#48 in Spy & espionage
A Murder of Quality
- 176
- Pages
- about 3 h
- Reading time
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Our view
George Smiley’s one case outside espionage, “A Murder of Quality”, is a compact murder mystery with a satirical eye for school snobbery. Le Carré’s second novel sends Smiley to look into a killing at a British public school. Readers generally rank it among his lesser books; some prefer his debut, others miss the suspense of his spy fiction or find the ending unsatisfying. It is worth reading for a look at the early Smiley.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
A Murder of Quality is the second novel by John le Carré, published in 1962. It features George Smiley, the most famous of le Carré's recurring characters, in his only book set outside the espionage community.
Reading order · George Smiley series
Full order & progress →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.1 across 137 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 48% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Spy & espionage average of 7.6. That is how 7.4 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 6.6 | 10 | 7% |
| Hardcover | 7.2 | 127 | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is A Murder of Quality?
It has 176 pages — shorter than 99% of the ranked books in Spy & espionage.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Spy & espionage — with scores between 7.3 and 7.5, closest to this book.
