than fifty years he lived by his pen.

John le Carré

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Recommendations

Where to start reading John le Carré books

His death this week marked the end of a career which produced internationally acclaimed novels in every decade from the 1960s onwards. Le Carré’s work was enjoyed by readers and critics alike and adapted multiple times for film and television, making him one of the most celebrated and influential authors of modern times. But where to start if you’re new to this work? Here is our starter for ten.
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Features

Florence Pugh reads The Little Drummer Girl

Alongside Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Shannon, Florence Pugh stars in The Little Drummer Girl, the latest adaptation of John le Carré’s thrilling novel of espionage and betrayal. Here she reads le Carré’s description of the character that she herself plays in the BBC series.
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Extracts

The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carre

In this extract from The Pigeon Tunnel, John le Carré describes the accusations of disloyalty he faced from former Secret Service colleagues - and how Alec Guinness used them in his portrayal of George Smiley

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