Carne School, with its cloisters and woodworm and a line in the Doomsday Book, is one of the Great Schools, where the rich send their sons to be instructed. And it is from Carne that Miss Ailsa Brimley, editor of the small Christian Voice newspaper, receives a letter for the paper’s problem page. The writer of the letter is Stella Rode, the wife of one of the school’s junior masters. Previously, Stella had written about cake mix for the ‘kitchen hints’ competition. This time, she asks for help because she fears her husband intends to kill her during the ‘long nights’. Miss Brimley decides not to go to the police (reasoning that if Stella Rode had wanted that she would have gone herself). Instead, she consults her former colleague from the war-time secret service, the retired agent George Smiley. By this time, of course, Stella has indeed been murdered. Smiley takes the letter down to Carne, promising Miss Brimley to make sure it arrives quickly in the right hands. When Smiley speaks to the investigating officer, Divisional Superintendent Rigby, he discovers there is a ‘big gap between the Town and Gown’, a gap which seems to prevent the police investigating the murder fully. Smiley offers to help out by making his own discreet enquiries.As with the first Smiley novel, A Murder of Quality explores the post-Second World War class system through the eyes of the recently-retired Smiley. And even more than Call for the Dead, this is a pure murder mystery with not a single spy in sight. In setting, it is more like an Inspector Morse mystery, in delivery more like Agatha Christie or Marjory Allingham. In execution, though, A Murder of Quality falls below the standard of these crime specialists. I found the ‘set up’ chapters a little pedestrian, and the characterisation a little flat, so I had trouble differentiating between the suspect dons and their wives. I also found the plot a bit creaky, and there’s less tension than one would like or expect from a story of this kind. But remember, this was only le Carré’s second book, and he was still learning his craft. There is some excellent writing in here, and flashes of the sort of thing that is to come later in his career.All in all, A Murder of Quality is a bit of an oddity, and only recommended if you’re a Smiley (or le Carré) fan. But it’s an easy, entertaining diversion, nevertheless.
All this time I had been clear in my mind that George Smiley was a spy master and that John le Carré writes spy novels. A Murder of Quality, the second novel in the George Smiley series, blew both of those assumptions away completely. While you could argue that Smiley is technically a spy, he's retired from the service. When his friend and former colleague from their days in the intelligence services, Ailsa Brimley, receives a paranoid letter from a subscriber to her magazine, The Christian Voice, the wife of a schoolteacher claiming that her husband intends to kill her. Brim is determined to make sure she investigates the claim from such a loyal subscriber and so she goes to the only man she knows who can advise her: George Smiley.There are no spies here, no moles, no cold war, no double-cross at Checkpoint Charlie. This is a straight up murder mystery, but one that sets up Smiley's understated detecting capabilities perfectly: a murder committed exactly as in the letter but the husband has a solid alibi. Luckily, Smiley has a tenuous connection with a colleague of the husband and sees an opportunity to take advantage of the rules of politeness and invite himself down to the school to have a poke around. Before long Smiley and the local detective are secretly working the case together: Detective Inspector Rigby the official side of the investigation and Smiley the eyes and ears in the school itself – asking the questions in a way that the police never could.Of course Smiley's going to solve the case, that's never in doubt. And, while the story is your typical murder mystery, le Carré never really plays into that trope of letting the reader play along and pit themselves against the detective. Instead he seems to want you to just sit in for the ride, watching Smiley's methods, learning how he operates. To some extent it feels like a primer for the Smiley we can expect in the rest of the novels, but that also felt like the skill of the novel. At no point did I really want to compete with Smiley, I was enjoying the novel too damn much...
What do You think about A Murder Of Quality (2002)?
Phải nói là sau khi đọc xong mình mới hiểu tại sao quyển này hồi đó không được fan của John le Carré đón nhận cho lắm, đến bây giờ cũng vậy, chính bởi vì nó không phải là một quyển sách về âm mưu chính trị kì bí trong giới điệp viên mà chỉ đơn thuần là một tác phẩm trinh thám theo kiểu Sherlock Holmes. Nhưng mình thích nó lắm, thật ấy. Lí do mà mình chỉ cho nó 4/5 sao chứ không phải 5/5 là bởi vì cái kết nó quá là hụt hẫng đi thôi, không, mà quan trọng nhất chính là...CÁI KẾT NÓ PHÁ SHIP QUÁ ĐI THÔI!!!TẠI SAO VẬY HẢ JOHN LE CARRÉ?!!Mình đã tin... Mình đã quá mù quáng mà đi tin tưởng vào những lời nói đó, những cử chỉ đó... Không thể ngờ được bản thân mình lại có thể quá ngây thơ dễ dụ thế này... Từ nay về sau làm sao em nhỏ có thể khôi phục niềm tin với nhân loại đây _(:3 ]Z)_À mà, hồi đó bộ mấy bác trung niên đẹp trai tài giỏi hào hoa lịch lãm bảnh bao thông minh xuất chúng bộ nhiều lắm hay sao mà truyện nào của John le Carré cũng thấy ít nhất hai nhân vật như vậy... *quan ngại-ing*
—Hoàng Nguyễn
Not up to le Carre's usual standard of awesomeness, but still enjoyable. Plus ... it seemed like a book he just had to write, to purge some demons from his English boarding school days? This was his second novel. Before reading this one, I went back and re-read his first novel (A Call for the Dead). It was really the better book, but, again ... seemed like he just had to do this one.His third novel was his masterwork (one of them), The Spy Who Came In From the Cold. After reading this, my thought was to read every John le Carre novel, in order ... Interesting to read the books while enjoying them not only for the wonderful stories, but also for the insights into how the author is progressing as a writer and mastering his craft. But, looking at the next one, The Looking Glass War, I see it's not rated very highly. And I also notice I've read 7 books by le Carre already, out of order ... so ... hmm.
—Deborah Byrd
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.
—Stephen
