Call For The Dead A Murder of Quality Author:John Le Carre With the incomparable opening chapter of Call for the Dead, titled "A Brief History of George Smiley," John Le Carr? introduces his legendary spy and immediately ensnares you in the shadowy world Smiley inhabits. — Pulled back from overseas duty during World War II, Smiley was redirected to face the threats of the Cold War. He had been asked to i... more »nterview Samuel Fennan of the Foreign Office after an anonymous letter accused Fennan of Communist Party membership. Smiley's report cleared him of the allegations, so he was stunned to learn that Fennan had died the day after the interview, leaving a suicide note that claimed his career had been ruined. Investigating circumstances that make no sense to him, Smiley gradually uncovers a spy ring and in so doing is led into a lethal duel of wits with the best of his war-time pupils.
Call for the Dead marks the beginning of John Le Carr?'s brilliant literary career, just as it launches the life of one of the most memorable fictional characters of the twentieth century.
A Murder of Quality-
A bloody and apparently senseless murder had been committed at Carne School, one of the oldest and most glittering ornaments in the British public school system. George Smiley, whose connections with Carne were complicated by sentiment, had had a curious forewarning of the crime and, in a private capacity, pursued its investigation. Without his espionage-trained insight into the workings of the human mind, Smiley might never have solved the case. But logic and insight were hardly enough to spare him the emotional aftermath of a conclusion he did not want to face.« less