The second Smiley book concerns a murder that takes place in an elite public school in England. le Carre apparently attended such a school as a child, and in the introduction to this book writes quite negatively of the experience: "I can find no forgiveness for their terrible abuse of the charges entrusted to them."

In this case, Miss Brimley, the editor of a religious journal, receives a letter from a subscriber whose family she knows stating that she fears her husband, a master at the elite public school Carne, is going to kill her. Miss Brimley is disturbed, but rather than go to the police she turns to her friend Smiley and asks him to investigate. Unfortunately, it is too late. The woman is already dead, murdered, and her husband has an airtight alibi.

This was another decent read, and we get to learn a little more about Smiley's character. Like the first one, to me it seemed more in line with a murder mystery/police procedural than with a spy thriller. Perhaps, the books become more "spyish" as we move along. I believe the next one is titled The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, which is on my Kindle, so we shall see. ( )

I'd heard of this as a minor le Carré novel, but as there's only a limited number of 'em I thought I should go back and read it. Unlike the other Smiley books this is not about espionage at all, but is a fairly straight-forward murder mystery. It's pretty efficient and functional as those things go, with clues and red herrings and a cast of plausible murderers. The actual resolution wasn't perfectly satisfying, but overall it was pretty well crafted.

If you (like me) really enjoy the Smiley novels then it is worth picking this one up - it's impressive just how much affection le Carré has for Smiley. One theme in the book is class and snobbery. Smiley seems to hover above all that - having great respect for anyone who is pleasant and professional, and disdain for anyone cruel. His humanity - often signalled by a reaction disappointment, when anger might seem more appropriate - is highly evident in this book.

This book definite lacks the searing anger that runs through The Spy Who Came In From The Cold or The Looking Glass War, and it is nowhere near as meticulously labyrinthine as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, but it is still very definitely le Carré. But perhaps one for the completist. ( )

This took some effort to get into but once I figured out the characters and sensed what the plot was, the novel came alive. The wife of a teacher at a private school who is not accepted because she refuses to follow the cultural rules of the school re church, dress and keeping quiet in the background is found viciously murdered in her home shortly after telling a few people her husband was going to murder her. All the evidence seems to confirm the wife's premonition of murder by husband.

Smiley is invited to lend his assistance by acquaintances of the husband and he works his way through all the suspects many of whom are not particularly nice people. He runs up against class snobs, education snobs and just ignorant people. A number of times when George Smiley is introduced, his name reminds people of a particularly difficult marital breakup and they give him a complete rundown of the scandal without realizing George is the husband in the scandal.

Contains a vicious murder scene, satire especially of the British class system and just a really interesting whodunit. Brief too at only 155 pages. ( )

Not a Smiley spy novel but great murder story. Brilliant. ( )

This is the second book by [a:John le Carré|1411964|John le Carré|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234571122p2/1411964.jpg] featuring unlikely spy George Smiley.

To begin my mission to read all the Smiley books in 2020 I did a quick search to identify the titles. Regardless of where Google sent me, the observations regarding [b:A Murder of Quality|622855|A Murder of Quality (George Smiley #2)|John le Carré|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347598479l/622855._SY75_.jpg|2334425] were similar, ranging from "not really a Smiley novel", to "don't bother to read it in sequence". That's because it's not a spy novel, it's a crime novel.

Fair enough, but nevertheless I'm glad I did read it after [b:Call for the Dead|46460|Call for the Dead (George Smiley #1)|John le Carré|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347597241l/46460._SY75_.jpg|1176737] for a couple of reasons. The first that it occupies the same place in time as the previous book - England in the early 1960's. This is still very much a post-war world, where the personal histories of the characters generally reflect their service or their losses in the war. It's not the freshly remade, high energy post-war world of the US, but one where privations are still felt and people are still haunted by memories. It's an extension of the feel of Call for the Dead, where the plot reaches back to events in WWII and before, but the current action takes place in the London of 1961.

The second reason I'm glad I took it in sequence is that it marks a big uptick in le Carré's writing. The story is more well rounded and complete, and that sense of a novella being stretched to novel length that was present in Call for the Dead is no longer there.

Considering the book on its own, and not as part of the Smiley canon, it's an excellent mystery of the "closed group" variety. Someone from the faculty community at an upper class school is murdered, and through tangential wartime connections, the now-retired Smiley is brought in to help the local police determine what happened. The town vs. gown phenomenon is an impediment to a proper investigation, and Smiley can bridge that gap.

If you're looking for a spy thriller, this won't be your cup of tea. But if you want a well constructed mystery with some social commentary thrown in, I can highly recommend it. ( )