A Murder of Quality is the second novel by John le Carré. It features George Smiley, the most famous of le Carré's recurring characters, in his only book set outside the espionage community.

NB: A Friday Forgotten Book. Having vowed never again to enslave myself to Existential Ennui by embarking on too many series of posts, I find myself, just three posts on from making that vow, in the midst of, you guessed it, another series of posts

John le Carré was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. A Murder of Quality is a fairly standard crime thriller set in a public school. What turns out to be much more interesting than the book itself is le Carré's two afterwords written in the 1990s and early 2000s, which give his strongly held opinions on the public and grammar school systems. I got the kindle version on offer for 99p; it's certainly worth it at this price.

He was Le Carré's hero in his debut Call for the Dead, which described him as being an accomplished and committed spy since 1928, who survived a frightful and nasty war in Germany, and who is now (early 1960s) as before, wearing glasses, short, pudgy, and badly, but expensively dressed. He is also separated from his aristocratic wife Ann, and some of the characters in this book let him know that they know. A Murder of Quality is the second of LeCarre's novels that feature George Smiley. Unlike the others in the series this novel is not about the Cold War and espionage, at least not overtly. In this one; a woman with whom Smiley worked during the war contacts him.

He taught at Eton from 1956 to 1958 and was a member of the British Foreign Service from 1959 to 1964, serving first as Second Secretary in the British Embassy in Bonn and subsequently as political consul in Hamburg.

They were always in mourning at Carne; the small boys because they must stay and the big boys because they must leave, the masters because respectability was underpaid; and now, as the Lent Half (as the Easter term was called) drew to its end, the cloud of gloom was as firmly settled as ever over the grey towers of Carne. 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.

Real Name: David John Moore Cornwell. Profile: English writer. Born: 19 October 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England, UK. British ex-spy during the late 1950's into early 1960's. Soon turning writer, in fact writing his best known book "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" -the most successful espionage novel ever- actually completed during the very end of his spying career. A Murder Of Quality ‎(3xCD, Album). Hodder & Stoughton Audiobooks. A Murder Of Quality ‎(4xCass).

A murder mystery in the finest tradition of English detective novels, John le Carré's A Murder of Quality is an ingenious puzzle featuring his best-loved character George Smiley. George Smiley, who has his own connection with the school, is asked by an old Service friend to investigate.

John le Carré's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international esionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge, and have earned him - and his hero, British secret Service Agent George Smiley - unprecedented worldwide acclaim.

Written by John le Carré, narrated by Michael Jayston. The complete collection of acclaimed BBC Radio dramas based on John le Carré's best-selling novels, starring Simon Russell Beale as George Smiley. With a star cast including Kenneth Cranham, Eleanor Bron, Brian Cox, Ian MacDiarmid, Anna Chancellor, Hugh Bonneville and Lindsay Duncan, these enthralling dramatisations perfectly capture the atmosphere of le Carré's taut, thrilling spy novels.