Smiley's Legacy

I've long been a fan of fictional master spy George Smiley ever since seeing Alec Guinness in the legendary Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People. Read all the books at least twice and have compiled a handy refresher course over at Macmillan's Criminal Element. The reason for my look back is that there's a new Smiley out this week by John le Carré called A Legacy of Spies. 

An Outsourced Spy Mission

George Smiley Minor: The Looking Glass War by Edward A. Grainger.

Smiley as Puppeteer

I'm reviewing the eight George Smiley novels for Criminal Element and I'm up to The Spy Who Came in From the Cold that put John LeCarre on the map.

Murder, He Wrote

The second George Smiley novel is an offbeat curio in the series and a damn good one at that. A unique entry because it isn’t a spy novel at all but rather an old-fashioned detective mystery along the lines of Agatha Christie or Dorothy L. Sayers. Later, more celebrated Smiley adventures certainly have mystery elements sprinkled in (as Smiley investigates a mole within the Circus Spy agency) but A Murder of Quality operates outside the espionage community altogether.

Plot: Miss Brimley is an old friend of George Smiley (from his WWII exploits) and when she receives a letter from a woman named Stella Rode, who claims her husband is trying to kill her, Brimley seeks Smiley’s counsel. Unfortunately, though, it’s too late.

Read the rest of my article at Criminal Element. 

Any John LeCarré fans?

Where I go Back to the Beginning: Call for the Dead by John LeCarré.