A Murder of Quality A George Smiley Novel

"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.

John le Carré, the pseudonym for David Cornwell, was a member of the British Foreign Service from 1959 to 1964. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, became a worldwide bestseller. He has written twenty-two novels, which have been published in thirty-six languages. Many of his books have been made into films, including The Constant Gardener, The Russia House, The Little Drummer Girl, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.